At this family-run orchard, winery and cider mill near Bonduel, there's 270 varieties of apples, gallons of 'liquid gold' and a bar
TOWN OF WASHINGTON - As a self-described “windbag,” Paul Hammen can talk your ear off when it comes to apples.
He grows more than 270 varieties of them at Hammen Family Orchard & Winery along County E not far from Bonduel in Shawano County. It sounds like a lot — and it is — until he reminds you there are roughly 10,000 known varieties in all.
Familiar names like McIntosh and Cortland are always among his bestsellers, but if you put him on the spot and ask him to pick his favorites, “Oh, that’s tough,” he says.
He likes Holstein, which is firm, juicy and a great keeper. He thinks Crimson Gold, a small apple developed by his hero, apple propagator Albert Etter, tops even the popular Honeycrisp. He calls Edward VII "a premier apple" that’s better than a Granny Smith for baking when it’s still green, and then it turns red and sweeter as the season goes.
As a general rule of thumb, an apple that has yellow or orange to it is going to be sweet, Hammen said. If it has some green, it’s going to be tart.
And if it’s brownish, like some of the 15 varieties of russets he grows? Those have more of a creamy texture and, to be honest, a bit of an image problem. The Knobbed Russet, for example, looks like a lumpy potato with warts.
“The ugliest apple in the world,” he said, but also one of the best tasting.
“I try to steer people to them right off the get-go, just to change their perception of a big, beautiful Red Delicious, the worst-tasting apple there is. Everybody will reach out and grab that pretty apple, so you’ve got to change people’s perceptions.”
Hammen has people who come specifically for the russets. They know better than to judge an apple by how it looks, which brings us to the limited apple offerings you see in grocery stores.
“To be a commercial apple, flavor isn’t in the equation. Did you know that?” Hammen said. “It’s got to be big and beautiful. It can’t bruise, and it’s got to keep.”
To encourage people to be more adventurous when it comes to discovering new apples, Hammen Orchard does free apple tasting all day on Saturdays. Whatever varieties of apples they have in their large, temperature-controlled retail room, they slice up for people to try. Last year during their peak harvest time, they had 97 varieties on one weekend.
They usually begin picking their earliest apples at the end of the July and the last ones around the time of a hard freeze. Many of them keep well into winter. It was mid-March when they pressed the last of their apples this year.
“After we get snow, people stop thinking about apples, but we have a lot of great apple varieties that last a really long time,” Hammen said.
Apple wine, hot pepper mead and sweet cider are made onsite
The family-run orchard is the brainchild of Hammen, who for 30 years traveled to Chicago for work as a lineman and came back on the weekends to grow apples and make wine. He took it from a hobby to a full-time venture in 2019.
In addition to he and wife Leslie, their daughter, Heather Olsen, son-in-law, Matt Wudtke, and 15-year-old grandson, Christopher Hammen, are the core crew. His other two daughters, Alyssa Wudtke and Amber Hammen, also lend a hand at the small operation, as does Matt’s mom, Jeanne. A pair of black Russian terriers, Blue and Tara, are the official greeters.
Ten of the 16 acres are devoted to growing fruit. In addition to the apples, they also sell 10 varieties of peaches. The cherries, pears and plums grown on site all go directly into their wines. Grapes come from vineyards within an hour’s drive, and the strawberries for the strawberry rhubarb wine are sourced from just across the road.
Paul Hammen is a big believer in keeping things local. In the orchard’s gift store you’ll find local honey, apple cinnamon molasses, goat milk soap, sunflower oil from Bergsbaken Farms by Cecil and honey from Fox Honey Farm in De Pere. He used to sell his pickled beets, dilly beans, pickled watermelon rinds and other goodies but, to some of his regulars’ disappointment, he just doesn’t have time for canning these days.
He’s too busy making fruit wine, grape wine, mead and cider.
The sweet cider is a blend of the many apples grown at the orchard. Once it comes out of the press — “liquid gold,” he calls it — it goes right in the freezer in gallon and half-gallon jugs. There are no sulfites or processing.
“So when people thaw it out, it’s fresh frozen. It taste like it come off the press,” he said.
Making hard cider was a new venture for Hammen when he started the business. It continues to grow in popularity, as more and more cider mills pop up.
“A lot of them, they sweeten it and then they flavor it, and that’s just a fruity drink,” he said. “I have to laugh when they say they’ve got cider. That’s not cider. I’m real traditional. Fermented apple juice, that’s what cider is.”
The difference between cider and wine is the alcohol content. Cider is generally about 6½% to 7%; wine is 11% to 15%. The more sugar, the more alcohol. Hammen made a dry sumac wine that required 240 pounds of sugar in a 60-gallon barrel to get the alcohol content to 16%.
He often incorporates bitter apples into his cider, like a red fleshed variety he’s using for a red bittersweet that he hopes is going to turn out to be pink.
From tree to cider or wine is not a quick process. Apples first have to be picked — a never-ending task in September and October — go through a washer and polisher and then rumble their way through the grinder.
From there, the mashed-up apples get transferred to the cider press, which Hammen built with the help of Christopher Hammen, who was 8 at the time and now has his own "orchard manager" business cards. What would have cost $35,000 to purchase, the Hammens were able to do for $1,500.
Each bushel of apples produces about 3 gallons of juice, or about 20 to 25 gallons per pressing. The pulp that’s left goes to the cattle across the road.
Not surprising, the apple wine is the bestseller. Paul Hammen is selective about which apples he puts in it. He also recommends the hot pepper mead and wine made with Petite Pearl grapes.
Music stage by the woods, hard cider on tap are in the works
The business just added on to the main building this year and already Hammen would like more room. Grapes ferment in big steel tanks, and there are pallets of sugar and honey by the barrel. In the walk-in freezer, plums and cherries picked earlier in the season are covered in sugar and will be made into wine later.
With bottling, labeling and tree pruning in the winter, it’s a year-round operation.
There’s also a wine bar (Hammen built that, too) to enjoy a glass or do a tasting. He has plans to add tap lines for hard cider and a couple of local microbrews “for the husbands that don’t like wine.” There’s apple cider available for kids.
The space has hosted bridal showers and church groups. It’s dog-friendly and open every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas. There’s a patio with a pergola for nice weather days. You’ll usually find Hammen on duty behind the bar on Sundays, dispensing apple knowledge and kidding with visitors.
“Oh, we like having fun with people. I think when they come here they have a good time, and that’s what it’s supposed to be about,” he said.
It’s the regulars who stop in and often buy a case of wine at a time who have helped to get the business off the ground and closer to turning a profit, but getting new people to discover its charming but out-of-the-way location is still a work in progress. Sometimes people within a couple of miles tell Hammen they had no idea it was there.
Next year, he hopes to have a space out back by the woods with a stage for live music, a fire pit and bean bags or other games for families. He would also like to start shipping orders and selling to retail in the area.
Hammen is never at a loss for ideas.
“Well, it gives me something to do. You can’t just sit in the rocking chair,” he said. “I’ve always liked apples, and I’ve always liked making wine, and I like when people appreciate the wine. We get so many comments.”
Hammen Family Orchard & Winery is located at W4794 County Road E in the town of Washington in Shawano County. It has a Bonduel mailing address but is actually closer to Cecil. It's open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, except Christmas and Thanksgiving. To see the list of apple varieties and wines, visit hammenfamilyorchardandwinery.com. Phone: 715-745-6545.
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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Hammen Family Orchard & Winery near Bonduel grows 270 kinds of apples
