The winery will host a grand opening from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, June 17 and again on Saturday, June 18, featuring live music, a food truck, and wines. Following the grand opening weekend, the winery’s hours will be Thursdays 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard & Winery is the brainchild of Mark Zdobinski and Jim Meeks, who served on the Preble County Farm Bureau Council together and who share an enthusiasm for wine. The co-founders purchased eight acres in fall 2014 that included the former one-room schoolhouse near the corner of Ohio 127 and Ohio 726 north of Eaton.
The structure was built in 1890 and operated as a schoolhouse until 1929. A seed company used the building for decades afterward, but it had been vacant for more than 30 years before the winery owners started renovations, Zdobinski said.
The vineyard owners have planted more than 1,000 grapevines on the property. It will take a few years for the newly planted grapevines to produce a commercially viable crop, so the winery has been buying grapes this year and will be for the next few years before the winery can produce an estate-grown wine, Zdobinski said.
Zdobinski has won multiple awards as an amateur winemaker before deciding to launch the commercial venture. His awards include the “Amateur Wine of the Year” trophy at the 2015 Indy International Wine Competition last August, at which Zdobinski’s 2014 Valvin Muscat was selected the top wine out of 383 entries in the amateur portion of the competition.
For more information, go to the Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard & Winery Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oldeschoolhousewinery.
About the Author