Pa. winery owner set to sell after 2 decades of running a business that began as a hobby
The former college department chair left teaching and would then open his tasting room in 2007.
Sal Cullari followed a route to opening his winery in Pennsylvania’s Derry Township, in the vicinity of Hershey, that a lot of other hobbyists have taken, beginning as a home winemaker while maintaining his full-time job as chairman of the department of psychology at Lebanon Valley College.
“I never pictured it lasting for 20 years, to be honest,” he said in a phone conversation earlier this week. ”It started off as a hobby, and it just literally took off. I was kind of surprised that it took off the way it did.”
It was a combination of things that pushed him out of academics at age 52 and eventually open Cullari Vineyard & Winery in 2007. “After 9/11, I just, I don’t know, for some reason, it just kind of changed me and I just thought there would be other things to do rather than teaching for the rest of my life,” he said.
Several years later he opened the winery as something, he said, that gave him more things to do. He hasn’t stopped working since.
Over the next couple of decades, his winery would build a loyal following as the first one to be located in Hershey, at 1251 E. Chocolate Ave., what he called the perfect location.
“We were getting people from Hersheypark, we were getting people from the Giant Center, getting people going to concerts. Plus we had been there 15 years, so we were getting a lot of regular customers stopping literally every day for our wine,” he said.
What ultimately changed for the Calabria, Italy, native, who sources from a small vineyard he planted in 2000 at his home and also from other locations in Pennsylvania and adjoining states (it qualifies as a PA Preferred business) was losing that location when the landlord decided in 2023 to bring in an ice cream shop.
“We really took a hit,” he said.
You could call it the beginning of the end for Cullari, 74, who said he plans to soon put the business up for sale.
For one, he said, his children live out of the area and aren’t interested in moving back to take it over.
And, he noted, while he likely could have found another place to lease in downtown Hershey, “the problem is they all want like a five-year or seven-year lease, and honestly, I’m just too old to sign a lease like that.”
The winery presently sells from its locations at in Bricker Village, 2 E. 28th Division Highway, Lititz, which is open six days a week, and at the Farmstead Farmers Market, 1976 Laudermilch Road, Palmyra., on Fridays and Saturdays.
Anyone interested would be purchasing the brand and the equipment, along with the winery’s licenses. If he decides to sell the land, including two houses and the vineyard on a 25-acre lot, that would be separate.
“The optimal thing is if someone already had some land …. or had a vineyard and wanted to start a winery, they could just buy ours, and, you know, it would be like an instant business for them,” he said. “We’re already established, we’ve got, you know, thousands of followers, and so on. That would make sense.”
Cullari has 35 wines on his list, including Coco Nostra, a chocolate wine that couldn’t be more appropriate for the Hershey area. That one has been the producer’s top seller for almost 15 years, he said. Among some of the other customer favorites are a sweet wine called White on White, White Delight (tastes like a Margarita), Black on Black (a blackberry and Pinot Noir blend), and Flaming Red (a blend of Concord and Niagara grapes with a hint of tartness, with a $1 per bottle sold donated to local fire departments).
There’s also a variety of dry reds, including his Spectacullari, KeyOnTee, Simply Red Number 1 (features Malbec) and Simply Red Number 3 (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc). All of the wines range in price from $14 to $17.
“Most of our best-selling wines are all unique,” he said. “They’re formula wines. So those would be part of the package.”
Cullari said last year he sold around 20,000 bottles.
“It’s small, but not tiny,” he said, noting sales have decreased since the Hershey location closed.
“The trick would be for someone young and maybe who has a large family, who wanted to start a business, and then get another location in Hershey,” he said, noting the license gives them the ability to sell at five satellite locations. “That’s basically what you’d need to do. You need to get people to come to your tasting room and try your wine.”
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