"A true German can't stand the French, Yet willingly drinks their wines," Goethe, Faust. The first Auerbach's Cellar.
While serving in the Army in Germany, Jim Neuser fell in love with the beer (Ach - liquid brot to them!), then their extraordinary wines. Life brought him back to a job at the Kohler Company, but the wine bug stayer with him. He met and married CJ in 2000 (she presently works as a Med Tech at St. Joe's Hospital in West Bend), and the couple lives in Belgium.
Two years ago, the pair took over a vacant but upbeat and slightly funky art store in Port Washington across the street from the Port Hotel and opened the Vines to Cellar Winery, a place for all of us mortals to select, blend, ferment, finish, bottle and custom-label wines originally sourced in Argentina, Australia, California and various parts of Italy. All of the wines are in their juvenile state, in juice kits supplied by a custom processor in Canada that does the initial processing. One simply needs to select the juice and desired finished wine and then work with Vines to Cellar as the "recipe" is created with yeast, fermentation, etc. The buyer/new winemaker can be involved with all steps of the winemaking process, including label design. Six to eight weeks later - Voila! - it's finishing, bottling and celebration time!
Many first-timers choose to go entirely hands-on in their birthing of fruit blend (Green Apple Riesling, White Cranberry Pinot Grigio, Pomegranate Zinfandel) or grape blends such as Cabernet/Shiraz, Cabernet/Merlot and pure single grape varietals.
A couple ahead of me was completing a transaction for a kit, and I happened a stealth glance at their bill - $250 for30 bottles, or roughly $8.33 per bottle of nice quality wine. Another couple came in to taste wines made by the winery, which are available in five one-ounce samples of various wines
for $5, souvenir glass included.Corks at Vines to Cellar are synthetic, which Jim considers to be more bacteriologically pure than normal corks. Additionally, the shop includes a brightly festooned party room that is quite popular.
I found myself entranced by the shop's fetching display of both fruit-combination and regular wine, which generally retail for between $8.50-$14. More enticingly, the shop carries a thorough selection of half bottles that retail for $5.25. To me, a half bottle affords one the perfect amount of wine for a dinner for two people - a tad more a glass of wine per person. And half bottles are hard to find in many Milwaukee stores at a similarly reasonable price.
Since the shop opened in 2008, Jim told me, business has been steadily increasing. A brief, teasing sparkle came into his eyes when I asked if he wanted to open any more stores like this one. Third Ward, anyone?
I couldn't resist sampling a few of Jim's and CJ's wines before I left. Here are my observations and grades:
1. Stag's Leap Merlot, Calif. Nice ruby color with medium body. Nicely structured, with generous but subtle fruit. A-
2. Nebiolo, Italy (Jim calls this his Barolo). I found this had a nice medium-red color with a light body. On the palate, it was lightly elegant with light fruit and structure, and it finished with a clean, elegant note. B+
3. Sangiovese, Italy. The component of many of Italy's best wines, this esoteric red was similar to the Nebiolo, but with slightly less structure. B+
Many people choose Vines to Cellars as a creative and fun resource to learn about and create interesting wines. Others employ it for clever gift ideas, and still more opt for its upbeat party venue in this cozy, resurging town.
Cheers to Jim and CJ!
Vines to Cellar Winery
114 E. Main St., Port Washington
262-536-4544
vinestocellar.com
7 Comments
I LOVE Vines to Cellar. Jim and CJ are the best. They have helped me through the process of creating my own wines. Such a friendly place to go. I am so happy that they have chosen Port Washington! Thank you Jim and CJ!!!
It's great to see Jim and CJ getting some credit for the great service they provide to Port! It's also nice to see two Vets create a nice business out of something they love.
Cheers! See ya at homebrew night.
Jim and CJ were wonderful. They helped us plan a surprise party for our daughter Tonia and future son-in-law Bob.We made wine and then several weeks later we bottled the wine. It was a fun event with family and friends.And it was for a engagement/shower.The wine will be for the wedding. CJ and Jim Thanks again.Carol and Dan and families and friends.
We drive from Mukwonago/East Troy area for the wine! We love it and when family or friends come in from out of state we take them there too. It is VERY friendly and the board games that they have out are always entertaining to our kids while we sample the new flavor or just trying to figure out what flavors we are taking home that time.
Thanks for the terrific feedback, which is well-deserved by Jim and CJ! And don't forget - I'm always open to more suggestions about future columns. As the saying goes, "Will work for wine!"
Cheers!
John
We are so proud of them and how far they have come from wine tastings to winemaking professionals. I love the concept and many will. Continued Good Luck!
Schel & Becky -TWH
Glad to learn about this "creative and fun wine resource." Just to clarify, if I may, I visited the website and found that the "regular" wines on offer do include some blends. Maybe this went without saying for most readers, but I wasn't sure.