Jim Miller just loves people who can’t keep a secret. In fact, as the self-proclaimed “chief cook and bottle washer,” not to mention owner, grape grower and winemaker, at Moon Dancer Winery, Ciderhouse and Taproom near Wrightsville, York County, the Berks County native’s livelihood depends on it. He said people stop in all the time and realize they’ve stumbled upon a gem, then go through that internal tug of war over whether to let others in on their little secret. More often than not, they do. The winery’s picturesque location — it’s perched on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River — combined with its libations, food and entertainment are plenty to keep people coming back once they’ve made their way there. And really, finding the place isn’t that difficult at all.

Once you arrive, you may feel like you’re far from anywhere, but in reality you’re just a few miles off the beaten path where Route 30 bridges the Susquehanna, linking Lancaster and York counties.

A long road to winery owner

Miller grew up in Pennside and graduated from Exeter High School in 1982, then got a degree in forestry and worked as a bond trader for 20-plus years before stumbling — somewhat literally — into the winery business.

After buying eight acres of farmland in 1994 for its scenic view, then building a house on it, he bought 1,800 California grapevines and planted them on five acres behind his house to escape the rigors of mowing grass.

The vines took off, aided by the topography and microclimate associated with being situated so close to the river.

Before long, Miller was selling his harvest to area wineries, including Pinnacle Ridge and Manatawny Creek in Berks County. Meanwhile, he had started dabbling in winemaking, and he kept adding more vines year after year.

Late one night, on the long drive home from delivering grapes to wineries, he turned to his parents, the Rev. Jim and Janet Miller, with this revelation: “We were doing all the work, and they were having all the fun.”

He decided then and there that instead of selling the grapes, he was going to start his own winery. By 2004, it was up and running in an inviting French country-style structure with a spacious 17-foot-deep cellar that was plenty big enough to grow into instead of out of.

But this was where the stumbling came in.

On the eve of the grand opening, Miller and a friend were carrying the next day’s main course — a pig — in a bin full of ice to its final resting place, when one of them — there’s disagreement as to whom — dropped his end of the load and Miller’s foot suffered the consequences.

He made his away across the river to Columbia Hospital, where he explained his misfortune to the emergency room physician. The diagnosis came back: a broken toe.

“We opened up at noon (the next day),” Miller said, smiling at his own predicament, “and at 1 o’clock these two couples came in, and we said, ‘Hey, how’d you hear about us?’ because we only had a couple of little signs along the road. They said, ‘We were just over at the Columbia Hospital, and the nurse said some guy opened a winery and dropped a pig on his toe last night.’ ”

For Miller, it was lesson learned.

“One of our strategies from the beginning,” he said, “has always been that word-ofmouth is our best advertising.”

A destination winery

Spreading the word about Moon Dancer, a name that harkens back to the Susquehannock tribes that once populated the area, and the splendor of the moon shimmering off the waters below, hasn’t been too much of a problem.

Miller recalled striking up a conversation one day with a man who was standing on the patio overlooking the river and talking on his cellphone.

“He said, ‘This is one of the best kept secrets,’ ” Miller said, “so I said, ‘Don’t keep it a secret.’ And he said, ‘I was trying to, but I just called two of my friends to come up and meet me here.’ ”

That seems to be the way it goes at Moon Dancer, which draws day-trippers from as far north as Long Island and southern New England and as far south as Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

“We get people from those outlying areas, and nine times out of 10 when they come back, they have two or three other people with them,” Miller said.

The destination’s draws are many, starting, of course, with the wine.

Miller has purchased adjoining parcels of land through the years and now owns 40 acres — “it’s some of the best agriculture soils in the whole world,” he said — on which he grows eight varieties of grapes: cabernet franc, merlot, pinot noir, shiraz, chardonnay, riesling, chambourcin and cabernet sauvignon.

His wines range from dry to semi-dry to semi-sweet to sweet, the latter bottled under the Moondog Cellars label, with each named for four-legged friends of the winery. Rocky’s Mango, for instance, is named for Miller’s friendly sidekick, an Australian shepherd who handles onsite pizza-crumb cleanup without complaining a lick.

There are also four hard ciders, 10 taps for local and regional beers and spirits from Lancaster’s Thistle Finch Distillery.

Food comes out fresh and locally sourced from a woodfired pizza oven Miller and a friend built by hand from scratch off the side of the patio. It heats to 900 degrees and cooks thin-crust pies

the sauce and dough are house-made — in about two minutes.

Miller said he dubbed the oven Ta Ta Kua, a Paraguayan Indian word for fire hole, on the say-so of a customer from that South American country who told him they have been using similar ovens there for thousands of years.

Weekend entertainment at Moon Dancer is plentiful. Acoustic duos and trios perform free of charge every Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and every Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.

In addition, a concert series begins May 13 with the Moon Dancer Rock the Arts Fest and continues periodically through October. These events, which range from jazz to blues to country to reggae, typically have an admission fee, with tickets available at the door or in advance by calling the winery.

“We wanted a place where people can come and not just stop in and get a good bottle of Pennsylvania wine, but also stay for a while and make some friends and enjoy the afternoon,” Miller said.

He seems to have no regrets about leaving the corporate world behind in favor of his jack-of-all-trades gig at Moon Dancer, even though it’s really hard work.

“It’s about eight days a week,” he joked, “but you get the rest of the time off.”