Wisconsin Ledge AVA · Glenmore, Wisconsin
Estate-grown grapes from a working family farm, fifteen minutes from Green Bay.
Schuettpelz Family Farm · Est. 2018
Estate-grown grapes from a working family farm, fifteen minutes from Green Bay.
Schuettpelz Family Farm · Est. 2018
"We're a family farm on the dolomite ledge in Wisconsin, growing the grapes that will become wine you've never had before — grapes that didn't exist a generation ago, in a place where people build fires in January, play cornhole with a glass of Marquette, and watch the space station fly over the vineyard."What Pelz & Vine Is
Four hundred million years ago, this ground was the floor of a shallow sea. The shells of tiny creatures piled up and became dolomite limestone — the Niagara Escarpment, running from New York through Ontario into Wisconsin. In Glenmore, that ancient bedrock sits under glacial till dropped ten thousand years ago, and it's what makes the Wisconsin Ledge AVA a real, distinct place to grow grapes — not a marketing label.
The Schuettpelz family — a North German name meaning "shake the fur" — took over this Glenmore farm in 2016. Like most ground in Brown County, it started as a dairy farm, then spent years boarding horses. In 2018, the family put it back into serious agricultural production — with grapevines instead of cattle or horses. Not a generations-old vineyard dynasty; a working farm that chose wine as its next chapter.
"A century of dairy. A decade of new ownership. A handful of years of grapevines. Wines you've never had, from a farm that's always worked for a living."
1.5 acres planted since 2018, producing roughly 5,000 pounds of fruit a year. Six grape varieties bred to survive Wisconsin winters and still make serious wine — grapes that mostly didn't exist a generation ago.
The workhorse red of the cold-climate world — dark fruit, good structure, bred at the University of Minnesota to survive winters that would kill a Cabernet vine outright.
Perfumed and bright, with the kind of apricot-and-citrus lift that made it one of the most planted cold-hardy whites in the Midwest.
Deep color, soft tannin, built for a full glass rather than a delicate sip — a newer variety already earning a following.
A gray-skinned sport of Frontenac, capable of everything from a crisp table white to a copper-hued dessert wine.
Tropical and pineapple-forward, one of the more distinctive aromatic whites grown this far north.
High acid, bright cherry fruit — equally at home as a dry red or a bracing rosé.
The dolomite ledge, the glacial till above it, and Green Bay's moderating effect on temperature all shape what grows here — and how it has to be grown.
Down to −35°F. Only genuinely cold-hardy varieties survive — this is the filter every vine in the ground has already passed.
Bud break is fast and short. The vines go from dormant to growing in a matter of weeks.
Long days, warm afternoons, cool nights — the swing that builds sugar without losing acid.
A race against the first hard frost. Every harvest decision matters more here than in a six-month growing window.
A working vineyard first. Here's the path from where we are now.
Right now: pick-your-own grapes are open by appointment each fall. Reach out below to arrange a visit.
Stay in Touch
The domain and socials aren't live yet — for now, the best way to reach the farm is directly.