Open:Â Year Round
Our Story:
In 2007, the Davidson Family Farm was challenged with defining its future vision. Originally a cattle farm, started in the 1960's by Max and Loris Davidson; the land had largely been left to itself for the past 20 years as the Davidson children had moved away and Max and Loris retired from cattle keeping. By 2008, Max and Loris had passed away and the farm was left to the future generations. The Davidson's were always committed to maintaining the land for agricultural uses, however, there was no clear vision as to how that was to occur.
At a family meeting it was brought up as a passing comment that perhaps the land could be used to start a vineyard. Not much else was discussed about it, but the seed had been planted. Blaine Davidson, Max and Loris' grandson was pursing his MBA through Ashland University and was enrolled in an entrepreneurship course, which required the creation of a business plan for the final project. Blaine decided to develop a plan to start a vineyard on the family farm, and with that Hocking Valley Vineyards was born. The Davidson family planted the first 600 grapevines, just over 1 acre, in 2008. French hybrid varieties were chosen for their cold hardiness, Vidal Blanc, Chambourcin, and Traminette. Blaine, as the vineyard manager would commute from Columbus after work and on weekends to take care of the day-to-day activities, but the whole family was involved in the effort.
