Brandeberry Winery draws visitors from throughout the area
The tiny village of Enon may not be known worldwide for making great wines just yet, but a family-owned, award-winning local winery is well on its way to changing that.
“We haven’t stopped all year,” says Kelly Brandeberry, co-owner and manager of Brandeberry Winery. “We continued to do our food trucks and music all year, all through the winter. Because we operated outdoors all last year, I think we became the hot place to go.”
Resting on the banks of the Mad River between Springfield and Dayton, Enon, Ohio, is known for many things: the annual Apple Butter Festival, being the home of the Greenon High School Knights and the Enon Adena Mound, Ohio’s second-largest conical Native American mound. But just outside of town, on Jackson Road, the Brandeberry Winery has proved itself to be a true destination spot for local residents from all over the Miami Valley, and it’s luring people from near and far out to this sleepy little country hamlet.
Brandeberry Winery was founded in 2009 by the late Jim Brandeberry, a former Dean of Engineering at Wright State University. Jim had a history of making award-winning amateur wines, and he decided to open the winery after retiring from his academic career. All Brandeberry wines are still handmade on the site in small batches, utilizing methods from the winery’s founder, who is fondly remembered as the Lil’ Olde Winemaker.
Brandeberry’s current wine varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese, Vidal, Riesling, La Crescent, Cayuga, Moscato, Cranberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Fruit wines are specialties of the winery, and Brandeberry has won awards for Best Fruit Wine at the Ohio Wine Competition on several occasions for both its Blackberry and Black Dog wines.
While the wine may be the main draw for local oenophiles, the special events, live music and food trucks hosted by Brandeberry on the weekends keep satisfied visitors coming back week after week. The winery features different food trucks every Friday and Saturday, and also hosts live music of all types every Friday and Saturday.
“Our big festival, Dogtoberfest, which is the second Saturday in October, will happen again this year,” says Brandeberry. “It’s a fundraiser for the Clark County SPCA. Guests can bring their well-behaved dogs to the winery, and we’ll have a costume contest for the dogs. We’ll have vendors, live music, a basket raffle, food trucks, a pet photographer and we’ll also release a new wine during that event. We’ll donate $5 from every bottle we sell to the Clark County SPCA.”
Upcoming new wine releases for 2021 include a chocolate raspberry wine called Seduction and a new lavender wine called Lavender Dreams—the lavender is sourced from a large field located just behind the winery. In addition, two popular favorites, Berry Monster and Raspberry Storm, will be re-released this year after selling out their previous runs.
Brandeberry Winery is located at 5118 W. Jackson Road in Enon. At press time, the hours were 3-8 p.m. on Thursdays, 1-9 p.m. on Fridays, and noon-9 p.m. on Saturdays.
