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Personal Bets
Christian Slupe: From The Ledgers To The Cellar, Lakeridge Winery
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We sit down at Lakeridge Winery over a bold Napa Valley Cabernet and trace how a backyard vineyard experiment turns into one of Florida’s biggest wine operations. We talk candidly about leadership pressure, long-tenured teams, and the hard problem of keeping wine consistent while customers keep changing.
• the family history from Tallahassee to Clermont and the launch of San Sebastian
• what it takes to run production, retail, wholesale, and vineyards as separate departments
• the path from tennis scholarship and public accounting to winery operations leadership
• why employee tenure is so rare here and how culture carries through transitions
• learning every job on the floor to earn credibility as a young COO
• harvest logistics, dormant vines, bud break timing, and what freezes really impact
• old muscadine vines, blending strategy, and why non-vintage consistency matters
• festivals after COVID, hands-on winemaking, and where AI may fit
• the next risks including shifting loyalty, pricing pressure, and succession planning
Checkout Lakridge Winery here: https://www.lakeridgewinery.com/
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Wine Pour And Florida Bottling Law
SPEAKER_01We drink it, man.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so we're gonna start with our reserve cabin Cabernet Sauvignon. So this is a product that we get every year. We bring it in as bulk wine. Obviously, we can't grow um these grapes in Florida, and I'll kind of get into that a little bit more, but um it's it's a great product, it's my favorite product that we that we have. It's a little bit steeper of a price point, um, but it's fantastic. So we we get the bulk wine in, changes year to year. Um, it's always from Napa Valley, and then our winemaker oaks it, tannins it, etc., finishes it at the winery. So in Florida, there's a there's a law that you've you've got to add 0.05% of a domestic product to be able to say that you vented and bottled it in Florida. So he adds a little bit of our product, which is muscadine juice, and then quickly takes it back out through adding tannins. He doesn't actually take it out, but it you know takes the taste away. Um but it's a it's a really good bold um Cabernet Sauvignon. Um we've got two, we've got our house cap as well, but this is really good. Um pray with steaks, etc. So I'm gonna crack that open for us and we'll we'll kind of get started in this podcast.
SPEAKER_01Cool man. So you have a hundred bottles of wine in your house?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, a hundred bottles that I want to drink. Maybe two hundred, two hundred and fifty that um are from the winer that I might use for tastings or give someone that you know, a friend or family member or whatnot, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm just thinking it like if I got a gift from you and it was a bottle of wine from here, I I don't know how I would feel about that. I'd almost be like, did he forget about me and just grab this off the shelf as he left the office? Probably.
SPEAKER_00And um you'll have to ask my wife about that because probably every Valentine's Day and birthday, she gets a last-minute card that's a card that is shaped in a wine bottle. And depending on the year that she was born, when she's gotten the same one every time, it tells you what's happened in history that year. Um and so she'll say, Yeah, I know where you got this, and it was from the winery every single time.
SPEAKER_01The gift shop. Yes. Coming down the stairs, just grab it up. Absolutely. The person who handles your guy's inventory and merchandise must be like, Oh, some Christian once had a bunch of birthdays this week. Absolutely. So, dude, let's let's let's start with the story of the winery
How A Backyard Vineyard Became Lakeridge
SPEAKER_01first, right? Because you're a relatively new addition, right? Uh, I'll say to the the legacy here, but um, I'll do some some shots here overlaid to kind of give an idea of where we're at, people who don't know about Lake Ridge, but what's the history here, man?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh everything really started up in Tallahassee with my grandfather. So my grandfather's the original founder. Um, really everything started out of his backyard. So you'll see it on our tour videos, but um, I'll kind of explain it here. He woke up one morning, um, always been passionate about wine, and decided that one weekend his project would be to plant five acres of vineyards in his backyard. This is up in Tallahassee. So that was kind of the test vineyard for what was to come. Uh, make sure he could actually make those five acres grow and produce grapes. Um his his father actually did make wine growing up um that he wasn't very fond of, apparently, but it was all a hobby kind of thing. You know, they were growing it out of their house. So he he started with those five acres, make sure he he could grow it. Um he was a CPA at the time, he was a partner of one of the big CPA firms up in Tallahassee, and um started that, and one of his clients wanted to kind of diversify what he wanted to invest in and said, you know, I I just went to Napa, I really want to get involved with the winery. Let's do a winery here. So you give my granddad an idea, and he's gonna run with it. So he ran with it, planted those five acres. Um, those five acres turned into what was called Lafayette Vineyards up in Tallahassee, so that was 1983. Bought about a hundred acres up there right off of 75. Um they started the winery originally there, planted about 40 acres of grapes, muscatine grapes, as well as some French hybrids, stover, um, and a couple of others. And kind of over the first three or four years realized that that was not the best spot for a winery. Um Tallahassee is you know the capital of Florida, um, but within 100 mile radius, there weren't as many people as there were potentially down here. So they actually filed