Ground Broken for Door 44 Winery

The patio of the new winery and tasting room will look down on the vineyards, much the same as Parallel 44 Winery in Kewaunee County. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

At the Nov. 14 groundbreaking for the new Door 44 Winery, owner and Wisconsin wine visionary Steve Johnson told a crowd of well wishers how this journey began for him and his wife Maria.

It was August 1994. They had just finished their second year of law school and were visiting filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s winery in Napa Valley.

They bought a bottle of wine, walked into the vineyard, opened the wine and said “Why not Wisconsin?”

“Still today there are people chuckling at that notion,” Johnson said, but he noted that there are now more than 120 wineries in Wisconsin that employ more than 700 people and contribute $500 million annually in taxes.

The couple opened Parallel 44 in Kewaunee County in 2007 that changed one section of the agricultural landscape there to something like an Italian villa atop a gentle slope of vineyards (7,000 vines and counting), and in 2013 opened a location on the northern end of Sturgeon Bay they called Door 44.

All along they had been purchasing the grapes from the vineyard on the site of the new winery since it was started more than seven years ago by Andy and Karen Gundrum of Sturgeon Bay.

Parallel 44 owners Steve and Maria Johnson clink their glasses together as well wishers toast the Nov. 14 groundbreaking for the Door 44 Winery at the corner of County P and Highway 42 in the town of Sevastopol. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

“Andy and Karen could see right from the start how passionate we were about putting Wisconsin on the wine map and delivering that experience to thousands of people who want to enjoy wine in Door County,” Milano said.

After a prolonged struggle to win zoning approval to locate a winery and tasting room on land that already had a productive vineyard in the Town of Sevastopol, the sun came out on the appointed groundbreaking day, prompting Johnson to say of his and others’ efforts to establish a serious wine culture in Wisconsin, “I think we still have a long way to go, but the future is very, very bright.”

Rep. Joel Kitchens also attended the groundbreaking and alluded to the struggles the Johnsons went through to win approval for the winery by mentioning that he normally stays out of local politics, “but I was really happy to see this go through.”

He praised the Johnsons for being serious winemakers and thanked them for making an investment in Door County that will have a benefit beyond their own business, saying that the wine industry has made Door County a destination that brings people to the wineries, restaurants and other businesses throughout the county.

Construction has already begun on the nearly 11,000-square-foot winery, tasting room and vineyard on the 20-acre parcel off County P and Highway 42. It has an anticipated opening date of March 1, 2019.

“Maria and I are thrilled to be pursuing our dream of giving visitors a vineyard and winery experience that will highlight the great potential of growing and making Wisconsin wine from ground to glass,” Johnson said. “This is the next step to demonstrate and build the reputation of a world-class wine region in an unexpected corner of the wine world.”

After hardhats were donned and some dirt shoveled in the ceremonial groundbreaking, the Johnsons served their award-winning sparkling wine Bubbler for a toast to the future.