It's time to make the wine

FORESTVILLE - The Stony Creek Vineyard in Forestville is a sea of purple and green.

“This is the third day that we're harvesting in this vineyard, but it's probably the happiest day because it's the day that everything gets cleared from the vines,” Brad Schmiling of von Stiehl Winery said.

Dozens of workers, many who choose to be paid in wine, snip thousands and thousands of grapes.

• Photos: Grape harvest

Owners say mild weather near Lake Michigan made the difference.

“We've been fortunate,” Schmiling said. “The lake is only a couple miles away, so in spring when everybody was so warm, we were still fairly cool and the grapes didn't bud out to a point where frost damaged them.

But elsewhere in the state, the season is two to three weeks ahead. Drought conditions and an early frost kept grape yields low.

• Videos: A trip to Trout Springs Winery in Greenleaf
• Photos: A visit to a vineyard

“With the decreased moisture content and increased heat, we had a quicker season, an earlier harvest, and increased quality,” said Wisconsin Grape Growers Association president Ryan Prellwitz.

Grapes from this vineyard will produce 1,000 gallons of wine for the von Stiehl Winery in Algoma, and its sister company Captain's Walk Winery in Green Bay. One wine recently won a silver medal at an international competition in Iowa.

“That was for our Captain's Mistress port-style red that we produce with grapes we grow here out at the Stony Creek Vineyard in southern Door County,” said P.J. Koehler of Captain’s Walk Winery.

Fruits for their labor and a chance to promote the region a leader in making wine.

“It is a great tourism draw,” Schmiling said. “We'll see people that come to ours that want to go to the rest of the wineries, or start somewhere up in Door County, and work their way down here.”

According to the Wisconsin Grape Growers Association, there are more than 70 wineries throughout the state and more than 300 grape growers.