After 42 years of ownership, one of the founding families of Chaddsford Winery is looking to sell the beloved Chester County business.
The Petrillo family has an asking price of around $4.5 million for the winery, one of the largest in Pennsylvania. Included in the sale are the 5-acre property, the business, its existing equipment and furnishings and all of its licenses.
Carl Petrillo founded Chaddsford Winery at 632 Baltimore Pike in 1982 with Eric and Lee Miller. In 2012, the Millers sold their minority ownership in the business to Petrillo and retired. Petrillo's sons Greg and Matt have since taken over ownership of the winery.
The Petrillos, based in New York, decided to sell the winery because they are looking to get out of the wine business and consolidate their investment portfolio, Chaddsford Winery General Manager Corey Krejcik told the Business Journal. The "turnkey opportunity" will allow a new owner to continue Chaddsford Winery's operations as is, but Krejcik said the Petrillo family is also open to selling to someone with other plans for the property.
"If a new owner or ownership group comes in and wishes to sort of continue with the same formula and continue the legacy in that capacity, that would be a great thing, but [it is] certainly not the only option that would be considered at this point," said Krejcik, who's been in his current role since 2015 and worked off and on for the winery for 20 years.
Chaddsford Winery plans to remain open and continue its normal operations while the property and business are being marketed for sale.
Chaddsford Winery produces an average of 24,000 cases annually but has the capacity to produce about 50,000 cases per year on-site, according to Krejcik. About 5,000 of those cases are distributed across seven states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky and Florida. Recently, the winery signed on with a new distributor for Maryland that will allow it to beginning distributing in Washington, D.C., potentially as soon as next month.
During its time in operation, Chaddsford Winery has garnered accolades such as the Keystone Cup for Best White Wine in the state and Best in Show - Sparkling Semilion at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
The property does not include a vineyard. Chaddsford Winery currently sources its grapes from local and regional producers.
The winery includes three buildings. Its 200-year-old, 24,000-square-foot main barn contains the tasting room, retail space, an event space called the Barrel Room and all of the winery's production operations. Neighboring that building is a small cottage with an outdoor tent that is used for private events.
Also located on the property is the Vintner's House, a more than 200-year-old building that used to be featured on the label of Chaddsford Winery's products. The six-bedroom farmhouse has been converted into office space for the winery and a private event space called The Wine Study.
The Barrel Room, cottage and Wine Study all help house the 80 to 100 private events the winery's hosts annually. Each seat between 40 to 50 people, according to Krejcik, while the tasting room in the barn seats another 25 to 30 guests.
Krejcik said the barn building is "ripe for redevelopment." It has one space currently being used for storage that could accommodate between 150 and 200 people for wedding receptions and other large events.
"There's a massive opportunity to expand what we do from the event venue side to become really a premier wedding destination," Krejcik said.
Chaddsford Winery currently employs 14 people full-time, including Krejcik. It also has between 20 and 50 part-time employees, depending on the season. The winery tends to be busiest in the spring and around Christmastime, when it operates pop-ups at the annual Christmas Village, its neighboring Dilworth Park Wintergarden and Tinseltown Holiday Spectacular.
Those three holiday markets make up six-figures in annual sales for the winery.
Chaddsford Winery is also known for its Adult Trick or Treat event held every weekend during the month of October. Last year, it sold more than 6,300 advanced tickets to the event, which includes a walking tour of the winery's grounds and pairings of wines, beers and cocktails with various artisanal treats.
Some of the winery's most popular products include Niagara, a white dessert wine; Sunset Blush, a sweet rosé; Spiced Apple, a mulled wine; and its red sangria. In the direct-to-consumer segment, it's seeing growing demand for its sparkling wines and rosés.
Chaddsford Winery also piloted a canned product last year called the Sangria Spritzer, which Krejcik said performed well for the winery.
"That's another area that we've now sort of developed some experience in and have a blueprint for success for if we decided to go down that road," Krejcik said.