The First 10 Years at Gervasi Vineyard

After decades spent building a large, global manufacturing business, Ted Swaldo found himself knee deep in Ohio mud as he worked planting grapevines on an old farm he owned. It was the last remaining farm within the Canton city limits and had a colorful history, but all Ted was thinking about was how he was going to turn it into a working vineyard to support the small trail bologna and cheese stand he was thinking of making his retirement business. 

Suddenly a young woman stopped her car and walked toward him with an excited look on her face. She told him she had always dreamed of getting married in a vineyard and wondered if she could stage her upcoming nuptials in his. Ted could always spot a good business deal and promptly said yes, thinking he could rent a tent for the big event. 

Soon, other young women stopped by with the same request and suddenly Ted’s little vineyard became a hot new wedding venue. In the meantime, his plans for a small trail bologna and cheese stand grew when son Scott expressed a desire to be in the restaurant business and the whole Swaldo family got swept up in the dream. They turned an old, dilapidated barn on the property into The Bistro, a world-class restaurant, because the Swaldo family rarely thinks small. 

As the demand for vineyard weddings grew, they decided to build their own event facility, a Tuscan-inspired pavilion, on the shores of the small lake behind their restaurant rather than continuing to rent tents. Now they had a thriving vineyard, a restaurant (The Bistro), an event center (The Pavilion) and even a gift shop (The Marketplace). 

As the event business grew, they found a real need for overnight guest accommodations. Soon there was a collection of villas scattered along the far shore of the little lake and the Villa Grande complete with a ballroom and meeting spaces. The old farmhouse came back to life as another charming place to stay. The entire property started to take on the appearance of a picturesque Italian village, just like the one Ted’s grandmother had called home before emigrating to Tuscarawas County. 

Summer nights saw the patio and shoreline behind The Bistro filled with people sipping wine, eating pizza, playing Bocci Ball and talking with friends. The Bistro had become one of northeast Ohio’s most popular restaurants and the Gervasi wine business was soaring under the watchful eye of Andy Codispoti, Gervasi’s winemaker, whose own mother had run her family’s vineyard in a small Italian town.

Then the Swaldo family decided they needed a new winery where larger quantities of wine could be made and The Crush House Wine Bar & Eatery was built, including a two story restaurant more contemporary and casual than The Bistro. Soon Gervasi Vineyard had become the second most popular tourist destination in Stark County, right behind the Professional Football Hall of Fame. 

But, why stop there? Several years later, the Swaldo’s decided to move beyond wine and started to develop their own line of Gervasi spirits. Bourbons aged in wine barrels, rose vodka, blood orange gin, and more. To brew their concoctions they built a distillery, The Still House, with a cocktail lounge and coffeehouse attached. It was topped with a contemporary spire reminiscent of the one topping the old St. Gervasio church in the northern Italian village of Denno where Ted Swaldo’s grandmother was born, baptised and raised.

After barely catching a breath, they built the crowning touch on land between The Still House and the south vineyard. The Casa, a boutique hotel, beautifully filled the need for more hotel rooms on the property offering 24 luxury suites.

In ten too-short years, the Swaldo family turned an old farm best known for a 1922 police shoot-out into a scenic Italian village with a contemporary flair. Time flies when you’re having fun.