Broad Run Cheesehouse, Dover
Location: Eastern Amish Country between Sugarcreek and Dover.
Provenance: Started in 1933, Broad Run Cheesehouse was a dairy farmers’ cooperative until 1977, when cheesemaker John “Hans” Schindler and his wife, Nancy, purchased the factory. The Schindlers kept the well-established Broad Run name, but gradually enlarged and improved their cheesehouse. In the 1980s, Nancy debuted an in-house shop featuring curtains and lace, and in 2003, their son, Chad, who had learned to craft cheese from his father, also became a winemaker when the family launched a new venture, Swiss Heritage Winery. Although Hans has passed away, Chad and Nancy continue to offer award-winning cheeses, a wide variety of wines, and eclectic gift and home décor items in one small, but inviting, chalet-style store. “Being a small operation is part of our charm,” Chad Schindler says. “People like the family atmosphere here.”
Significance: With both a cheese factory and winery on site, the Schindlers have created a popular retail and tasting-room destination that uniquely embraces the classic pairing of wine and cheese. “I don’t know of any other place in the country that makes its own wine and its own cheese,” Schindler says.
Currently: Specializing in artisan cheeses that range from varieties of Swiss and cheddar to Gruyère and Limburger, Broad Run produces about a million pounds of cheese every year. The milk it uses comes mostly from local Amish farms, and arrives at the factory in 10-gallon cans that have been cooled in spring water.
Swiss Heritage Winery uses grape and fruit juices from Ohio, New York, and Canada to make some 10,000 gallons of wine per year. Many of the wines have names inspired by family members, whose photos are featured on the bottles. Coal Miner’s Daughter, for example, is a watermelon wine adorned with a girlhood photo of Nancy.
It’s a little-known fact that: Mild Swiss is Broad Run’s best-selling cheese, while Victorian Lace, a Niagara and Catawba blend, is a customer favorite.