Chapter 11 um for that winery, dissolved everything from Lafayette, and moved down here to Central Florida. So in Claremont, Florida, they had the Orange River freezes in the the late 80s back to back. Um I think there was a year in between, but the citrus industry was going downhill and was able to purchase this piece of property, which is 127 acres, um, and plant the vineyards. They purchased it in 88, planted the vineyards in 88, opened the doors for Lakeridge Winery in 1989. Um they dissolved everything from Lafayette and so Lee moved everything down here and kind of recreated a new corporate structure. Um in 1996, they opened San Sebastian, which is our sister winery that's up in St. Augustine. Um so that's a a different brand, and they did that for two reasons. One, they didn't know at that time if San Sebastian as a standalone tasting room/slash restaurant would work without having the appeal of the vineyards behind them. You know, did they actually make wine here? You know, all the videos were were shown that you know we produce and bottle everything here. Um but it they did it for two reasons. So that was one, they didn't know if it was gonna work. Um two, and this was I think something that happened after the fact, but it gave us two spacings on every wholesale shelf. So every public's target, etc., has most of our wines and stocks, our Southern Red, Southern White, and then Vittner's Red, Vitner's Wine on so it it it doubled our distribution um almost overnight. So that's been a big success. Um my uh uncle got involved probably in the mid-90s. He was kind of the one that took over opening San Sebastian, and um he can't he kind of runs that one and then uh I run this one, but I'll kind of get in that story afterwards. That's kind of a brief history of of opening and everything like that.
SPEAKER_01So growing up, man, was it weird to see like the family I mean it's not y'all's name, but is it weird to see your family product on the shelves at Publix and Target?
SPEAKER_00So you asked that, and a lot of people ask that, you know, how I got involved, and I didn't really realize what we had growing up. So I had, I mean, growing up, I knew my grandparents owned a winery. That's kind of the basis of what it was. I had been here once when I was four years old. There's a picture that I'll I'll send you and you can you can put up of me grape somping out here. But I I did not realize that it was this big of an operation until I was twenty, four years old, and I came down here and actually toured the place and looked at the financials and realized that it was a decent sized operation. It's weird, um, but it it wasn't a legacy thing where I, you know, oh growing up, oh I'm gonna I'm gonna go through the family business. You know, it was never even a thought of mine nor my brother's.
SPEAKER_01Because your brother's here too, right?
SPEAKER_00He he did a summer here uh during college, kind of an internship thing, and and it wasn't for him, which kind of open that's kind of what opened the door for me to get involved.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Because it's your uncle that runs it, and a lot of the you know, I guess some of the guys I've talked to of who have family businesses, some something similar, it's usually like grandfather, son, grandson, great grandson, but like yours kind of zigzagged right there. So you weren't really like being groomed to come take over the winery someday. Ever.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we we would go to Thanksgiving's they l they still live up in Tallahassee, so three and a half hours or so away. Um, and since I can visually remember, I I've never seen this nor our other location. I mean, since I was a kid or whatever. So certainly not groomed, um, which I think kind of makes it a cooler story. Um makes it that it just kind of fell into place. Um I majored in accounting in school, which I can get into that, but kind of followed his footsteps a little bit from the from the first get-go and um kind of just all fell into place.
SPEAKER_01Growing up, going to Thanksgiving, Christmas, was it always this wine on the table?
SPEAKER_00I want to say it was, but you kind of have to, right? Kind of have to. My granddad's real good. He he enjoys our wine a bunch. Um my uncle does too, but he's he's got his certain cab, Cabernet Signon, that he's drank for probably 15 years. They're they're creatures of habit, both my uncle and my granddad. No to no fault, but you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, people like what they like, but also it I've and we can probably get into this, but I feel like this is really there's an art and a science here, and like most artists, they steal from other artists that they really enjoy and like.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And so very similar, I imagine.
SPEAKER_00100%. Yeah, and uh we'll get into that if I talk about my winemaker at all. He's yeah, very much like that, and he's worked all over the world, um, multiple wineries, and kind of takes everything from from those and kind of puts it into what we produce here as
Wine Pairing Philosophy And Tasting Notes
SPEAKER_00well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So um, well, first I I want to try this because we So cheers, man.
SPEAKER_00Cheers. So this is our our 2023, our current version of the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It's big, it's bold, um, very dry, great with a good steak. Um I mean any kind of steak, ribeye, anything fatty. But kind of here at Lake Ridge, our our mantra is, you know, uh 10-15 years ago it was white wine is paired with fish and chicken, and red wine is paired with, you know, a heavy red meat. And our mantra is why don't you just eat what you like and drink what you like and pair it that way? You know, we give recommendations, but it everyone's palate is so much different. Um, you and I can taste things completely different. So pair it how you like it. So I would recommend this with a red meat because that's what I like to do, but you can pair it with whatever you want. But it's it's a good wine.
