Chateau Aeronautique Winery & Blue Skies Brewery | Take flight in Onsted with Michigan-made beer and wine

A drive down Michigan Avenue through the Irish Hills these days offers a steady parade of shuttered reminders that this place isn’t what it used to be. Remember the Prehistoric Forest, go-cart tracks, stagecoach and all the rest of the attractions that were Irish Hills destinations? They’re gone now, their scattered remains sometimes still standing among tall grass.

It’s nice, then, to stumble across something that represents progress in the Irish Hills. The Chateau Aeronautique Winery & Blue Skies Brewery sits just off the main strip where Pentecost Highway leads south toward Sand Lake. It’s a different clientele than those who once flocked to the nearby putt-putt golf course, but these are changing times. The winery and brewery represent one of the region’s newest attractions, with a long menu of wines made from Michigan-grown grapes, Michigan-made beers, and a patio stage that puts tribute bands in the spotlight nearly weekend of the year. For food, the selection is notably thin, headlined by pizza and calzones. But it was never about food at Chateau Aeronautique Winery and Blue Skies Brewery – it’s all about the drink.

The business was started in owner Lorenzo Lizarralde’s Jackson County airplane hangar. That humble start led to a wine tasting room in Jackson, then the winery/brewery in Onsted, and eventually a third location in Auburn Hills. The entire operation celebrates Lorenzo’s pilot past, perhaps no other feature more than the bar top in the Irish Hills. It was once the wing of an airplane that crashed in Colorado. Lorenzo salvaged it, brought it here, and now his staff serves flights of house-crafted beers and wines on it.

It's a great example of repurposing something that no longer fulfills its original purpose. Now, what to do with those Prehistoric Forest leftovers?