Driftless Terroir Studio

04/22/2025

Spring Green will be home to a pioneering orchard of pawpaw — with an aim to make the “tropical” flavors of this native fruit more mainstream in the United States within 15 years.

Recently, Adam D’Angelo, director of research for Project Pawpaw, visited WPR's “The Larry Meiller Show” to talk about efforts to introduce pawpaws to the masses. He also spoke about planting orchards, including one in Spring Green, to research and develop new varieties.

04/28/2021

Here is another great story of the Driftless Area -- as interpreted at The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums.

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Visitors attending the opening of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums this weekend will be greeted with refreshed exhibitions and a renewed pioneer spirit as the museum

03/19/2020

Are you handy and adventurous — part historic preservationist, part carpenter, part plumber, part electrician, part painter, part mechanic, part landscaper, part inventor? Join The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums team as a Museum Facilities Technician! Check out the job description and application instructions at the link below. Position is part-time, 12 hours per week, $15 per hour.

https://www.platteville.org/museums/page/museum-facilities-technician

02/11/2020

Thanks to Erik Flesch for his Driftless Terroir column this month in Voice of the River Valley called "Malolactic Fermentation Makes Wines Yummier." Erik highlights a kind of fermentation in winemaking that converts malic acid, which is associated with the taste of green apples, into lactic acid, which has the flavor and aroma of buttered popcorn.

If you wanted to dip a glass into this magical place where we live and to drink deeply of it, what do you imagine it could taste like? Is it bright and acidic or rich and buttery? The flavor you experience comes down to the choice of a winemaker. Some of us have well-defined preferences…

06/11/2019

Big news! Kyle Cherek steps down and Luke Zahm of Driftless Cafe is the new Wisconsin Foodie. Best wishes to both!

Luke Zahm of Driftless Cafe takes over for Kyle Cherek, the show's host for 11 years

03/02/2019

Thanks to Erin Crooks Lynch for her beautiful Driftless Terroir column this month in Voice of the River Valley called "The Proof of Placeness in the Pastry." Erin highlights the integrity and intensely delicious flavors of local diverse whole grains such as those grown by Meadowlark Organics. "Each new grain offers us a flavor profile that pairs with different ingredients, like rye with chocolate, cornmeal with fruit, wheat with nuts, and so on."

09/06/2018

This weekend at Platteville Historic Re-enactment! Sal Camacho portrays Red Hawk, or “Me’Shktenye,” and through interactive re-enactment offers an experience of the daily life of a Potawatomi Indian during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

07/22/2018

Show your mussels!

07/21/2018

"Driftless Terroir: Our Many Medicinal Herbs" was contributed by Caitlin Hatch in the June issue of Voice of the River Valley. Caitlin identifies common Driftless plants and describes how she uses them to help soothe her family's bumps, bruises and sniffles.

The leaves of common native plants growing outside our back door can serve as reliable home remedies. From left to right: yarrow, burdock, plantain, chickweed, jewelweed. Photos courtesy of Caitlin Ha

07/18/2017

Hook's Cheese is excellent and does exemplify a pragmatic approach to life in the Driftless by taking a recipe like CHEDDAR and localizing it at least two ways: through up to 20 years of age in their own cave, and through mixing up their own cocktails of the milk of three species forged through their response to local forage.

Recent Fromagination Cheesemonger Vivien Rendleman – who took copious notes during our visits to producers – wrote our third installment: Tony Hook has been involved in cheese making since 1970, when he began working for the Monroe Cheese Corporation in Barneveld, the town that now gives his tasty g...

03/10/2017

"When I extracted honey for the first time, I discovered two hives—one in an urban backyard and another in a rural mountain landscape—produced honey with different consistencies, colors and flavors. The reason: Honey has terroir."

Wine and honey? More similar than you'd think. With vineyards and beekeepers teaming up, and "honey tastings" on the rise, a cult culture has sprung up.

12/27/2016

Micah Solomon makes some poignant observations about how terroir influences authenticity in branding one's enterprise. "I think of local authenticity as 'terroir,' and it’s a powerful way to make a connection with your customers. Terroir is the French term for everything (climate, soil, etc.) that goes into creating a wine or growing a piece of produce, but I extend the term to apply as well to anything that should be variable based on locale: language, form and design, furnishings, and, of course, food. Strive as a brand to be true to your local 'terroir,' rather than conforming to a central and sterile corporate vision."

Even the smallest, scrappiest entrepreneurial businesses are sometimes tempted to put on airs of formality and rigidity when providing customer service. (Picture Jimmy McGill (from in Better Call Saul) in the early days of his law practice, answering the phone in what he thinks is an aristocratic Br...