by
Kathy Sullivan
Summary: Æppel Treow Winery is a very popular winery especially in the fall as they produce several ciders. The winery is located in a renovated dairy barn that has had no cattle for decades. If you visit on the first weekend of the month you will find a plate of Wisconsin cheese available for tasting with ÆppelTreow wines.
Æppel Treow Winery is the result of a love of producing quality wine with quality apples. Back in 1995, Milissa and Charles McGonegal began making wine at home. As time went on, their passion for making quality wine continued to grow. After several years, they realized that they had made the best wine they could produce with the apples they had obtained. They began searching for better apple varieties and quality. This led Charles to marking a circle on a map indicating two hours from their home. He then began calling and contacting apple orchards in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan asking if the owners had Appleby Peppin apples. Ultimately, he contacted the Stones who owned a large orchard with many apple varieties. The Stones supplied Charles and Milissa with quality apple varieties so they were able to continue improving their wines. Several years later in 2001, the Stones offered Charles and Milissa the opportunity to rent the bottom of the large barn on their property.
The barn built in the 1930’s was in good shape. Milissa and her father cleaned out and renovated the barn. Today the barn has been cleaned, insulated, and painted and provides a tasting room with a country feel. In December 2001 the winery received their permit to be a bonded winery. Today they produce about 2,500 gallons and sell them in several sizes of bottles.
Currently the wines are produced with apples from the Stone orchard. For their pear wines some pears are sourced out of state. Their first sparkling wine was produced in 2002. It was a dry apple sparkling wine. Currently they produce a dry and doux apple sparkling wine and a perry sparkling wine. Æppel Treow Winery “specializes in cider.”
At the tasting counter we tasted several wines beginning with sparkling wines. The Appely Brut offered an aroma of apple that was light. The taste was of apple and the finish was cleansing. Appely Doux with a residual sugar of 1.5 was semi-dry. Perry another sparkling wine offered an aroma and taste of pear with a long pear aftertaste.
After the sparkling ciders we started with draft ciders. Orchard Oriole Perry offered an aroma and taste of a light delicate pear with a light pear aftertaste. Bunting Berry Cider with a residual sugar of 3 percent was sweet and fruity.
Still wines included Apple Summer’s End. This wine had 10 percent alcohol and 5 percent residual sugar. It had a light apple nose with an apple taste. There was a long apple aftertaste with nuances of citrus and it dried on the finish.
Cerise was a fortified dessert wine that offered a cherry aroma and taste.
We enjoyed learning more about apples and pears. Even though we had visited pick your own apple orchards for years, it was surprising to discover so many more apple varieties with numerous aromas and tastes. Milissa laughingly commented, “We are not wine snobs, we are apple snobs.” She then cited, that her favorite apple at a particular time of year is from a certain side of an apple tree where the sunshine adds nuances to the apples.
Enjoy a visit to Æppel Treow Winery and discover the many attributes of apples and the similarities between cider and wine.
Æppel Treow Winery
1072 288th Avenue
Burlington, Wisconsin 53105
GPS: N42º 38.655’ W88º 09.557’
