Our Story
The Rusty Nail Winery is family-owned and female-led, with mother Debbie and daughters Melissa and Leah at the helm. Debbie began making wine as a hobby and passion project, but it soon took off with requests from friends and family. The pieces fell into place, and The Rusty Nail Winery opened to the public on September 25, 2010. Today, Debbie and Melissa operate as business partners, but the whole family supports the winery in less official capacities.
What’s In A Name…
One of the primary questions we get is “where did the name Rusty Nail come from?” Our name is how we best honor the heritage of this historic building we reside in.
We moved into our current residence in downtown Sulphur, Oklahoma, in 2010, and we were surprised to find buckets of rusty nails in the far corners of the space. This discovery sparked an interest in the history of our space and we began investigating. Originally constructed in 1906, our building was home to a hardware store.
As part of the historic downtown Sulphur commerce district, this building is older than the state of Oklahoma!
We are impressed and surprised that the buckets of rusty nails survived from our building’s first tenants to its current residents, and while we did not keep the actual hardware (rust does not pair well with wine), we decided to honor the history of the building through our name. In 2001, the building was placed on Oklahoma’s National Register of Historic Places as part of the downtown Sulphur commercial district.
Memberships & Support
The Rusty Nail Winery is proud to be a member and supporter of the following organizations:
Oklahoma Grape Industry Council (OGIC)
Sulphur Main Street District
Chickasaw Nation Preferred Vendor