OUR STORY
6th Generation Land, 1st Generation Family-Owned Business
We all have to start somewhere, and where better than on lands that have sheltered our family for 250 years?
ABOUT TODHUNTER FARM
home of Todhunter Vineyards and Winery
‘Grandma Jessie’ Huston and Samuel Sweeney spent their lives in Westmoreland County and Fairfield Township in what is now called New Florence. Samuel Sweeney’s great-grandfather, Barnabas Sweeney, came here from Donegal, Ireland, and married a local gal named Mary Todhunter.
Mary’s family wasn’t new to the area; her great-grandfather, a Quaker named John Todhunter, came from England to settle in Colonial Pennsylvania in the late 17th century. Over the centuries, the Sweeney and Todhunter families intertwined with local Hamills, Krichbaums, Vickerys, Austraws, Ewings, and Menohers. You can still drive by the Hamill School on Hamill School Road, drive down Austraw Road, visit Menoher Park Memorial Cemetery, and The Historic Hamill House at 303 N. Market Street in downtown Ligonier. In the 19th century, the Todhunter family largely left Pennsylvania for Ohio, but this land remembers our Todhunter forebears without whom we would not have Todhunter Vineyards & Winery over 300 years after their arrival.
Today, the farm is just under 100 acres of old-growth woods, highland agricultural fields, a spring-fed pond, and a very (very) old cabin. We are lucky to call it home.
JOIN US ON OUR JOURNEY
In 2024, we planted five acres of selected hybrid and vinifera vines in unique test plots with different slopes, exposure, and soil types. These vines will produce our first harvest in 2027. In Spring, 2025, another five acres were added. Vines take a few years to mature, but that gives us time to set up our winery and begin winemaking with grapes we purchase from surrounding vineyards while we’re waiting for our estate-grown vines to produce. At full capacity, our vineyard harvest will be approximately 200 tons, some of which will be sold to regional wineries and the rest kept for our own vintages.
We’ll post updates as we make our way through this exciting startup period. We’re eager to get to the finish line, and we hope we see you there!
Our Mission
Your purchases allow Todhunter Vineyards to apply sustainable, regenerative farming methods to produce a range of grape varieties for regional wineries, and to supply our winery with the highest quality grapes for the creation of unique and award-winning wines.
THV will contribute to the vibrancy and growth of the regional economy through job creation and tourism and will become a proud part of our family’s centuries-long legacy in the Ligonier Valley.
Frank Hamill / Owner-Operator
THV will identify and apply appropriate practices that allow for reduction or elimination of chemicals that may harm the environment.
Pruning practices that reduce disease pressure, co-planting with species that attract beneficial insects while repelling pests, use of biologicals rather than harsh chemicals for insect management, are examples of how THV will do our part to keep Pennsylvania air, soils and water clean and safe for generations to come.
Through the addition of micro-hydroelectric, solar, and wind energy technologies, followed by the conversion of farm equipment to all-electric versions, THV aims to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels and achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.
