Our Farm

Our Land

Swigart Farms operates two cider orchards, located on opposite sides of the Little Miami River Valley.

Our primary orchard is nestled on the northern slope of a shallow valley on the banks of Lammes Creek in Sugarcreek Township, Ohio.

The Lammes Creek orchard features well drained, highly fertile Miamian Silt-Loam soil sits six feet deep, atop a layer of calcium-rich Ordovician limestone. We enjoy a mild climate: cold winters, wet springs, and hot, dry, humid summers. Our southerly aspect and aggressive creek drainage combine to form an ideal site for growing fine cider apples, in what would otherwise be a challenging location.

Our second orchard sits on the bluff above the Little Miami River, five miles East and 250 feet above the Lammes Creek site, in Spring Valley Township. These soils are looser: silty-clay loams, very deep, well drained, but quite flat. The higher elevation and open site results in a dryer environment with less fungal pressure, but the depth of the soil precludes influence of the underlying limestone rock layer.

Both orchard floors are comprised of white and red clovers, annual rye, and various seasonal covers, such as hairy vetch and sorghum-sudangrasses. Our management is intentionally minimal: we spray primarily to support tree health, only intervening to control disease pressure when necessary. Soil nutrients, especially trace minerals, are closely monitored and adjusted using nonchemical means.

Ciders produced from our apples possess a unique and immediately recognizable terroir.

Our Trees

Swigart Farms grows heirloom American, English, and Spanish cider varieties. Our varietal selection is carefully tailored to produce thoughtful, well-balanced blends and robust, expressive single varietals. Our first block, planted in 2019, is comprised of Golden Russet, Winesap, Hewe’s Crab, Arkansas Black, Ashmead Kernal, Michelin, Harrison, Black Twig, and Kingston Black. We grow freestanding trees on M111, B118, and G890 semistandard rootstocks, training into both Central Leader and modified French Axe shapes.

Our Nursery

Swigart Farms produces between 400 and 1000 new grafts every Spring. March is our grafting season. We source scionwood from dedicated “mother trees”, pruned specifically to generate large quantities of first-year new-growth wood. Our nursery contains several new varieties, not yet planted into our production blocks. These include Porter’s Perfection, Solarina, Arman Sharpe, Yarlington Mill, Coloradona, and Collaos.

Our Ciders

Swigart Farms produces estate-grown, small-batch, hand-crafted table ciders. We are a fruit-first ciderhouse. We favor slow, cold, minimal-intervention fermentations in steel, targeting clean flavor profiles in which fruit characteristics are allowed to dominate. We will occasionally age highly tannic varieties in wood barrels.

The results are complex but highly drinkable ciders that pair well with a wide variety of dishes. We also import Sidra from select cellars in Asturias, Spain, to produce our signature Spanish Tavern Cider blend.

We are currently building and licensing our first commercial ciderworks, and expect our first vintage to be ready for market in Summer 2026.