Julie is (the late) Bob Wollersheim’s daughter and in the late 1970s Bob bought the property that was Haraszthy’s Vineyard and Winery. Bob and his wife JoAnn worked to restore it and Bob and Philippe (who came to America as an intern from a French wine-making family) have made Wollersheim Winery one of the most successful in the country. Bob – thanks to his successful efforts to produce great wine in the Midwest – is known now as “the Father of the Wisconsin Wine Industry”. Bob, Philippe and Julie – have proudly preserved Agoston’s original “wine cave” on the hillside behind the winery. People traveling through the area are welcome to visit, see the cave, enjoy spectacular views over theWisconsin River Valley and tour the winery. We look at it (proudly) as the birthplace of the California Wine Industry – and the Wisconsin Wine Industry!!

Cheers -everyone is invited to stop in and enjoy .

Haraszthy may have been something of a manic dilettante, and the fact that he was eaten by crocodiles in Nicaragua rather than dropping dead behind a mule in his vineyard seems to confirm this.

As a body of work, Hilgard’s viticultural accomplishments in the 1880′s probably did far more to spread and establish winegrowing in the State. Nevertheless, Haraszthy was the first, and very likely some of the materials Hilgard planted in his 7 experimental vineyards came from Haraszthy’s plantings.