About Us

OUR STORY

When IG Winery opened in 2012, we were a tiny new business in a region where there had been no wineries since the late 1800’s. Wineries in Southern Utah were such a rarity that there were no zoning regulations, the financial community had no idea how to evaluate the business and the local city leaders weren’t sure how it should be licensed. We had to work hard to put together a combination of investors and banks, and even helped the city write new zoning codes that would allow for wineries in the area. One-by-one, we overcame those hurdles and I/G Winery opened our first location in a small converted cottage behind the Iron Gate Bed & Breakfast.

We soon discovered that we were not only opening a new business, but we were also creating a new industry in this region. The challenge was both exciting and daunting, but we managed to survive with the help of our family members and our closest friends. They pitched in to help at every stage of the process including construction, winemaking and selling wine from the little shed next door.

Now, a decade later, we are still family owned and operated. Those young teenagers that were crawling in the wine tanks, riding old pallets on the forklift, and working in the family business (one of them so he could date the daughter), are now slowly taking over the business. One of those young teenagers eventually became Utah’s first professional woman winemaker. In addition to the original family members, we are now fortunate to have a team of wonderful people working with us and we are watching them bring their own kids into the wine business.

From our hard work in those early years, we have paved the way for new wineries to open in southern Utah. We were once the only winery, but now we are the oldest and largest winery in southern Utah among a growing number of other wineries. When we started there were no vineyards in southern Utah, today there are over 60 acres of vineyard and more on the way. We created the Utah Wine Festival that gets bigger and better every year and now we kick off the Utah Wine Trail to help encourage wine lovers to see all the amazing wineries located in southern Utah. The family that is I/G Winery is proud to be a part of growing not only a winery, but an entire wine industry. It is a badge we wear with honor.