On Wednesday, July 7, 1999 I started my trip to Wollersheim Winery which is close to Sauk City, WI. I decided to travel down from Mauston, WI to Baraboo via freeway and Hwy. 12 and pick up Hwy 113 that passes by the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. This was the summer residence for the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus. Here is the entrance. The circus grounds are across the Baraboo River just behind the entrance structure.
            I intended to run down Hwy 113 to Merrimac, WI and take the free ferry across the Wisconsin river. The free ferry is a regular summer tourist attraction in the area. However, today it was temporarily closed. They are debating whether to replace the aging ferry with a newer one or with a bridge. Oooh, a bridge! Big attraction!! Anyway, I had to double back and drive down to the Hwy 12 bridge to get across to the Wollersheim winery.
            Ok, here I am at the winery entrance. It's a big old wine barrel.
            Here is the stone house that the original owner built around 1850. While the stone mansion and the carriage house were being built...
            the family lived in a deep cave in the hill above the property. This is a shot of the cave from inside the carriage house.
            This is a shot taken from the cave entrance out across the south facing hill where most all the grape vines are grown. The Wisconsin river and the steep sloping hills maintain just the right atmosphere for the grape vines. Off to the right and just out of the picture is the carriage house. In the right of the picture is the newest building for processing the grapes. Inside are big stainless steel tanks for aging the wine.
            Some of the various wines that are produced at the winery need to be aged in oak barrels. These white oak barrels are imported from France. They are stored in caves built under the carriage house. After the tour we got to taste the various wines that are bottled at the winery. Yes, Wisconsin is a wine producing state.