SPEAKER_01No, that is a great wine, and amazing uh Friday at 10 a.m. that this is totally okay on the job. Right. Uh couldn't have done that six months ago. Exactly.
Running A Winery Like A Business
SPEAKER_01But all right, so let's get into so winery opens in 88, for plant the first grapes here in in Claremont. And then you know, you you have some early memories, but it wasn't until you said you're 24 that kind of eyes wide open, like holy cow, like I mean, at that point, how many people were employed here?
SPEAKER_00So throughout the entire corporate structure, we've got about 90 to 100 full-time equivalent employees. Um that's a big operation. It it is, yeah. And it's multiple different facets, and we kind of look at it as or I look at it as different, you know, we do a different income statement for every department. Um, obviously some of them don't technically produce income, um, but like maintenance, for example, but it it it all is separate. So there's there's five or six different iterations of the company that I kind of look at more deeply when I get involved in operations. But um uh do you want me to kind of go back and yeah, let me hear about it, man. Okay, well, um so here here at Lakridge is we're we're the brunt of the the entire business. So we've got um all the production is here, all the the crushing of the grapes, all the processing, etc. Um, so we're we're bottling for both here at Lakeridge and San Sebastian, so we're bottling all their products as well. Um but we've got a maintenance department, retail, obviously, um our wholesale division. Um we've got kind of the admin team that does a lot of behind-the-scenes books and whatnot, um, veneer team, and then the production team as well. So there's there's multiple facets that kind of go into it, and that's kind of what's been great about my job is getting more involved with all those, but really have to treat them as separate departments because that's really what they are. Um but at the end of the day, they all need to come together because we're we're our end goal is one one thing is selling wine, um, whether that's through the retail room or through wholesale. Um so that's probably the coolest part about what I do is is managing all of those people um and seeing the the day-to-day operations. Most of my stuff is is done through operational efficiencies, how do I make things quicker, better, faster, um, as well as how do we sell more wine um through marketing, etc., getting people out here for our events and all that good stuff.
From Tennis And Accounting To Audits
SPEAKER_01So you didn't go to school here? Correct. You went to school Nebraska. You know, winemaking capital of the country. No, absolutely. But you went to play tennis there, right? Yeah. So um and you me majored in in finance and accounting? Yeah. But was there at that point when you first went to college, it was probably because, hey, I got a tennis scholarship and you're like, it's where I'm gonna go. Right. But at that point, still, no inkling that like this is what I'm gonna do when I'm done with my four-year.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely not. So went to high school. I grew up in Colorado, just outside of Denver, little town called Littleton. Um, went to high school, I took an accounting class, I believe it was it was either first or second semester of senior year. And um the biggest thing for me is I knew my granddad was a CPA and that he went through that route, and that kind of inspired me a little bit, but I just loved the problem solving of the accounting. You know, there's there's an ultimate goal to get stuff balanced or you know, produce a tax return, whatever it is, and it was problem solving to me. I'd always been good at math, and so it just clicked. So I I kind of went into college, obviously with the tennis scholarship, kind of looked around at a couple schools, wanted to go to Auburn um without a tennis scholarship and just kind of probably party and and do whatever, which is probably a good thing that I didn't um, but ended up getting a tennis scholarship to Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, about 45 minutes outside of Omaha. Um, and started and ended with the accounting degree. And I will give it all the credit because the credit's due, is I got a very good education out of Midland. Small classes, I don't think I had a class over 35, 40 people. Um, knew my uh accounting professor, John Moxness. I mean, I could go meet in his office anytime I wanted. If I had a problem or a question, I could go and bug him anytime, different from kind of those larger universities. But went into that, um, graduated with that, and then a minor in coaching. Um always been a passion of uh coaching tennis. I did that most summers through college and and high school as well. So I did that, um, went into public accounting with a company called BKD um out of Omaha.
