Fifteen different hard ciders, a craft market, live music and fall harvest foods will fill the grounds of Spring Hill Cider Works in Geneva, Ohio, when the winery's fifth annual Ciderfest takes over the property October 3-4. Admission is free, with hours running 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at 6062 S. Ridge Road W. (Route 84), and visitors can buy samples and flights once they arrive.
The festival is the signature fall event for a business that has spent nearly two decades reinventing itself. As reported by Cleveland.com, Spring Hill made fresh apple cider from 1980 through 2007, relying mostly on apples grown on its own property, before opening its winery in 2009 and shifting its focus to winemaking. About six years after that pivot, owner and cidermaker Tom Swank and his family noticed the growing nationwide popularity of hard cider and saw an opportunity to return to the cider business, according to the same report.
Today Spring Hill Cider Works offers 15 different ciders ranging from dry to semi-sweet, all made with original recipes and real fruit juices or purees, excluding artificial colors or flavors. The lineup includes Brake4Berries, blended with blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry purees, and Blood Thirsty, made with blood orange puree, per Cleveland.com's report. Swank told the outlet that Ciderfest celebrates hard cider and helps people learn what it is, what it tastes like and how it is made, adding that hard cider might fill a niche for some winery guests.
A Family Orchard's Long Road to Craft Cider
The property's roots go back further than its wine and cider labels suggest. The 200-acre Harpersfield Township site was originally purchased in spring 1953 by Tom White — Swank's grandfather — to serve as an orchard, according to The Winery at Spring Hill. White owned and operated orchards in Chardon, Windsor and Geneva. White's original orchard sign still hangs inside the winery today, a physical link between the current cidery and its mid-century agricultural beginnings.
Spring Hill sits in the Grand River Valley wine region, which contains more than 1,300 acres of vineyards and produces over half of Ohio's winegrapes, according to North East Ohio Wineries. The region's cooler climate and Lake Erie location are part of what makes the corridor suited to grapes and other fruit. Nearby, Kent State University at Ashtabula operates Ohio's only viticulture and enology degree programs, and students complete practicums at vineyards and wineries as the program prepares workers for the wine industry, per Kent State Magazine.
Barrel-Aged Ciders and a Statewide Trail
One of the cidery's specialty offerings, Bourbon Barrel Maple, combines bourbon-barrel aging with local Ohio maple syrup. The cider is aged using Cleveland Whiskey oak bourbon barrels, according to Visit Ashtabula County's account of the region's barrel-sharing tradition. That process combines oak and maple flavors in the finished cider.
Spring Hill's ciders carry varying alcohol percentages, and the business offers them separately from its wine lineup. The distinction has helped shape how producers like Spring Hill market and price their cider lineup separately from their wine offerings.
The cidery's barrel-aging program is part of its broader hard-cider lineup. The business also offers hard cider alongside its wines.
This year, Spring Hill was also selected as one of 13 official stops on the inaugural Ohio Hard Cider Trail, launched in May by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary, according to WHIO TV. The statewide program lets visitors collect passport stamps at participating cideries through December.
Growth Beyond the Tasting Room
Spring Hill sells its hard ciders to local taprooms, restaurants and stores, according to The Winery at Spring Hill's own account of its growth. Cleveland.com reports the business plans to further expand hard cider availability at major northeast Ohio retailers, marking a new phase for the family enterprise beyond direct festival sales.
Ciderfest itself remains rooted in its agritourism identity. Sunday's festivities will include a car cruise-in and the Cousins Lobster Truck, alongside the tastings, craft market, live music and fall harvest foods that run both days, per Cleveland.com. Pet owners are welcome too — the winery features a dedicated outdoor dog zone known as the Barking Lot, according to Visit Ashtabula County.
The festival also fits into a broader wave of fall harvest events across northeast Ohio, including Lake Metroparks Farmpark's Apple & Honey Harvest Weekend in Kirtland, which features live cider-pressing demonstrations and Johnny Appleseed historical displays. Fall harvest festivals like these take place across the region in September and October, when Ashtabula County's orchards, wineries and cideries host their own fall events.
