How Gervasi Vineyard came about: Canton resort winery marks 10 years (photos, video)

CANTON, Ohio - When you look close at Gervasi Vineyard - its beautiful grounds, its bottles of wine, its restaurants, distilling operation and hotels - it's hard to believe it's only 10 years old. But how it came about is even more surprising.

The entire complex, an oasis tucked into an unassuming neighborhood in Stark County, was born out of boredom.

The patriarch behind Gervasi is Ted Swaldo.

"How many people can be 65 years old, start a business, and work every day 12 hours a day and love every minute of it?" he said. "I'm one of those people who like to plant a seed and watch it grow."

That seed grew into more than a plant. It flourished into a garden. And that garden covers 55 acres - a winery, three restaurants, two hotels, The Crush House, The Piazza seasonal outdoor patio, distillery and more. In March, Gervasi will commemorate 10 years with a series of events and celebrations.

A winery takes shape

It all started because Swaldo, an engineer, was preoccupied about what he was retiring from and not what he was retiring to.

"I didn't think one minute about what I was going to do," he said about his future.

He and his wife tried being snowbirds in Florida. He played four rounds of golf, fixed a few things around the house, and did nothing. That lifestyle lasted 45 days.

The property he bought, he said, was the last farm in Canton.

"I had no idea what to do with it," Swaldo said.

The only germ of an idea he did have: "I'd like to make a couple thousand gallons of wine and sell trail baloney and cheese."

That set off a chain of events that led Gervasi to evolve one step at a time.

Like a bottle of wine that has been held too long, the 200-year-old barn was on its last legs.

"A good wind would have taken that building down," he said. But his background in engineering and an eye for creativity spotted some life.

"This," he told himself, "is a pretty nice place."

One day, his son Scott surprised him, said he wasn't entirely fulfilled in his current job and said "I've always wanted to run a restaurant." Ted had found his general manager, and he didn't need to look far.

Then a woman showed up on the site and told Ted "I've always wanted to get married in a vineyard." At the time he was knee deep in mud, trying to make something of the grounds that were formerly a tree farm off 55th Street, and he thought, "Lady, you have more faith in this project than I do." But soon other people came forward wanting to get married in the same setting.

He hired Italian-born Andy Codispoti as winemaker. The hire was a good example of Ted realizing talent in someone, as well as his own limitations.

"I realized really quick I was going to be a terrible winemaker," Ted said. "To be a good winemaker you have to have two things: A great sense of taste and a great sense of smell. I don’t have either."

The Crush House is now a computer controlled state-of-the-art winery - "one of the most sophisticated wineries east of the Mississippi," Ted Swaldo said.

So Swaldo had a winemaker crafting vino, people seeking a place to get married, and soon folks were asking the next question: "Where can we stay?"

They built a hotel. Now they have The Villas, Tuscan-inspired suites (the first overnight guests stayed in 2011), and The Casa, an 18,000-square-foot boutique hotel.

With 400 employees, it is considered a medium-sized business, according to the Stark Economic Development Board.

Going back to the beginning

Boredom might have fueled Swaldo's retirement plan, but it was family lineage that laid the motivation.

"Gervasi" is his mother's maiden name. Swaldo visited Denno, the burg in northern Italy about 90 miles from Austria, to see where his mother's family is from.

Denno had 400 to 500 people but no shortage of churches. A helpful priest dug up a leather book and pointed out his mother's baptism record. He turned a few pages, and Swaldo saw the names of his grandparents and great uncles. The trip was bringing a sense of belonging.

"There's our history," he thought.

He visited the church, came up the vestibule, and saw the baptismal.

"I broke down and cried like a baby," Swaldo said. "I said 'Everything is right there, that’s where everybody started.' "

Gervasi was doing more than simply selling a glass of wine and offering "trail baloney." It was evolving into a getaway respite in Northeast Ohio.

"I said to Scott, 'You know, we're building an Italian village.' "

Ted had always wanted to build a distillery, so they did. The Still House - which opened in late 2018 - is modeled after the church in Italy. It has a 25,000-bottle capacity and operates as a coffeehouse during the day.

"Our whole philosophy," he said, "is to celebrate life."

Scott Swaldo, general manager who is in charge of day-to-day operations, saw the familial connections with the project from a different vantage.

"He was brave and courageous," he said of his father's vision. "It was a chance for our family to do something together."

The Swaldos also knew he needed good people around them. Scott saw something in one of their first hires, Susan Monteleone.

"I knew Scott's sister," Monteleone said. "And I said to her one day 'What's wrong with your dad? I heard he's building this winery in Canton, Ohio, on 55th Street in a residential neighborhood. That's wild. Who does that? It was weird. But I kept coming here watching this project being built. Finally one day I said 'I have to see what's going on over there.' "

She had a good vibe about the place and landed a job there, but when the hotel was being built Scott approached her about another opportunity.

"You know,'" he told her, "We'd love for you to do this."

"I said 'Wait, wait, wait, stop. I've never worked in a hotel. He said 'Well, I never owned a hotel.' "

They took a chance together and Monteleone - one of a handful of workers who have been at Gervasi since the beginning - is now director of resort operations.

Within a decade, Gervasi's operations have expanded over the property: Villa Grande is an event center. Upscale Italian cuisine is served in The Bistro. Gervasi-branded items are sold in The Marketplace.

And then there's the wine. More than 20 different bottles are available, ranging from Nebbiolo and Zinfandel among the reds to Pinot Grigio and Vidal Blanc in whites. Five Italian varietals compose the Italian Collection, which includes a prosecco and Amarone.

Gervasi has collaborated with its neighbor, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, on a line of wines whose names correspond to the hall's mission and values – commitment, integrity, courage, respect and excellence. Releases come out annually from Gervasi, which is five miles away from the hall. And Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. in Akron has brewed beers for Gervasi.

As Ted Swaldo looks back, he realizes his business plan did not take a typical, initially detailed approach that others would have done.

"We were never in the food business, we were never in the hotel business, we were never in the winery or distillery business," he said. "But we're doing OK. That's because we put the energy into it to understand the business and to make the adjustments to make it work."

Diamond anniversary celebration

• GV Classics hourlong wine-pairing event is Sunday, March 1. Cost: $22.

• Flights and Bites at The Bistro is Tuesday, March 10. Cost: $19.

• Solera wine release and tasting is Sunday, March 22. The Solera method - often used for Sherry - blends vintages. Cost: $20.

• Three-hour chocolate stroll is Saturday, March 28. Cost: $34.

• Discount bottle nights (dine-in) will be held on Wednesdays in March.

Facts about Gervasi

• More than 3 million people have visited.

• More than 400 employees.

• $17 million in taxes paid.

• 95% of the original barn wood for what became The Bistro was salvaged.

• More than 920,000 glasses of Gervasi's signature Italian wines (Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio) have been bottled.