Wine tip:

If you are a novice wine drinker and are overwhelmed at the choices at the store, here are some consistently reliable and inexpensive wine labels ($5 to $8) that we recommend:

Columbia Crest
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Lindemann's
Banrock Station
Fetzer

Make sure when you stay with us to visit Tenba Ridge Winery (May through December) and Buzz & Brew, a shop in Black River Falls for home wine and beer-making enthusiasts.

Also nearby is Garvin Heights Vineyards in Winon a, MN and the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls. Both are open for tours and tastings.


Wine enthusiasts

Brambleberry is the best bed and breakfast for wine lovers. Your innkeepers Chris and Sherry are enthusiastic wine connoisseurs. We write a weekly wine column in the La Crosse Tribune and Chippewa Falls Daily Herald. We offer a large selection of great tasting, quality wines for guests to enjoy.
For wine novices wanting advice, Chris and Sherry will guide you to wonderful selections at affordable prices that you can find in your own local grocers or wine store.
Big, bold, earthy Italian reds and French Bordeaux are among Sherry's favorites. She detests white zinfandel, thinking it a very poor excuse for a wine.
Chris also enjoys the hearty reds and is particulary fond of petite sirah and Italian red.
Most people who regularly read our "wine of the week" column have come to realize that Sherry is the more discerning of the wine tasting duo. Chris pretty much likes ANY wine that someone else has paid for. But when it comes to discerning beer taste, Chris has the leg up.
We enjoy sharing wine, but state law restricts the amount we are allowed to serve guests, so feel free to bring your own wine and cocktails too. We have openers and glasses you may use.

Our weekly column introduces people to the different varieties of wine that we ourselves would drink. We rate each wine on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, but never feature a wine below 2.5 stars, because if we wouldn't drink it, we won't write about it. The wines we feature are mainly between $7 and $15. ( To read our columns from 2007 and 2008, go go Wine of the Week archives. For a newspaper archive search of some of our wine columns, go to Wine of the week).
 
   
 
Guests on the their way from Madison or Chicago along I-94 should stop at the Burr Oak Winery at N5873 Hwy. 12/16 located between New Lisbon and Mauston. Also stop at Carr Valley Cheese along Hwy. 12/16 in Mauston for some of Wisconsin's best artisan cheeses.

 
Chris and Sherry Hardie

Featured wine of the week

 

Redtree Petite Sirah 2005

Tracing the ancestry of the ever-evolving and expanding California wine industry would be a challenge for even the experienced genealogist.
Redtree is a brand new line of wines from The Cecchetti Wine Co., launched a year ago by Roy Cecchetti. Cecchetti was one of the co-founders of Sebastiani Cellar, largely known for its Pepperwood Grove line. Cecchetti sold his stake to his brother-in-law Don Sebastiani in 2003.
There’s always room in our cellar for a value-priced wine that delivers quality. We’re partial to petite sirah and found Redtree to our liking. The wine opens with dark fruit and berry aroma, delivers juicy berry flavors and has a medium body with soft tannins.
Sherry: “A fragrant and fruity blend of black cherry, licorice, spice and a touch of smokiness.” (3.5 stars)
Chris: “Blackberry and cherry with anise and earth.” (3.5 stars)
Available locally for about $6.50.
Coming next week: Osborne Solaz Blanco Viura

 

 

 

Visit our Wine of the Week archives