One of the Philly area’s oldest wineries is on the market for $4.5 million

Chaddsford Winery, one of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s oldest wineries, hit the market this week as its New York-based, second-generation owners look to consolidate their investment portfolio. General manager Corey Krejcik said the $4.5 million listing, which is not publicly posted, includes the winery business, its various licenses and tasting rooms, and five-acre Chester County estate.

The winery will be operating as usual while it searches for a new owner, Krejcik said. The sale offering was first reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

By now, most Pennsylvanians are likely aware of the state’s flourishing winery scene, stretching from the shores of Lake Erie to the warehouses of Philadelphia. But few know just how robust this industry is. Pennsylvania produced more than 12.4 million gallons of wine in 2023, trailing only California, Washington, and New York in volume. The state’s wineries generated $747 million in tourism revenue in 2023, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Chaddsford Winery is one of the biggest players in the state, producing an average of 24,000 cases a year (though Krejcik notes the winery made less in recent years due to the pandemic). Nearly half of the winery’s sales comes from customers buying on-site; a quarter comes from wholesale distribution in seven states, including Pennsylvania.

Though the winery’s pitch for a new owner markets its sales figures, it also plays up the property’s virtues as an events venue, a trend that has grown exponentially among wineries in recent decades. Chaddsford fields 200 visitors on a typical Saturday. And while it only offers “micro-weddings” with up to 40 guests for now, the winery handles more than 1,000 visitors a day during festivals like its Red, White and BBQ and Adult Trick or Treat.

Between prospects for expanded wholesale efforts and event opportunities, Krejcik is hopeful a buyer will recognize a good investment. “Our business doesn’t rely on just one way to generate revenue,” he said.

Chaddsford Winery was cofounded in 1982 by husband and wife Eric and Lee Miller, who both had experience in the wine industry, and Carl Petrillo, head of Yonkers Contracting Co., who held a majority share of the business. Chaddsford revived winemaking in the Brandywine Valley, not far from where the nation’s first commercial winery started in 1793. The Millers lived on the property at 632 Baltimore Pike for years, tending their own vineyard in Elverson in addition to sourcing grapes from the region to make wine.

The Millers retired and sold their stake in the business to the Petrillo family in 2012, a decade after growing the winery to the largest in the state. (Its production peaked at 30,000 cases per year in the early ’00s.) Chester County’s nascent winery scene grew to be thriving. The area is now home to several producers, including Wayvine, Va La, and Paradocx.

Chaddsford’s reputation was initially staked on classic European-style wines but shifted toward sweet, seasonal wines — think spiced apple, sangria, and holiday wine — over time. Sweet wines comprised 90% of the winery’s production between 2011 and 2014, and Krejcik said the sweet wines are still the backbone of its wholesale wine sales.

“Sweet wine allows us to make dry wine,” he said, adding that the winery’s expertise in sweet wines doesn’t detract from the quality of its dry wines, and that Chaddsford doesn’t view its sweet-wine drinkers as lesser.

“We’re not trying to convert sweet drinkers into dry wine drinkers, and we’re not trying to convince dry wine drinkers that they really should be drinking more sweet wine,” Krejcik said. “These are all our wines and we take pride in introducing all of them.”

Krejcik has been Chaddsford’s vice president and general manager for nine years, but he’s been working for the winery on and off since 2002, when he and his wife discovered Chaddsford. “The first winery that we ever visited was Chaddsford, and that really is what started us down our path and our interests,” he said. (His wife became the winery’s controller in 2019.)

Krejcik says he’d happily stay on, depending on how things shake out with the sale.

“The Petrillo family is open to multiple scenarios,” he said. “If we could find somebody that’s got a love for this property and for this brand to continue some semblance of a legacy, that would be great, but all options are on the table.”