SPEAKER_01And was that the plan? Like going in, you're like, hey, I'm gonna get this finance degree, I'm gonna go work for a firm. That was the plan from the beginning. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, I want to say it was a plan. I wanted, you know, going into college, it was a big four. You know, I wanted to go to big four, which is you know, your KPMGs, um, Deloitte, things like that. But I I think I picked the right ones. I had offers from both of those, but ended up picking the right smaller, mid-term, mid-tier um accounting firm, but knew everyone, did auditing. So um, for three years out of college, I worked there, lived in downtown Omaha with one of my buddies, um, traveled around the state. Shout out, shout out in Manhattan, Ellis. Um, and it was great. It was a great time, traveled a bunch. Um, and I say a bunch, travel, travel can be put in quotations because traveling was to middle of Nebraska, and I say in some places that I would have probably never wanted to stay in my entire life. Look out the window. You see those videos now. It's like, oh, I travel for work, and you look out the windows, and it's like a pasture or whatever, and that's exactly what it was. But I kind of got my focus in banking. I did a bunch of bank audits, which I really appreciated. The bankers were extremely organized. You they pretty much did half the audit for you. They supply you the word papers and you kind of just plug and play. Um, kind of worked my way up through there. So I was you know an in-charge by maybe the first year, kind of running jobs, running some smaller banks, and then towards the end, um, I kind of delayed my start here because I had some commitments with some some bigger banks that I told I would in charge and made some contacts with some of the CFOs and stuff. And but that was a great experience and and great business experience to see all of these different companies. I I didn't just do banks, I did I mean a little bit everything, grocery stores, etc. Distributors, uh beer distributor, bunch of stuff. Um, but it it was it was awesome. I really I really did appreciate that
Moving To Florida After Seeing Scale
SPEAKER_00job. But kind of I guess 2022, January, I I came down here for the first time and just to take a trip, see the grandparents, see uh my uncle, and visited both wineries. And my granddad obviously knew I was in accounting and said, You you know, you want to look at the financials or recent financial statements? And I said, Of course. Um, obviously coming from an auditing accounting background. And so peeked around those and said, Man, I didn't really realize that it was kind of this big of a deal. Um, and that's kind of what got the ball rolling to move down here and take over. He he said, you know, he was very, very, very involved for the past um 15-20 years as far as on the financial side and said This is your grandfather yeah, grandfather. Um I'll remember sitting up in his office and kind of looking those over and then having a conversation just one-on-one with him. And um he said, you know, I kind of let some stuff go. Uh not let some stuff go, but more I've tried to take a step back, and some of the internal accounting stuff he was a little bit worried about as far as um controls and everything that we have, financial controls at the wineries. So had those conversations, you know, do you think you'd be a fit here? And that's kind of how everything started.
SPEAKER_01Um so were you dating your wife at the time? Yes. So how long have you guys been together when this kind of realization moment was happening?
SPEAKER_00About a year and a half. Okay. So pretty early on. Uh, we were just dating at the time, we were living together, um, but I think her mind was not ready for, hey, let's pick up and move to Florida. Um But those conversations were kind of had. I kind of had told her, you know, after the conversations were had, and I think she started to get an inkling a little bit of what was maybe to come. The ask, the big ask.
SPEAKER_01Did she realize how big of a I mean, you had just learned yourself, but I mean, could you go home and you're like, you won't believe this?
SPEAKER_00A little and so she was on that trip with me, which was cool. So she saw this and she was just I want to say dumbfounded, but a little bit. I mean, we're not talking, you know, Napa Valley size, but we're we're a decent size operation, especially in Florida.
SPEAKER_01I'll just share for the viewers that can't see this, but we were up at the the what do you call the retail building, yeah, where you guys are producing, and then you're like, hey, let's go to the other warehouse. Oh, other warehouse. And I think you said there's half a million bottles of wine. I mean, you can't you can't see them all, but I mean it's a lot of wine. Yeah. It's it's not small.
SPEAKER_00A 15,000 square foot facility, and most of it is full of wine. I mean, there's there's very few open spaces in here.
SPEAKER_01Besides the main walk through the center, we're sitting in the only open spot.
SPEAKER_00But but yeah, so she didn't really know the ask, but she I think she knew it was coming. So anyway, that the ask was made kind of after that conversation was had. Um, but I I had told them I've got commitments through busy season, which is kind of you know January through April for any accounting, whether it's tax or audit. Um so I I had those commitments made, um, finished up I think April 21st was my last day, and we actually took a week and a half trip and hit a bunch of national parks, my wife and I, and she actually had to do two or three more weeks of work. So I moved down here, I lived in an Airbnb for two and a half weeks with my dog. I had one car full of stuff, my little Jeep Wrangler, that was all I had to my name, and and started working here. Um so I I did the bunch of internal accounting stuff, kind of just looking over controls. It was I mean, pretty much all handle, but just kind of a checkup on everything. Our controller's been here for for 21 years. She's a rock star. Um, but kind of started started there and um looked over some stuff and then the rest kind of fell into place. And I can I can get into that or if there's anything else.
Why People Stay For Decades
SPEAKER_01No, I will get into that, but I I want to ask, because you know, 90 to 100 people, you guys have been around for what is it, 40, almost 50 years. You mentioned that your controller has been around for 21. I mean, I've I have found in my recent travels with this podcast that companies even of this size have done a really well job of keeping kind of that family feel. So is that the case here as well?
