For years, the family of Vail Miller Sr. and his wife Carol Miller were deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of Moraine’s Heidelberg beverage distribution company. At one time, Albert Vontz III and his sister Carol Miller each owned 50 percent of the voting shares of Heidelberg. Vail Miller Sr. helped lead the company for more than 40 years, serving as co-chairman at a time when their son Vail Miller Jr. was also serving as CEO.
In October 2021, the owners of Heidelberg Distributing sold their business to Redwood Capital Investments.
Vail Miller Jr., then the CEO of Heidelberg, and Albert Vontz IV said in 2021 that the Miller and Vontz families agreed to sell Heidelberg Distributing and Ohio Valley Wine Co. to Redwood, a holding company.
The Napa Valley Register on Saturday reported that a then-unidentified Ohio man died and another Ohioan was injured late Friday in a single-vehicle crash south of Calistoga, attributing the report to the California Highway Patrol.
At about 11:10 p.m. Friday, a Mercedes-Benz GLC300 SUV was headed south on the Silverado Trail in rainy conditions when it went off the roadway and struck a tree south of Dunaweal Lane, according to Vince Pompliano, a spokesman for CHP’s Napa bureau, the Register reported.
Vail Miller Sr., who lived in Oregonia in Warren County, died at the scene.
Vail Miller Jr. has a business in St. Helena, Calif., according to his LinkedIn page. Messages were sent to him and to Chris Rammel, the president of Heidelberg. Vail Miller Jr. asked for prayers and privacy.
In 2017, Heidelberg was the nation’s 14th-largest distributor of beer, wine and spirits, serving 26,000 retailers in Ohio and Kentucky. It had then nine warehouses and offices and 1,600 employees.
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