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May 4, 2026
DOOR COUNTY – “A culmination of 20 years to go to the next level” is how Co-owner Steve Johnson said he views Parallel 44’s forthcoming relocation from its Kewaunee-based winery and vineyard into the Door County peninsula.
“[Kewaunee] was where it all started, and we now want to get focused [so] we can reach a bigger audience,” he said.
Parallel 44’s original location at N2185 Sleepy Hollow Road, Johnson said, is currently for sale – seeking buyers to potentially maintain the 35-acre property and its eight-acre vineyard – as he and his team prepare to consolidate business with its sister location, Door 44.
“Frankly, trying to run both places sort of detracted me from my ultimate goal, which is to put Wisconsin on the map for wine,” he said.
Located at 5464 County Road P in Sturgeon Bay, Johnson said the Door 44 winery and vineyard was established on its current 20-acre property in 2019 – five years after opening its initial tasting room down the road.
“We knew we needed to get where the traffic was, [and] it was only after a few years that I [thought], ‘Darn it, I really want to give people a true vineyard experience,’” he said.
That’s when Johnson said one of Door 44’s local growers offered to sell him the nearby vineyard he’d “always” bought grapes from.
“The original Door 44 was next to Grandma Tommy’s [Country Store], and that existed for about five years, but then in 2019, we opened up our new facility,” he said.
Now, nearly 20 years to the day its first vine was planted, Johnson said they are closing the door to their winery and vineyard in Kewaunee – opting for the one further up the peninsula – but are paying homage by renaming the current Door 44 winery and vineyard to Parallel 44.
“I’m going to take all the lessons learned from Parallel and try to move it to the next level at Door,” he said. “Because it all began in Parallel, we want to rebrand and rename Door 44 to Parallel 44. People associate our brand with that name.”
Johnson said the Parallel 44 tasting room’s final day of operation was April 25.
Since then, he said he and his team have begun moving all of its infrastructure from Kewaunee to Sturgeon Bay.
“In the months of May and June, we will be transferring all of the production equipment to Door 44,” he said. “Ironically, it’s still on the 44th parallel.”
Developing ‘a regional reputation’
Johnson said the name Parallel 44 reflects the Wisconsin Ledge American Viticultural Area (AVA), a federally designated wine region recognized for its unique grape-growing conditions – sharing the same latitude as renowned regions such as Bordeaux, France, and Tuscany, Italy.
Johnson said combining the Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay operations under one Door County location will allow him to stop splitting time between sites and instead focus on “getting the message out there.”
“The epicenter of wine tourism in the state is Door County,” he said. “I know if we have one location in the epicenter of where people think about [Wisconsin] wine, we can reach more people.”
In grape-growing regions across the globe, Johnson said wineries and vineyards tend to be concentrated without necessarily creating competition.
If anything, he said having a number of wineries close to one another helps increase business across the board.
“When you have a concentration of a similar type of business, you get more attention,” he said. “People make a specific point of visiting that particular region, because they know they can experience a lot of different wines.”
Johnson said his goal is to show that the Wisconsin Ledge can build a reputation comparable to regions like Sonoma, California, and Washington state’s Yakima Valley, provided stakeholders continue working collaboratively.
“It helps develop a regional reputation, which is very key in the wine world,” he said. “In essence, I’m trying to redefine what Wisconsin wine means, and if there are more of us working on it together, I think we can have more of an impact.”
Initially featured by The Business News in its August 24, 2024 issue, Johnson said the Ledge Blanc project is an example of how wineries across Door County can collaborate to create collective attention.
Since its founding in 2023, Johnson said the project has grown to encompass several wineries and vineyards across the Wisconsin AVA Ledge – which, according to ledgeblanc.com, includes Whitecap, Wolf & Fox, Mixed Media, Ziegler and Anchored Roots, in addition to Parallel 44.
“Even though we’ve been at this for 20 years, there’s still not a real, accurate perception of what Wisconsin wine can be,” he said. “The Ledge Blanc project is really a big step forward in terms of us promoting the region, and it does two things.”
One, Johnson said, is the project has given Parallel 44 and fellow Ledge Blanc members a space to collaborate and develop a “particular wine style” they believe is “best reflective of” the region, using a blend of four white varietals.
