Make it four in a row for Parallel 44 Vineyard & Winery.
The Kewaunee-based winery and vineyard, which also has its Door 44 sister winery and vineyard just north of Sturgeon Bay, was named Winery of the Year for a fourth straight time at the 2025 International Cold Climate Wine Competition held in July in Minneapolis. Four wineries in Door County, including Door 44, also were recognized with medals, including one Best in Class showing.
Sponsored by the Minnesota Grape Growers Association, the annual competition is the only one dedicated specifically to wines made from grapes varieties grown in the Upper Midwest, Northeast U.S. and parts of Canada. Double gold, gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to top wines, along with Best of Class winners for specific wine types and Best of Show winners for broader categories (Best Red Wine, Best White Wine, etc.), with the Winery of the Year award going to the winery earning the most medals.
Parallel 44 wines won 26 medals, which tied it for Winery of the Year honors with Ziegler Winery in the Fond du Lac community of Malone. Parallel 44’s haul including two double gold medals, five golds, 13 silvers and six bronzes. A total of 354 wines entered by 48 wineries from seven states and Ontario were taste-tested by a panel of 21 judges who included sommeliers and professional writers on wine.
This is not only their fourth straight Winery of the Year win but also their fifth in the eight years the competition has taken place, with its first coming in 2017.
Parallel 44’s double gold medal winners were its Bliss in the sweet rose category and Ledge Blanc in the white blend category. Gold medals went to its Frontenac Blanc and La Crescent varietal white wines, Vintner’s Reserve and Red Door red blends, and Ice Cider fruit wine.
Steve Johnson, wine maker for Parallel 44 and Door 44 and co-owner with his wife, Maria Milano, said the competition is helping establish Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest as a place where grapes can be grown and wines made from those grapes that can compare favorably to wines from better-known American wine regions like California, the Pacific Northwest and New York. A news release from Parallel 44 noted that in the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Parallel 44 wines earned 18 medals, the most of any winery outside California, including two Best in Class honors.
Johnson is among the leaders of area wine makers who helped wines made from local grapes gain official recognition as one of the newest wine appellations in America, a defined geographical name that indicates where grapes for a wine were grown. It’s called Wisconsin Ledge in respect to the Niagara Escarpment that cuts through northeastern Wisconsin.
“To be able to continue to consistently grow and craft these wines to impress these judges four years in a row means that we are on the right track to putting this unexpected corner of the wine world on the map,” Johnson said in a news release. “Every year the wines get better and the expectations of the competition go higher. This is what you want when you are establishing a new wine region. In the early days, and even now, it still feels like we are pioneering a new wine region from new wine grape varieties for a new and emerging wine drinking public.”
Anchored Roots Vineyard & Winery in Egg Harbor also took a top honor with its double gold medal-winning Frontenac Gris varietal white wine named Best in Class. The winery also took home two silver medals and one bronze.
Two other double gold wines come from Door County, both in the sparking wine class: the Cote de Mort Blanc de Blanc by Mixed Meadia in Egg Harbor and Door 44’s Sparkler. Mixed Meadia won a total of seven medals, with its double gold medal joined by four silvers and two bronzes, and Door 44 won six medals including five silvers.
The other Door County winery to win medals is Whitecap Winery in Ellison Bay, which earned four medals, including a silver for its Frontenac and three bronzes.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee winery named Winery of the Year for fourth straight time in international contest
Reporting by Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
