Season 2, Episode 11: Terrior, Time, and Transgenerational: Carley Razzi and Penns Woods Winery

Release Date: May 1, 2026

In 2009, Carley Razzi joined her father’s winery, Penns Woods Winery, in Southeastern Pennsylvania at the young age of 23. Carley worked 7 days a week, painting her own path, determined to help her father sell Pennsylvania grown and produced wine. Today’s episode reveals a story of determination, inclusivity, open-mindedness and generational youth. We discuss everything from how selling wine through a tasting room evolves to Carley’s vision of inclusivity within the tasting room. All season long, we’ve discussed various marketing strategies for today’s wineries across the U.S., and our interview with Carley is a fantastic example of creating experiences, events, and community within a wine brand.

Links for things mentioned in this episode:

• Today’s episode features Penns Woods Winery. Penns Woods Information:
  • Website: https://www.pennswoodswinery.com/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pennswoodswine/
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pennswoodswine/
  • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pennswoodswinery
• Penns Woods Winery started in Pennsylvania as Gino Razzi’s hobby in 2001. The tasting room was established in 2006 and Carley Razzi, one of the current owners, joined in 2009 at the age of 23.
  • Although she never imagined working for her father, Carley experienced the lows of the 2009 Recession, incapable of finding a job. Her dad offered her a position at his wine import company, but Carley had a different idea: help him sell Penns Woods wine.
  • To prove to her father she was a good employee, Carley worked long hours trying to get Penns Woods Winery on the wine market.
  • Denise rejoined the Pennsylvania wine industry in 2011 and was immediately drawn to Penns Woods Winery and Carley’s marketing efforts that felt trailblazing. Due to her age, and realizing her job would include a lot of 7-day work weeks, Carley was determined to make her job fun.
  • Carley describes how hard, but vital, it was to get her traditional father to transition from a tasting room where people just walked in to pick up wine to a place where consumers would experience Penns Woods Winery and wine. Surrounded by a fairly traditional wine industry, Carley started a much different path in how Pennsylvania wines were enjoyed and sold.
• Currently, Penns Woods cultivates about 40 acres of vines. At the time when Carley joined, they had about 9 acres. Part of their vineyard sits on a national park.
  • The property that houses the tasting room and estate vineyards is owned by Penns Woods.
  • Davide Creato is the winemaker at Penns Woods Winery. Like Gino, Davide is also from Italy. Today, Davide and his wife, Andrea, co-own Penns Woods Winery with Carley.
  • The tasting room is an old, historical Victorian farmhouse. On he property, they have a lot of outdoor space in addition to the inside of the house.
• In 2010, it was easier to get wine consumers to visit tasting rooms. At that time, it was trendy for people that appreciated wine to visit wineries on their local wine trail. Wine trails were composed of local wineries that were relatively close in proximity to one another and many trails worked together to create marketing budgets that would promote local wines.
  • Today, wine trails have evolved. Winery hopping is not as popular. Instead, wine trails seems to be working together to help each other market local wines in a non-event focused way.
  • Carley emphasized how important it is for wineries to “change with the times.” Today, she thinks wine consumers are looking for an experience where people can enjoy time with their family or with other adult friends in a more inclusive way.
  • Today, she thinks it’s important to create an atmosphere that feels welcome, hosting with good wine, and allowing consumers to take different parts of the tasting room experience in different ways. This includes having good hospitality and adjusting to what various types of people may need while visiting the tasing room.
• Marketing wine in an emerging wine region: Carley’s perspectives.
  • Despite their marketing efforts, Carley emphasized the Penns Woods brand is “wine first” focused meaning that they take time and care to grow and produce good grapes and make good quality wine, which ultimately makes “the sell” easier.
  • Penns Woods is still a part of a regional wine trail. While she thinks the days of winery-hopping seems to have passed, the trail is primarily used to support a joint marketing for multiple wineries that are a part of the trail.
  • Penns Woods attempts to be generationally inclusive meaning that their branding, marketing, tasting room atmosphere, and events resonate with multiple generations all at once. Carley detailed how each generation looks for different things at a winery tasting room, and how they attempt to create an environment that would be appealing to all.
  • Penns Woods is known for their annual events. These events are large and occur annually. Carley mentioned how difficult it was to transition Penns Woods into hosting events as experiences for their consumers, but that this is an essential practice for wineries in emerging wine regions. Many of these events have become annual traditions for many of Penns Woods’ consumers. We highlighted their annual “Derby at the Vineyard” event.
  • Penns Woods also has a wine club, which is an essential part of their business. In 2025, Penns Woods received recognition from the Philadelphia Inquirer, with their wine club being one of “Philly’s Best.”
  • Carley also highlighted how important it is for them to be supported by, and supportive of, other local businesses. This, essentially, creates a community feel for the Penns Woods wine brand.
• Social media is still an important part of Penns Woods marketing. Carley thinks most social media platforms are providing content that is informationally-based in some way, depending on generation and the platform viewed. She highlighted how they had to learn how to use TikTok, say up with trends, and create content for the different generations.
  • The platforms:
    • TikTok is used to create interest and get users into some other platform that has better interaction with the brand. This tends to feed younger generations.
    • Facebook is heavily used by the Boomer Generation, and content is highly informational.
    • Instagram tends to lie somewhere in the middle between TikTok and Facebook, but content is entertaining.
  • Carley highlighted how Penns Woods sells an experience and vibe, with a unifying voice or perspective across all platforms: “the Penns Woods Persona.” They use social media to stay in people’s social media feed during moments when consumers cannot physically get to the winery.
• Emerging wine regions still have an unfolding story. For example, Carley noted how when she came back to Pennsylvania, they were still fighting to get recognized that Pennsylvania wineries could produce good quality wines. While this has been proven over the last 10 years, now there is difficulty getting recognized by the actual wine industry.
  • Denise has previously published an Article on how wine regions are not “better” or “worse” than other wine regions: just different. Are Eastern-Produced Wines a New World Style? reviews this very concept based on her years of tasting wines produced from across the U.S.
  • There is a place for the “serious” wine drinkers: the people who really enjoy learning all of the facts and information about wine. But there is also a place for the wine drinkers who are still uncovering what they like, or for those that like something like Moscato. Carley and Denise discussed this at great length.
  • Denise mentioned interest in the wines that were at her wedding reception. Below are pictures associated with the Pennsylvania wine and beer selections that were enjoyed by guests.

The views and opinions expressed through dgwinemaking.com are intended for general informational purposes only. Denise Gardner Winemaking does not assume any responsibility or liability for those winery, cidery, or alcohol-producing operations that choose to use any of the information seen here or within dgwinemaking.com.