Wine and friends make a great blend
By Meghan Callahan
Contributing Writer
KEWAUNEE COUNTY – Cold Country Vines & Wines have partnered with the Friends of The Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse to create a wine that helps benefit the restoration of the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse.
Friends of the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse — an organization dedicated to aiding in facilitating and restoring the Kewaunee Lighthouse —have assisted with its restoration since 2011, when they received ownership of the lighthouse from the National Parks Service.
The owners of Cold Country Vines & Wines, Kay and Jay Stoeger, have been friends with the spearheaders of the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse restoration, Denise and Russ Anderson for several years now.
“They just started coming here about seven or eight years ago and from there we became friends” stated Jay Stoeger about how the relationship began with the couple. “They would bring their dog here… lots of room to run.”
From there, the idea of a partnership to benefit the lighthouse began being toyed around with, but only in the last few years has been acted upon.
Planning and preparation for the new wine began in fall of 2022 but has only just been bottled this past November.
Stoeger describes the flavor of the wine as being “light and fruit-forward with hints of passion fruit and pineapple.”
The Cold Country website describes it as a “semi-sweet, white, table wine” that contains 11% alcohol by volume.
Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse Wine can be found in two Piggly Wiggly in Kewaunee, on the Cold Country Website and at the Cold Country Wines & Vines vineyard located In Kewaunee.
A dollar from each purchase goes to the restoration of Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse.
In addition to the purpose of donating to the lighthouse, the creation of this wine has placed a spotlight on local artist, Donna Fischer.
Fischer was commissioned by Cold Country and The Friends of the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse to paint the lighthouse and landscape for the label.
When asked how long it took her to paint the picture, Donna chuckled and said “it took me one day… I’ve done this so many times it’s automatic.”
The painting is based on an actual picture of the lighthouse and is done in a simplistic, charming style that adds to the apparent efforts put into this endeavor.
The effort displays the community’s dedication to restoring the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse back to its former glory and making it so that the lighthouse is still standing for many years to come.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/friendsofthekewauneepierheadlighthouse.