Prairie Home Vintners News

Free Aronia Berries

Jason Andorfer — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 13:34:32 GMT

FREE ARONIA Berries for winemaking

WHEN: Late August or early September
WHERE: A farm near Woodstock IL.
Hand-pick many pounds of ripe aronia berries, leave half for the farm
and take home the other half for FREE .
Bring a bottle of wine and pack a lunch, for a great time together
Bring crates or garbage bags to take home what you pick.
There are over 6,000 aronia bushes here, plenty for everyone!!

Please contact me to be added on our contact list

Steve Helsper (Allinonewinepump)

steve@allinonewinepump.com

630-333-3479

Drumlin Ridge Winery grapes or juice available

Jason Andorfer — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 15:15:02 GMT

Drumlin Ridge would like to offer club members a chance to purchase fresh local grapes, or juice, at harvest time in the Fall.

So far it looks like we’ll have extra:

Frontenac Gris
Frontenac Blanc
Marechal Foch
Petite Pearl

People would need to bring their own totes or buckets.

Given the dynamics of harvest, we can give one- or two-days’ notice.

Harvest season for us runs the last week of August to the last week of September; with picking decisions based on brix levels, labor, tank space, and coordination with other growers.

Currently, the going rate is about 90 cents per pound. Given 12 pounds to make a gallon of pressed juice, this would come out to $10.80 a gallon.

Let me know by getting me your Name, Phone Number, and which Varietal(s) you are interested in.

Thanks,

Glenn Weaver (see the directory for contact info)

WVA 2025 Grape Crush

Jason Andorfer — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:39:03 GMT

Wisconsin Vintners Association (WVA) is headquartered out of Milwaukee. They are doing a club grape crush, and are offering members of PHV the opportunity to participate. Below is their announcement letter.

Contact information has been redacted from this public news post, but PHV members should have received it in email. Reach out to Rod if you need another copy.

Greetings Winemakers,

The Wisconsin Vintners are scheduling a grape crush this fall, which is expected to take place in early to mid-October. Our supplier will be Kendall Farms from Washington State.

Varieties: Due to much feedback from 2024-25 award-winning winemakers, we have chosen to bring in Syrah and Grenache grapes and both Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier juice.

Minimum Quantities for the Club: The grapes are shipped in 800-1000 lb. produce boxes, and the minimum is one box. Juice is shipped in either 320 gallon or 270-gallon totes or, if we don’t meet that volume level, 55-gallon drums. If you order grapes, please do so in 50 lb. units, i.e. 150, 200, 450 etc. The volunteer members weigh all grapes in 50 lb. portions, so we want to help them out. Juice is measured in gallons and the same parameter applies, order in gallon quantities.

Prices: We don’t know what our freight costs are at this time but anticipate a total cost of about $1.45/lb. for grapes and $ 15.45/gallon for juice. That includes the product, packaging materials and shipping. Our first payment to Kendall Farms is August 1, when half of our amount is due, the remainder, right after delivery.

UW Extension: Grapevine Pruning Workshops

Jason Andorfer — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:52:12 GMT

The UW Extension will be putting on a couple of free grapevine pruning workshops soon. These workshops are for beginners and experienced commercial growers as well as home gardeners, and they will be covering pruning techniques for both new vines and mature, established vines.

There are two location options:

Peninsular Agricultural Research Station (PARS)
Friday, March 7 (11:00 am - 1:00 pm)
4312 Hwy 42, North Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfZu4rFt4qmHXmKMH54fzSa_KJGEIauNgGrdC-NHI1ntHzPA/viewform

West Madison Agricultural Research Station (WMARS)
Saturday, March 15 (10:00 am - 12:00 pm)
8502 Mineral Point Rd, Verona, WI 53593
Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfrDSipEfpvi_Fi1GoT_aeEhmc3pSao7-pK2lqXN7HOTEOb2w/viewform

2025 Wine Competitions

Jason Andorfer — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:42:05 GMT

See below for the details of some wine competitions that may be of interest to our club members.

PHV Group Shipping: Chris Kazmerzak is our club wine shipping coordinator again this year! The first one to consider is the Winemaker Magazine Competition. If you are interested in entering the Winemaker Magazine competition, please let Chris know. The WineMaker deadline for receipt of bottles is March 7th. To allow time for shipping, she needs all PHV wine to her by Feb 27th. More information about that competition is available here: https://winemakermag.com/competition/2025-winemaker-competition

PHV Annual Club Competition

https://phv.wildapricot.org/event-6065341
Entry Deadline: April 5th
Drop-off: at February or March regular club meetings. See event details for other options.
Judging: April 13th

Bottles should be registered online before drop off. See event for more details.

