Ohio State graduate's local winery listed for sale

CANAL WINCHESTER, Ohio (WCMH) -- A central Ohio winery opened nearly 30 years ago by an Ohio State University graduate is now on the market, offering four acres of vineyards home to more than 60 types of grapes.

Slate Run Vineyard at 1900 Winchester Southern Road in Canal Winchester has been listed for $725,000, according to a listing posted online by real estate agent Megan Bell with Re/Max Apex. The family-owned business boasts 17 proprietary wines made entirely with Ohio fruit and produced "in a manner different than nearly any other winery" in the state.

An Ohio State College of Business graduate, owner Keith Pritchard started as an amateur winemaker in the 1980s by planting and selling his own grapes to small wineries. By 1994, "facing aging, burnout, and a wife that wanted to see him, Keith came to the realization that opening a winery would allow him to utilize all the skills and education that he developed previously in life," the winery's site states.

Opened in 1997 and named for a small nearby creek, Slate Run's property includes four structures. A tasting room and store features seating, bathrooms and an attached warehouse, while a second building is home to an event center than can be used for rentals. The third and fourth buildings are being used as storage.

That listing notes that Pritchard is leaving all inventory and equipment, and is willing to assist a new owner during the transition.

Slate Run is one of several central Ohio businesses whose owners are looking to pass their companies onto new hands. Tommy Wayne's Pizza in Amanda is now on the market for $445,000. The family-owned business has been operating for more than 40 years at the 1,626-square-foot building, which sits on a more than one-acre corner lot.

An Old Bag of Nails pub in Delaware was listed on the market more than six months ago with an asking price of $1.9 million. While Old Bag of Nails is likely to continue renting from whoever purchases the property, the new landlord could decide to fill the space with a different tenant.

Rockmill Brewery was also on the market earlier this year for more than $6 million then for sale in a foreclosure auction. A husband and wife who held their wedding at the brewery cast the winning bid of $2,400,600 to purchase Rockmill. The bid came just above the minimum asking price of $2.4 million, but far from the Fairfield County Common Pleas Court’s appraisal of $3.6 million.