June 2015
| Business World
101
A mainstay in the Door County economy, Door Peninsula Winery has been producing
the finest selection of fruit wine in Wisconsin for over 40 years. Family owned and op-
erated with 50 different wines and a distillery to choose from, Door Peninsula takes the
snobbery out of spirits.
For two gentlemen, Carlsville Elementary
school was the perfect place to establishDoor
Peninsula Winery in 1974. Vacant for a de-
cade, the two-classroom, 60 student school-
house had been a landmark for the residents
of Door County, Wisconsin for nearly a cen-
tury with its Victorian-era architecture and
bell tower. But it would be the basement that
sealed the deal. With its thick walls and year-
round temperature of 60 degrees, it would
become the birthplace of something iconic
in Door County, Wisconsin. In 1984, the
business would change hands after Bob and
Irene Pollman purchased the winery. Still op-
erating a relatively small operation with no
expansion haven’t been made since 1974, the
grassroots wine movement in Door County
was officially on.
