Moon Dancer Winery, after lengthy litigation, closed Thursday, perhaps for good

Jim Leaman stopped by the Moon Dancer Vineyard & Winery at noon on Thursday, wondering whether his band, Travelers, could get another gig at the venue.

The six-piece band, which plays country blues and folk, had performed at the winery, just south of Wrightsville on Klines Run Road, and Leaman wondered whether they could get a return date.

Leaman had heard about the winery’s legal issues – a neighbor had sued the winery over violating the deed restrictions in the rural development – and wasn’t sure whether it was going to remain open.

Winery owner Jim Miller greeted Leaman in the winery’s retail/bar area and told him that, unless his appeal is successful, Thursday was the winery’s last day.

“I can’t imagine what emotions you’re going through,” Leaman told Miller.

“You can’t imagine,” Miller said.

The litigation, brought by neighbors Amanda Perko and Matthew Balsavage, who live next door to the winery, has been winding through York County Court since 2017. The current litigation seemingly concluded in May, when York County Judge Clyde Vedder ruled that the winery had violated deed restrictions in the high-end Lauxmont Farms development that forbid commercial activity and business that created an annoyance for neighbors.

The winery closed on June 10, but was granted a reprieve on June 19, allowing it to reopen on June 21 as the court reconsidered the case. The court reconsidered it and ruled last week that the winery had to close Thursday, June 18.

Miller described it as the world’s worst roller-coaster ride.

“It’s devastating,” he said Thursday afternoon as a few customers stopped by to sip wine and offer condolences.

Miller acquired the 50-acre property in 1993 and started growing grapes. His neighbors, then, helped him out. The woman who owned the house occupied by the couple who sued him, he said, had helped paint the interior of the winery and allowed him to plant grape vines on her property. Neighbor kids would help harvest grapes, he said, “and squish them with their feet.”

In 2004, he opened the winery in the sprawling French-country-style building. The winery has served as an event venue and has supported local musicians, he said, creating a gathering place for the community and the region and “wherever else wine lovers come from.” Recently, the winery installed a custom-made Italian-made bottling machine in its cellar, 17 feet below the ground floor, that can bottle 1,000 bottles of wine an hour.

Previously: After a brief reprieve, Moon Dancer Winery ordered to close - again

Previously: Moon Dancer to reopen Friday as court rules to allow it to continue operating

And now, after 20 years, unless his appeals are successful, the winery has reached its end. “We’re going to do whatever we can to fight this and to stay open,” Miller said. “It never should have gotten this far.”

Miller said his land is preserved for agricultural use and “we have been good stewards of this land for 30 years, and now we’re being told we can’t.”

He said, “I have no idea how long we’ll be shut down.”

If it becomes indefinite, he said, he may have to subdivide the property to build houses for “rich people.”

Perko and Balsavage declined to comment on the winery’s closure, according to their attorney.

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Moon Dancer Winery, after lengthy litigation, closed Thursday, perhaps for good