The State Fair is a Milwaukee tradition and the fact that beer is flowing faster than the little brook in the DNR exhibit is no surprise.

The Wisconsin Winery Association has a prominent building on the fair grounds and it's always doing a brisk business. And that's been a good sign now for a number of years. But, a lot of that business is in honey wine, fruit wine, mead and novelty Packers wine with "cheesehead" caps; all of which can be good and good fun. But a lot of drinkers of traditional grape wines are looking for something a little different.

Enter Russell Turco and Door County's Stone's Throw Winery, which returns to the State Fair after its debut last year.

I ran into Turco this morning, taking a break at the wine bar in his space just west of the cream puff emporium. He said his State Fair business has been great this, partially because he's teamed up with Zaffiro's Pizza.

In fact, their corner space dishes up pizzas and other Italian dishes alongside a list of Stone's Throw wines, including a State Fair red that is a blend of more wines than I can possibly remember (although I know there's Barbera, Grignolino, Dolcetto, Zinfandel, Petite Syrah in there, alongside some others), and even better is the Zaffiro's red, which is about 70 percent Barbera and rounded with a dash of Zinfandel and another of Petite Syrah).

It's also partially due to the fact, that Wisconsinites, more than ever, are trading Genuine Draft for Estate wines.

Once the Fair has come and gone, Turco heads back to Baileys Harbor to tend to the winery and also to some new projects he's got in the barrel. Once he's ready to tell us more, we'll share it with you.

In the meantime, head over to the Fair, look for the rare 1965 Italian Ape Car -- ape, pronounced AH-pay, means "bee" in Italian and the three-wheeler is a sister to the Vespa (which means "wasp") scooter. Right behind it, there is a large selection of wine and cannoli with your name on them!