SPEAKER_00Our tenure is unheard of. When we talk to insurance uh agents or whoever we're talking to, they just they can't fathom the tenure that we have. So our our winemaker, and I'll speak our new one, but our our previous one that retired, I guess about two and a half years ago, um, she was our first employee hired. She was with us for 41 years. And for many years when we went through chapter 11, etc., she was paid in stock or paid or not paid. I mean, I mean, she went through months of of not getting paid and stuck it, stuck it out, and now she's happily retired.
SPEAKER_01But so she came from Lafayette.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_01And then did she move down here?
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Yeah. So I I'm sorry, I'm just I can't fathom I cannot fathom working for a company, them going through chapter eleven and being like, Hey, we're moving, and be like, All right, where are we going? Like what? It it it That's incredible.
SPEAKER_00It it really is. Um and uh she wasn't the only one. There was a couple others. There's a a retail employee named Sarah who came down. With the shift. She actually moved down here. She was a previous teacher, but then worked us with us for a total of 31 years. But I mean, the amount of years I was just talking to Doug, who's about to do a VIP tour. He's been with us for 21 years. Our production manager 25 years. There's just the long tenure is crazy. And people can't understand it. You know, there's some turnover in some of the departments, but it it's not even comparable to the industry as a whole. And any industry. I mean, as you know, as you see probably every day. Yeah. We're very blessed.
SPEAKER_01When we owned our company, like you had independent contractors who, you know, basically ran their own little business, and you would see some longer tenure with them. Right. But the entry-level employees, the middle of like that, just you know, you don't get stuff like that. So testament to your grandfather and the culture that he built here. Yeah. And then obviously your uncle picking it up for the last 20, 30 years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_0035, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So your first job here, your kind of your controller kind of status going through the financials.
Learning Every Role Then Becoming COO
SPEAKER_01When did you kind of take that next step? Because I I imagine that there was probably like, hey, you gotta put some dues in here.
SPEAKER_00100%. So my dues were I have done every single job at this winery that there is possible, um, which is a great thing. Um so early on, I you know, I did some internal accounting stuff. That that kind of got I mean, I did that relatively quick, and um it was it was then slowly gaining the trust of my grandfather and uncle of you know handing some more stuff off, and our our previous COO um he hit the retirement when he was 65, so that was about two years after I had started, but it was kind of slowly taking some of the stuff that he was doing and a lot of the marketing stuff, um, some more of the vineyard practices.
SPEAKER_01Um I've seen you on some reels out in the vineyard.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah. The vineyard's got a special place in my heart because it has a special place in my grandfather's heart. That's kind of his his pride and joy. Um, but kind of took everything on. You know, I worked I worked a harvest season that first August. Um I mean I was out there on the forklift or or digging out tanks 30 days straight. Um, worked at the bottling line. Um, done, I mean, I've been a bartender. I mean, I've done everything at the winery. And what I very quickly learned is I'm extremely grateful that I did those things early on because now I can tell someone in the vineyard or someone on the production crew, you know, hey, do you mind doing this? Whatever the case may be, because I've done it. And they know that I've done it. Um I I have no problem hopping on a forklift, helping them out here and there. Um, even still to this day in my role. I was on the forklift yesterday moving pallets around. It's it's something I'll never grow out of, but they really started to gain that respect very quickly for me because I was hands-on and I was doing all those jobs. Um so did a lot of that stuff, started taking over um a couple of things here and there, and then it was kind of right around harvest um of 23 that our previous COO, he he turned 65, was kind of his time to retire. So he retired and I essentially took his role. I was kind of doing some of some of the things that he was doing, but that was kind of the onboarding of me doing you know everything or overseeing everything. And that was a big change. Um it kind of happened all at once. You know, I I had a couple weeks' notice, but um I had to, you know, meet with all my department heads as far as all the different things that we have going on at the winery and kind of you know, not only reassuring them, but also just kind of explaining to them, you know, this is how things are are gonna work. You know, I'm a I'm a young guy. I I just turned 29. Um I just wanted to make sure that they could look me in the eye and the same way that they looked at someone that was, you know, tenured of 35 years experience. And it was a a little bit of a I don't want to say rough transition, but it was rough for me just to know that they respected me as I'm the big boss now. And I I don't want to say that because I'm I'm floating my boat, but that's that's what my role is. Um and I still have troubles with that day to day, and it's through board meetings and everything that I go to. It's I mean, I'm the youngest person in the room by 20 years. It it's great, but it's also difficult. You know, do they look at me the same way they look at one of their peers that's the same age as them and has been doing it for 25 years? Um I want to say that they do, but in the back of my mind, I don't think they do. Um it adds an additional weight on what I do and extra pressure, but I think it's a good pressure. Um I mean we've we've talked about it already, but I didn't see myself doing this 10 years ago when I when I started college at all.
SPEAKER_01So let's let's get a quick snapshot if you can. So 23, 24, you said 24, right? So you not only have the winery here, but uh and San Sebastian, but you guys still have some property in North Florida, and we don't have to get in specifics, but this isn't a a million-dollar business. Like you guys are doing really well. There's a ton going on. So the snapshot at the time of when you took over, what did the business look like?
