Thunder Bay Winery

Thunder Bay Winery brings a vineyard story into the middle of downtown Alpena. The Sahr family established Thunder Bay Vineyards in Ossineke in 2004, planted its first vines in 2005, and opened the winery in Alpena in 2012. That timeline matters: this is not a tasting room built around bought-in branding, but a family operation with roots in Northeast Michigan and a clear connection between the vineyard and the bottle.

The winery works broadly, producing white, red, fruit, cider, and dessert wines that reflect Northern Michigan's cold-climate growing conditions and broad local fruit base. In the vineyard, the family grows 12 grape varieties along with apples, pears, cherries, and currants, which helps explain the range. For travelers, the draw is the Alpena tasting room inside the historic Center Building, just minutes from Lake Huron. It is a good fit for visitors who want options rather than a single-lane tasting menu: wine by the glass, flights, bottles, and seasonal outdoor seating, plus a Barrel Room used for private gatherings. Thunder Bay Winery also keeps a second tasting room presence in Petoskey, but the downtown Alpena location is the heart of the operation.