Wisconsin State Fair Amateur Wine Competition

https://wistatefair.com/competitions/amateur-wine/
Entry Deadline: Feb. 19th
Drop-off date: March 21st
Drop-off location: Wine and Hop Shop, 1919 Monroe St, Madison WI 53711 608-257-0099 www.wineandhop.com
Judging: April 4th & 5th
Fair: July 31st to Aug. 10th.

Winemaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition

https://www.winemakercompetition.com/
Entry Deadline: March 7th
Shipping: Battenkill Communications, 5515 Main St., Manchester Center, VT 05255. (802) 362-3981
Judging: April 11th-13th
Conference: May 15th-18th

Between the Bluffs Amateur Wine Competition

https://app.box.com/s/tf6vwszle3kre2lzzga6hwpt7uio0i29
Entry Deadline: March 21st
Shipping/Drop-off: Lost Island Winery, 575 Lester Ave, Ste 208, Onalaska, WI 54650. *

*Fermented Friends club members are willing to accept drop-off entries at Wollersheim Winery on Feb. 22nd.

Judging: April 5th
Festival: April 26th

Annual member dues due, please renew today

Jason Andorfer — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 18:03:48 GMT

If you have already renewed your membership, thank you! If not please do so soon. You should see a link in the bottom right of any page on this website when logged in if you need to renew, or look for our email.

Thanks!

WVA Event Invite: Workshop with Daniel Pambianchi

Jason Andorfer — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:23:54 GMT

The Wisconsin Vintners Association has invited our members to join them at one of their upcoming events:

Through a generous donation, we are able to bring Daniel Pambianchi to Burlington for an all day workshop. It will include lunch and materials. Folks can bring their own wine too. The cost is only $60. Anyone is welcome. Registration is available on our website https://www.wihomewinemakers.com/ under events or directly: https://wihomewinemakers.org/product/workshop-with-daniel-pambianchi/

In this seminar, Daniel will help guide you into making consistently flawless wines.

Daniel is an avid and seasoned winemaker both as an amateur and professional. He is the author of the bestselling book “Techniques in Home Winemaking” and has served in the past as Technical Editor and author for WineMaker Magazine. He has lectured at conferences on a range of subjects from wine analysis and chemistry to advanced winemaking techniques.

Wine Competition Shipping

Jason Andorfer — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 13:47:52 GMT

Chris Kazmerzak has volunteered to do the shipping of wine to the various competitions for our club members this year! Here is a message from her:

Hello club members.

I have volunteered to do the shipping of wine to the various competitions.

The first one to consider is the Winemaker Magazine Competition. If you are interested in entering the Winemaker Magazine competition, please let me know.

Your entries must be postmarked, shipped by March 15th.

The Winemaker magazine's last issue had the full details of the competition and the forms.

Here is a link to that information on their website...

2024 WineMaker Competition - WineMakerMag.com

thanks

Chris Kazmerzak

UW Grapes for Sale

Jason Andorfer — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 23:12:55 GMT

The UW is looking for vintners interested in purchasing grapes grown at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station (WMARS). They grow these grapes in research vineyard plots. The revenue from selling them helps offset the cost of maintaining those vineyards to be able to continue doing research to support the grape and wine industry in Wisconsin.

The blocks are very small (only for research), so they don’t produce a lot of fruit. Last year they had a hard time finding someone interest in purchasing them. They currently anticipate harvesting:

3,000 lb Petite Pearl
600 lb Brianna
600 lb Frontenac
300 lb Marquette
300 lb LaCrescent

If interested contact Amaya Atucha at atucha@wisc.edu

2023 PHV Wine Competition Results

Jason Andorfer — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:31:45 GMT

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2023 PHV club wine competition Sunday, March 19th at Bristol Town Hall! There were a total of 94 entries. We reorganized the four categories this year to have more of an even amount of bottles in each category. As you can see with the results, it was more evenly divided. There were two cases registered in the Vinifera Grape and the Fruit/Berry category. Three cases were registered in the All Other Grape category and 10 bottles were registered in the Speciality, Sparkling, & Novelty category.

We had a great turn out for the event with 18 judges, 6 stewards, a handful of help washing glasses, and several individuals helping to set up and clean up. I appreciate those that brought a dish to pass with the potluck that kicked off the event this year. A big shout out to Sherry Parrish for gathering the raffle prizes which sent some lucky members home with wonderful prizes. It was nice to have the support of some members that came for the day to hang out and socialize. Overall, it was a great success and I could not have done it without all of your help. Thank you!!!