SPEAKER_00So right around when I took over, we were probably distributing between 70 and 75,000 cases a year, which is that's just distribution. Um, all in all, we're about a 150 to 170,000 case um facility, as if you're looking at uh you know the company as a whole, which is a lot of wine. Um we're not top 10, top 50, but we're probably top hundred in the country as far as wine that we produce and sell to consumers. Um it's a big operation. So and you spoke on prosperity, so that's the the vineyards up north. So we've got 450 acres up there, about 120 of it's planted. Um but I I me and my granddad kind of split oversight on that, so I kind of spoke on me being involved with the vineyard a little bit.
SPEAKER_01So I I mean I just couldn't he couldn't completely he no, he still goes up there.
SPEAKER_00So he plays tennis three times a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from about 9 30 a.m. to 11 30. So I know I'm not getting a call. Or he's your answer. That's your deep work time. Yeah, no kidding. Or early in the morning. Um, but he still goes up there once, twice a week. He still comes down here um in the beginning every other week, then it kind of turned a monthly and now it's almost quarterly, which makes me feel great because he kind of knows that things are are moving along here. Um but but there's so when I took it over, yeah. I spoke on the cases, um, about 200 acres planted of vineyards. Um I kind of held overall oversight of all of the harvesting um that was done. So we harvest it it really depends on the year, um, between a thousand and fifteen hundred tons of grapes um a year. So along with the vineyards that we have, we contract with about it's dropped a little bit, but at that time it was about 200 acres that we contract with. So we're harvesting their land about half of it, and then half of it we're actually getting shipped to us. So logistics um of all the grapes that we're receiving, um if anyone out there during August, I can't be reached. Um, and I probably don't want to be reached for the next you know 15-20 years. My my uncle continues to say, you know, you can you can kind of step away with that, but it really is a cool time of year, how much we're doing.
SPEAKER_01Um so I guess the two questions I have for you, man, uh, on that is one, how did you not let that go to your head? Like suddenly there's COO of a of a top 100 winery in your late 20s, and two, how did you not crumble under that pressure?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, the first thing I'm gonna say is my wife. Um she's my my backboard, um, and she's received I mean she she can tell you if she was on this podcast, she'd probably be yelling at me, but um just because of the amount of stuff that I bring to her. But she was my backboard on uh so much of it. Um and really to this day she still is. But there was uh a huge transition point at that point where there was there was a tremendous amount of stress that put on myself, but I I mean probably also put on her. Um but really the adaptation of what my day-to-day looked at prior to what it was, it was you know being up in an office crunching numbers or or doing a lot of the internal accounting stuff too. Um meeting and just spending time with my managers and getting to know them better, getting to know their operations better, getting to know their staff better, my staff better. And that that's what made it the smoothest transition possible. Um there was a lot there. There was times where I wanted to crumble, but um being a family, they're they're the blood's thick, but it's also thin. You know, uh leaning on my grandad and uncle for any questions that I had was was huge. But going down and and really just connecting with my staff, my employees was the biggest saving grace because I knew that I had people that could pick things up that I was worried about. Um and those things that I was worried about got corrected very quick, or they're a work in progress. Um and and that was really the biggest, biggest thing was connecting with my people. Um we've got a great staff here. I've spoken on the tenure, but the tenure of some of these people is has been awesome. They've been through a little bit of everything, so that was probably the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_01Do you think this probably a cut deep kind of question, but if you were at any other company and that amount of pressure was on you, do you think you would have pushed through it, or do you think it's because it's a family business that you you just gridded right through it?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, probably because it was a family business, like I gridded through it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um the unlimited wine to drink your way through it.
SPEAKER_00It was it wasn't as much thread the transition. I mean, that was part of it, but it's a lot of the stuff that was a comedy. I know everything wasn't thrown on me the first day. I mean, I don't want to make it seem like that, but there was there's been stuff and there's been changes within our staff and our managers that dealing with those and figuring out new personalities and things that they're good at and not good at and picking up some of the slack, that's where some of my stress is has came from, but worked through it and um to answer your question, probably not. I I probably would have, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I get it. I mean, when when times got tough and we're like my wife and I went through her journey, which I've spoken about, we're like, hey, let's sell this because I mean we loved our employees. Don't get me wrong, our employees were phenomenal. I would do anything to hire them back. Um, but I don't want to own a dog grooming business again. Right. Absolutely. But and then you're going through some some newer things now. Uh we were just talking before we turned the cameras on, but you didn't get a great night's sleep last night.
SPEAKER_00No. So we we've got a little one at home, uh, about three and a half months old, so almost four months, I guess. Well, we got nine days. Um that's been quite the journey.
