IRONHAND Vineyard honors explorer Henri de Tonti who traveled the St. Joseph River Valley alongside the French explorer LaSalle in the late 1600s. During the third Anglo-Dutch War, a grenade took off de Tonti's right hand, which he replaced with an iron hook. Native Americans were awed by his use of the hook, and referred to him as a man of courage and tenacity. They called him Iron Hand. A 1718 memoir prepared for the French government describes the region as having "the finest vines in the world which produce a vast quantity of very excellent grapes. It is the richest district in all the country."
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IRONHAND Vineyard is a small boutique winery (~4000 bottles/year) that embraces de Tonti's spirit of adventure and aspires to compete with wines from across the world.
Our wines are made from a variety of classic European grapes as well as American hybrids, and we make both whites and reds. All aspects of wine making, from grape harvesting to bottling, are performed on-site. We love to drink our wine, and think that you will too! Please contact us for group reservations. Cabernet Franc grapes ripening for our estate 2019 vintage.
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May 19, 2020: We built fires around the vineyard to help protect the vines from the late spring frost.
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