Congratulations to James King, winner of Best of Show! Also a big shout out to Ellen Weaver, Andrew Karleigh, and David Kolhwey for winning the Best of Class!

- Tammy Andorfer

For the complete list of awarded wines, click here.

2022 WineMaker Magazine Club Discount Subscription Program

Jason Andorfer — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 22:47:47 GMT

The deadline for the WineMaker Magazine club discount program is coming up on July 30th. They shared the following information with us:

We recognize the great work winemaking clubs do to promote the best hobby in the world and we want to reward you as a winemaking club member with the exclusive chance to save 50% on any of our WineMaker subscription programs and keep everything as simple as possible. Here’s how you can take advantage of our 2022 WineMaker Club Discount Subscription Program:

Go to our WineMaker Subscription/Membership store webpage: https://winemakermag.com/product-category/subscription-membership
Choose what type of one-year subscription or membership you want: You can choose Print Subscription Only, Digital Membership Only, or the Print-Digital Combination.
After getting to the specific subscription/membership webpage (print only, digital only, or print-digital combo) you would like to save 50% on, click on “Add to Order”.
At the top of the form click on the Coupon Code link and type “club22” in the coupon code box for your 50% club savings.
Fill out the Billing and Shipping information on the form. You’ll see the 50% discount already applied after you’ve entered the coupon code from step 3.
Click the box with your payment option you prefer: credit card or PayPal. We accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.). Fill in the payment information, check the terms and conditions box and finally click the “SIGN UP NOW” button.
That’s it! You’ve locked in 50% savings for the next year and you will also be given the chance in the future to renew for another year at the same 50% savings if you wish.
The deadline to participate in this 50% discount program is July 30, 2022.
If you ordered a new print subscription you’ll receive your first copy in about one month. If you already have a print subscription with us, we will simply add one more year (6 issues) to your existing print subscription account (but please make sure you use the same name and mailing address so we can sync up your print renewal properly.)
If you’ve ordered a new digital membership you’ll receive an email about setting up your account giving you full access to the thousands of winemaking stories, recipes, and projects online. Unfortunately at this time you can’t add on an additional year if you already have a current digital membership with us.

Any questions about the club discount subscription program? Please email us at: brad@winemakermag.com.

Inert Gases for Winemaking

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 16:36:21 GMT

There is a nice article at the WineMaker Magazine website on the use of inert gases in wine making. Link below:

https://winemakermag.com/article/inert-gases-for-winemaking?utm_source=WineMaker+Newsletters+and+Events&utm_campaign=8364f5e934-WM+Newsletter+14+Inactive+-+4%2F5%2F22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89ca148646-8364f5e934-66538321&mc_cid=8364f5e934&mc_eid=320e28df4b

Genoa & Beyond to Val di Giust Italy Group Trip August 2024

Jason Andorfer — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 20:27:20 GMT

The LaCrosse Wine club has invited those interested in joining them in their tour of Italy (August 2024)! This is their 8th trip as a club. Please contact Bill Trussoni at trussoni@mwt.net if interested.

I'm told we already have at least a couple PHV members signed up to go!

Click here for more information and signup details

Register for the PHV Wine Competition Judging

Jason Andorfer — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 16:55:11 GMT

PHV Wine Competition Judging

Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 12:00pm

Bristol Town Hall

Entries are due by March 19th!

The annual club wine competition judging is just over a month away! To get your wines ready for submission this year we have two options:

Print and fill out the same form as in past years or..
Fill out a form online (click here!) and have a printable label emailed to you.

The second option also saves our volunteers the work of having to type your entries in themselves, so please consider it!

Once you have your label by either means please affix it to the matching bottle of wine and drop it off.

Current drop-off locations include:

The next club meeting
John Belkin (middle of Sun Prairie)
Dave Kohlway (eastside of Madison)
Kim Genin (westside of Madison)

We're also still looking for more volunteers and judges to help with the actual judging! Please reach out to Tammy if you're interested.

In Real Life - Winesconsin

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 02:23:14 GMT

I was alerted that there is a documentary (sort of) on making wine in Wisconsin which features HAV vineyard in Fredonia, WI, Steve - owner of Parallel 44 and Amaya Atucha, Fruit Extension Specialist at UW-Madison.

The program is on the Newsy TV which is 3.6 if you have a digital antenna or it can be view at https://www.newsy.com/stories/in-real-life-winesconsin/. it's about 20 minutes long and I thought well done for a quick intro to wine production in WI.

