Ardon Creek Apple

The Ardon Creek Winery sits on the site of the old Furlong orchard. This orchard is believed to have been planted by my grandfather and great grandfather.

As a youth, I remember plucking off some apples to eat. I especially remember the golden delicious, snow, and crab apples. These orchard trees were not the dwarf-style trees planted today but the tall, large, and sprawling varieties of years gone by.

Please enjoy this Old Orchard wine as a reminder of the wonderful small orchards that dotted the farmsteads throughout the Midwest in years gone by.

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Brinna & Seyval Grapes with Natural Apple Flavors & Hint of Lemon
11.4%
$13.99
Ardon Creek Apple wine by Ardon Creek

Red 52

On October 20, during the drought of 1952, a Milwaukee Line freight train steamed through 76 Township toward the town of Ardon, setting the countryside ablaze by spewing sparks from its locomotive. Area farmers with hitched plows crashed through their closed gates to head off the firewall.

With the help of several surrounding area fire departments, they put out the fire, limiting damage to hearth and home. With its fresh and fruity flavor, Red 52 is offered to commemorate the brave efforts of the area farmers and fire departments. It truly does take a village!

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Concord Grapes
11.6%
Iowa State Fair Double Gold Winner
$12.99
Red 52 wine by Ardon Creek

County Fair

For many of America’s youth who came of age during the ’50’s, ’60s, and ’70s, participating in the local county or state fair was the biggest social and educational event of the year. They displayed their skills with livestock, gardening, talent, and leadership contests.

However, just as much—if not more—was learned by staying away from the farm overnight, hearing words never heard at home, interacting with the carnival concessions, and finally having a chance to steal a glance at that cute someone you had never seen before.

Remember and enjoy!

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Delaware, Cayuga White, & Seyval Grapes with Notes of Pineapple, Honey, & Orange Blossom
11.7%
FLIWC Gold Winner
$13.99
County Fair wine by Ardon Creek

Jonnycakes

As a child, my father pointed out to me a depression along 260th Road that was made by the stagecoaches as they traversed through 76 Township during the mid to late 1800s. One intersects with this stagecoach trail one mile south of the Ardon Creek Winery. Go left or angle right, and you’ll experience the curves and undulations of the trail.

Even modern-day road engineering has not extinguished this stagecoach route, which typically followed American Indian and buffalo trails along the ridges of hills and across the prairies. (No one-mile-square road sections in that area!) There was a route that connected Muscatine, Letts, Columbus City, Washington, and, finally Des Moines. Stagecoach lines suffered bandit robberies, Indian attacks, prairie fires, mires in mud, and the occasional turnover. Yes, in Iowa!

Jonnycakes were a treat sold to stagecoach riders as they passed through town. Enjoy this strawberry-flavored grape wine and toast those who came before us settling this wonderful prairie.

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Seyval Grapes with Natural Strawberry Flavors
11.3%
$14.99
Jonnycakes wine by Ardon Creek

Old Brick Red

Old Brick Red wine is offered to commemorate the original St. Malachy’s red brick church, built in 1854. Once a month, a priest from Washington, IA, would stay overnight with one of the parish families and say mass on Sunday at St. Malachy’s.

The site of this building was 50 yards south of Ardon Creek Winery. The bricks were fired from clay taken from the west side of Independence Avenue, one-quarter of a mile north from our winery. In 1902, the current St. Malachy’s Church was constructed one mile east of the original red brick structure. The original building was razed in 1981.

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Rich Blackberry
12.5%
Iowa State Fair Silver Winner
$14.99
Old Brick Red wine by Ardon Creek

Sweet Reward

A toast to love, hope, and family!

In 1847, John Furlong left Ireland and the devastation of the Great Irish Potato Famine for a new life in America. Arriving as a starving immigrant in New York, he worked at both a tannery and a dairy.

Johanna Cosgrove also immigrated from Ireland as a young woman, traveling on a difficult journey with the support of her two sisters and looking for a better life. John and Johanna met, fell in love, and were married in 1852. Looking for adventure and more opportunity, the couple moved west with their invalid son, Johnnie, settling in the small Iowa 76 township where Ardon Creek Winery is located today.

John and Johanna were my great grandparents. With this wine, we celebrate their simple love story, their optimism, and their sense of adventure that allows their legacy to continue.

– Mike L. Furlong, Ardon Creek, Founder

Sweet
Noiret Grapes with Red Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Finish
12.3%
$9.99
Sweet Reward wine by Ardon Creek