Wisconsin Ledge AVA Vineyard Brown County

The Wisconsin Ledge AVA is an

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of winery, wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know abo ...

in northeast

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

along the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...

(locally referred to as "The Ledge") in

Door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...

, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Ozaukee,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

, Fond du Lac,

Calumet Calumet may refer to: Places United States *Calumet Region, in northern Illinois and Indiana **Calumet River **Calumet Trail, Indiana ** Calumet (East Chicago) * Calumet, Colorado *Calumet, Iowa * Calumet, Michigan *Calumet, Minnesota * Calumet ...

, Outagamie, and

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

counties. Certified by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, statutorily named the Tax and Trade Bureau and frequently shortened to TTB, is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, which regulates and collects taxes on trade and imports of alcoho ...

on March 22, 2012, it covers an area of and is the second AVA designation wholly in Wisconsin, following the Lake Wisconsin AVA established in 1994. The state's third is the gargantuan

Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA The Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area covering located along the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries in northwest Illinois, northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota and southwest Wisconsin. Certified by the U ...

which also covers land in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. After 7 long years, and 4000 hours, Steven J. DeBaker of Trout Springs Winery was granted his petition to the TTB for establishment of the Wisconsin Ledge AVA. It became the 203rd AVA in the US, including just under 2.5 million acres making it the 12th largest AVA in the US. Today, there are 24 bonded wineries that lie within the AVA with over 400 acres of vines planted. The topography of Wisconsin Ledge is the result of ancient glacial movement over the region. The land on the peninsula slopes gently upward from the shores of Lake Michigan to the top of the Ledge, before dropping sharply off into Green Bay. Most of the vineyards lie on these eastern-facing slopes that benefit from constant air movement from Lake Michigan, which stores warmth during the summer. The presence of the lake produces a vacuum of sorts during the growing season: warm air over the lake rises, sucking colder air off the land and creating offshore breezes. Cold air cannot settle over the vineyards and there is a constant flow of warmer air, making the growing season here longer than in other parts of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Ledge's glacial soils are made up of gravel, sand and clay over limestone bedrock. An aquifer below the AVA provides mineral-rich ground water to the vines, encouraging deep root growth. The

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

is almost entirely 5b.

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

Appellations of Origin
from the TTB
American Viticultural Areas (AVAs)
from the TTB
Interactive Google AVA map
from ''

American Winery Guide American Winery Guide (AWG) is an online compendium of wineries in the United States. Founded by Jim Finley and Tim Donahoe in 2007, American Winery Guide catalogues and maps American wineries by state and viticultural area. The guide lists t ...

''
Upper Mississippi River Valley AVAThe Great River Road Wine Trail
electronic map * ttp://calcluster2.co.calumet.wi.us/calendar/County%20Board/7-07%20Niagara%20Escarpment%20summary%20for%20CB.pdf American Viticultural Area Petition for Niagara Escarpment of Wisconsin 2007
Viticulture: A "Grape" Idea
hosted by Victoria Cerninich with special guest Dean Volenberg, by Access Door County, ''Sevastopol TV'', January 8, 2014, 24:06 long American Viticultural Areas Wisconsin wine 2012 establishments in Wisconsin

See also

Notes and references

External links