2022 WineMaker Magazine Club Discount Subscription Program

Jason Andorfer — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 17:28:57 GMT

In years past our club put together a group purchase of WineMaker magazine. That isn't how it is done anymore, instead each member can now subscribe for themselves with a club discount using the instructions below sent to us by WineMaker magazine. So if you'd like to start or extend your subscription, read on.

Thanks Kaz for passing this on!

Go to our WineMaker Subscription/Membership store webpage: https://winemakermag.com/product-category/subscription-membership
Choose what type of one-year subscription or membership you want: You can choose Print Subscription Only, Digital Membership Only, or the Print-Digital Combination.
After getting to the specific subscription/membership webpage (print only, digital only, or print-digital combo) you would like to save 50% on, click on “Add to Order”.
At the top of the form click on the Coupon Code link and type “club22” in the coupon code box for your 50% club savings.
Fill out the Billing and Shipping information on the form. You’ll see the 50% discount already applied after you’ve entered the coupon code from step 3.
Click the box with your payment option you prefer: credit card or PayPal. We accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.). Fill in the payment information, check the terms and conditions box and finally click the “SIGN UP NOW” button.
That’s it! You’ve locked in 50% savings for the next year and you will also be given the chance in the future to renew for another year at the same 50% savings if you wish.
The deadline to participate in this 50% discount program is June 30, 2022.
If you ordered a new print subscription you’ll receive your first copy in about one month. If you already have a print subscription with us, we will simply add one more year (6 issues) to your existing print subscription account (but please make sure you use the same name and mailing address so we can sync up your print renewal properly.)
If you’ve ordered a new digital membership you’ll receive an email about setting up your account giving you full access to the thousands of winemaking stories, recipes, and projects online. Unfortunately at this time you can’t add on an additional year if you already have a current digital membership with us.

Any questions about the club discount subscription program? Please email us at: brad@winemakermag.com.

VESTA Spring Course Registration Deadline Jan 15, 2021

Jason Andorfer — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 15:48:40 GMT

If you want to learn more about the science of winemaking or growing grapes, taking an online course from VESTA is a great investment. They have courses on both vineyard management and enology (winemaking). The courses often have a practicum component where you shadow or work for a few hours at a winery or vineyard to get the hands-on experience that can't be done in an online course. Both Ellen Weaver and Scott Sanford have taken courses. If you are interested here is a link to the course catalog - https://www.vesta-usa.org/Students/Course-Catalog.

PHV Science committee data from the 2021 Fall Juice Distribution

Robert Quick — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:28:46 GMT

QA numbers for Fall juice buckets;

We/ the science committee would appreciate feedback, it for example tells us that we should improve how we test. RiceGuy1@juno.com

Open the following PDF to access the juice data.

PHV2021Juice2Nos.pdf

Results from the 2021 State Fair Wine Judging

Robert Quick — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 16:35:17 GMT

View this email in your browser

Did Your Entries Win?

Results are now available online for Youth Expo, Amateur Wine, and Amateur Homebrewers. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the contests!

GOTO https://wistatefair.com/competitions/judging-results-page/?mc_cid=6fc5036def&mc_eid=9b99a1d93a

Iowa County Fair Wine Judging Announcement

Robert Quick — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:50:16 GMT

A number of our club members have received the following announcement.
If you are interested in participating, use the attached pdf to register.
If someone is willing to take the club's entries to the fair, please let me know and I will include that information here.
Bob Q

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greetings fellow wine enthusiast,

We’re happy to inform you that the homemade wine judging contest at the Iowa County Fair is on. The competition will be on Friday, September 3, 2021 at the Iowa County Fairgrounds in Mineral Point. Please pre-register your entries by mailing the enclosed entry form and payment to us, or if you prefer email, please scan and email the entry form to iowacountywine@gmail.com and mail the entry fee to us. Checks should be made out to Iowa County Fair. Entry fee is $5.00 per bottle if registered in advance of the fair, and $8.00 per bottle if registered the day of the judging. Advanced registration allows us to better plan how many judges are needed so pre-registration is greatly appreciated. Bottles of wine can be dropped off at the fair office any time before 5:30 p.m. on Friday with judging starting at 6:00 p.m. You will receive your score sheets and have a chance to sample some of the entries after the judging. Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place in each of the four wine classes: Grape, Blended Grape, Fruit or Berry, and Other. Grand Champion and Reserve Champion will be selected from the top scoring bottles. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday, September 3rd.

Kent and Denise Enright

622 State Road 23

Mineral Point, WI 53565-8909

608-642-0747 Kent

608-987-2002 Denise

Entry Form.pdf