“Then each of us has discretion to sort of tinker with it – to [put] our own spin on it,” he said. “So, there’s a thread of similarity between all of the wines in the Ledge Blanc project, [which] encourages people to go try each one, because you’re curious as to how [one] Ledge Blanc compares with another.”
The second advantage of the Ledge Blanc project, Johnson said, is the added confidence it provides consumers in product quality.
“We have to have [the wine] reviewed by four independent wine evaluators,” he said. “It [needs] a score of 90 or higher before you can use the term Ledge Blanc.”
And, Johnson said the blanc wine represents only the beginning.
“Maybe we’ll do this with a red [wine] within a few years, and maybe we’ll get other parts of the state to adopt this model of giving people what we can do best, stylistically, with a degree of consumer confidence,” he said. “If we work collectively, that will certainly make a bigger impact than if we all as individual wineries just do our own thing.”
Going to the ‘next level’
Johnson said he and his co-owner/wife, Maria Milano, both grew up around an appreciation for wine – courtesy of his grape-growing father in Green Bay and her Italian-born, wine-making father in Stevens Point – eventually inspiring their family to, literally, put down roots in the Wisconsin Ledge AVA.
“My parents and family started [the Kewaunee] vineyard in 2005 and continued to expand it over the next four or five years,” he said. “It’ll be on its 20th vintage [with] eight different varietals [and] about 7,000 vines.”
Johnson said he hopes the future owner of the Kewaunee property will continue maintaining the vineyard so Parallel 44 can purchase its grapes and keep producing the award-winning Wisconsin wines it is known for from the same crop.
“That, in my heart, is what I’d like to see,” he said.
However – regardless of whether they’re able to continue purchasing those grapes – Johnson said Parallel 44’s “100% Wisconsin” experience will not be compromised.
“I have between seven and eight growers I work with on the east side of the state and the southwest part of the state,” he said, “so everything is Wisconsin, from grape to glass.”
Over a six-week season, Johnson said he and his contracted growers collectively harvest roughly 110-120 tons of grapes – “which is the equivalent of about 50 acres” – across their vineyards.
“People think it’s nuts, but, really, these [grapes] are making excellent wines,” he said. “It’s more work, but I think in the end, it’s a more interesting beverage, because even when you get into wine, you realize that wine tastes the way it does because of where [the grapes are] grown.”
In an effort to educate consumers about Wisconsin wine and encourage newcomers to try it, Johnson said he is writing a book titled “Be a Trailblazer: Let Authenticity Be Your Guide,” expected to be released this summer.
“Hopefully, part of that will inspire people to get in the industry, invest in its potential, establish more vineyards and actually make wine that’s truly Wisconsin all the way,” he said.
Once settled in Sturgeon Bay, Johnson said he anticipates Parallel 44 to produce increasing amounts of its “truly Wisconsin” wine.
“We’ve gone from Parallel producing about 20,000 bottles that first year to now, typically, [producing] between 100,000-120,000 bottles,” he said. “Because we have such good connections with our growers, I’ve been able to focus on increasing production without pouring tons of energy into vineyards, because it takes about four years to establish a vineyard.”
Having more time to connect with his customers, Johnson said, is another important goal of this “new era” for Parallel 44.
“Wine is very much of a social beverage,” he said. “When we had two locations, I was always split, trying to keep in touch with [wine] club members. Now, there will be one place for release events. It will allow me to do more tours at [Parallel] 44 [and] have more of a presence there to connect with the customers, because the relationships that develop [are] a big part of this.”
With room to expand his vineyard in Door County, Johnson said he’s excited to create more opportunities for collaboration, shared growth and connection among customers and, especially, winemakers across the Wisconsin Ledge AVA.
“Whether you go to Napa [or] Sonoma, you have these multi-million dollar, huge-brand wineries where the winemakers, still to this day, take wine out of a barrel or tank, put it in a brown bag, get together around a round table and critique the [heck] out of each other – [because] that’s the only way you get better,” he said. “I’m hoping we have more of those types of winemaker roundtables – where we can really be honest with each other and try to go to the next level.”
For more on Parallel 44, visit 44wineries.com.