SPEAKER_01You really are such a numbers guy because you have it down to the number of days until she's four.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And that's just four months, not four years old, but um no, it it she's been awesome. She's probably been out here than she's been out here more than I was as a kid. I mean, every event, every festival that we've done, she's been out here, which has been great. Um, but I mean that's just a another set of obstacles that me and my wife have both worked through. She took a new job recently and and she's kind of learning new things, kind of a similar transition to what I did, you know, working on one side of things to taking a lot more on and a lot more quote-unquote admin stuff on, um, which she's liking slash not liking. I mean, it's just a lot all at once, um, which is kind of the same way that I've felt and kind of still feel sometimes. But she's doing great, little one's doing great. Um, appreciate you asking about that. But yeah, everything's everything's good there, but um adds another mix into to everything.
Festivals Return And Vineyard Weather
SPEAKER_00And and kind of speaking of mixes, we've kind of mixed things up. So ever since COVID happened at the the winery, so previous to that we did a a festival every month. So that was kind of what people expected, what they they were used to at the winery. Um we had monthly festivals, and then during the weekends we didn't really do anything besides our our regular tours and tastings. And that's kind of been another thing that's thrown on me is bringing back the festivals. Um now that we're at a code, but we kind of moved to a it's called the weekends at the winery, which works out great, very easy on the staff, low staffing, um, but just live music and and food, and there's a a wine and food or wine and beer uh bar out there. Um but we we've brought up some of the festivals back at beer festivals, so and being in charge of that is kind of something that I've never been involved with as far as the marketing and and whatnot. And so that's been thrown onto my plate. And I don't want to say I'm good at marketing, but we've had some decent turnouts. Um our wine fest that we had back in February was the biggest wine fest that we've ever had. It was actually Winefest number 31. Um, so we had obviously Winefest 30 in 2020. I think that was the last festival that we had before COVID. Um, but makes me feel good about kind of the stuff that I'm doing, rewarding, um, seeing the numbers from that and everything was was fantastic.
SPEAKER_01I wanted to actually ask about um the seasons that you guys have had over the last couple years. Obviously, this year, I shouldn't say obviously, but this year was we had some pretty crazy freezes, and I know that you know, just down the road, the Hill family, you know, they had lost, I think it was a third or two-thirds of their blueberry crop, and um seeing all their videos of them trying to preserve the the fruits and stuff out there for the you pick. I imagine that was one of those times where you guys were all hands on deck.
SPEAKER_00So surprisingly not.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_00Yes. So we had which uh makes me feel good, makes probably all of our staff feel good. We had calls out the wazoo. Are you watering what what what's your you know people asking for advice if we're throwing water on the vines to freeze them out? Um but no, we so the vines go dormant. Usually end of October, early November. Um they lose all their leaves, they look like sticks out there. Everyone that comes in during I say November to February says, Uh is everything dead out there? It's like, no, they're not dead. They're we just say they're sleeping. Okay. Um so they were all dormant at the time. The only thing that it really did was push out our bud break. So our bud break this year was about two weeks late compared to to prior years. And when I when I say bud break, I mean, you know, it looks like sticks on the you know, the vines grow up and they grow across the trellis, but it just looks like sticks and then the buds pop out and and break, and then that's obviously what what creates the the grapes. But it was about two years, or not two years, that would be problematic. Um two months late, or two weeks late, excuse me. Um but those those couple of months it was it was not a problem. And then it freezes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's actually I was not expecting that answer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I I was actually at a a viticultural advisory committee meeting yesterday with a couple people that grow blueberries and um not only the Hill family, but also um a couple of other growers, bakerers, and and they lost, yeah, you're right, between a third and two-thirds of of their crops. Some of them claim crop insurance and and stuff like that. So we're we're lucky enough that it doesn't really affect us down here in the panhandle. Two years ago, it really did affect us. We had a late spring, like kind of right around March 9th or 10th, we had a frost um that probably killed about 50% of our production. Wow. So that's when we're more worried about it once those once bud break happens, which is usually about early March.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's incredible. Hill family, I'm coming for you next on the pod. Um so I I I would love to learn a little bit about the the vines, I guess. So they go dormant, but and I'm I'm I'm also thinking about like the strawberry bushes and stuff that I grew in my backyard and like the different you know pop-up crops. Like I have to replace those every year, every couple of years, right? Um that's not the case with grapes. How how what's the oldest, I guess?
SPEAKER_00So we actually took over so there's really I mean, if you look up on Chat GBT what the you know estimated lifespan of a muscadine vine is, they would probably say, I've never looked it up, but probably 15 to 20 years. Wow. But up in the panhandle, we actually have some vines that are 58, 60 years old. So we assume that property before we even built Lafayette. Um that's where the original grapes came from. The the cordon, which so the vine grows straight up to the wire, and then we stretch it along, which that's called the cordon, that main stretch along the side. Um the cordons they're not shrinking, but they're not growing. So there's open wire, which in a vineyard setting, and my granddad will tell you this, if there's an open wire, you're not making any money, which is very true because there's not a uh a grape on it. But these 58, 60-year-old vines are still producing between 10 and 12 tons an acre on a good year, which is fantastic. Um so we can't justify bringing them out. But the the the trunks on these are, I mean, they've got to be bigger than a a six to eight inch post. I mean, they're they're massive. So it they're theoretically after 50 years, you can call it something an old vine. Um so we floated the idea of you know keeping that those grapes separate and doing like an old vine, muscadine um wine off of that just because it's you know customer appeal, you know, they're used to the old vines in and stuff like that, but there's really not a timeline that we figured out. Um there's a mother vine up in North Carolina that I think is three or four hundred years old.
SPEAKER_01Um I mean that's isn't that kind of the appeal that a lot of folks have from like the Rowan Valley and Bordeaux, is that these these you know, these uh vineyards have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, and like it's just I mean it's the story of wine. Absolutely. Right. Like, and I think that's something that I really love and appreciate about wine. I'm a Roan Valley kind of guy myself, as well as uh Napa Cab and of course you guys. Um But I love the story that comes along with it.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and that's kind of what I think his idea is is creating something that's specific to that vineyard, whether it's you know just just doing that and doing uh you know a sweet, a sweet run of that. Um I think it would have more hints of cherry and stuff. So and I'll speak a little bit, you know, all all the vineyards that we we process, so we've we've got five or six total that we pick from. Is the biggest thing is how do we make that into the same wine every year? So our wine isn't vintage, so your southern red that you pick up today should be the same that it is or was five years ago. That's our goal because our customers love it. Our southern red is 45% of our sales. Um how do you do that when you have such a mix of grapes and such a mix mix of ages is the biggest tool that we have is blending. So blending blending those vintages back together. Um we usually only keep stuff in the tank ideally for a year, year and a half. Um muscadines really don't thrive after three to five years, so we try and get it out the door and you know tell people to chill it and and drink it when they when they can and come back and buy more. Um but it it that's kind of a pain point that we have. It's it's very different from a Cabernet Sauvignon. So this is a 2023. I mean, put this on its side and it would be fantastic in ten years. Um probably even better than what we're drinking today. Ours is is much different that you know we're selling it, we're saying, hey, hopefully you go and and drink this, you know, not maybe not tonight, but maybe the next night or next week, and and come back and and buy more.
SPEAKER_01So well, I mean, that's what people love you, right? It's a good wine. I can drink it now, I don't have to buy it and then put it in my wine fridge and wait five years for it to be good. Um and you know, it's that there was um Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef, um, I loved his books, but he had this idea of utility beer, right? So like you could buy the nice, expensive beer, and like that was great for an experience, right? But also you needed a beer that you like when you hung out with your guy friends or you know, a regular night you're grilling that that was just the one you went to because it was always good. Right, right. And um, you know, on the flip side of that, uh, we'll keep it in the wine world, but like I my understanding for from Dom Perrion, the reason why it's so expensive is because it's so hard to grow grapes there that you may not have enough grapes in the season to to actually have a vintage, and they only do a vintage year, it's my understanding. Right. Right. Whereas you guys have cultivated uh a product um that's good whenever. Right. Right. And of course there's also the business side of like, yeah, come back and buy another case, but um and you should buy by the case. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Case specials, so
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, man.
Blending For Consistency And Succession
SPEAKER_01Well, I I guess what does the future look like for you guys, right? Is it do you want to take it take over the family business someday? Is that a goal? Have you thought I mean I mean no your daughter's only three and a half, almost, you know, nine days short of four months, but have your wife and I wife and you talked about like what the future looks like? Like, is she gonna be in the family business if she wants to?
SPEAKER_00Well, so if anyone couldn't catch what she does, she's a she's a nurse, um, and she so she just took over kind of a nurse nurse management uh position. She's always made the comment that she wants to be involved. My grandmother um is currently the secretary of the the holding company, which is Steven Inc. Um, and she kind of wants that role at some point, wants to be a stay-at-home mom, etc. Um, but I I don't know, that's a tough question because working with the family that I already work with is tough enough. Working with my wife might throw another hurt. I don't want to say knife into that.
SPEAKER_01Are you sure you want this out there on the podcast players?
SPEAKER_00Um But no, she loves what she does. Um, she's great at it. I could not be bedside nor doctor or anything. I'm just not caring enough, honestly. Um she is, she's fantastic. But there's been succession talks a little bit. Um I think probably in the next five or so years um that'll kind of transition over. Um really what we have going on here is I don't want to say majority of the business, but it kind of is, as far as all the operations are done out of this location. And I feel pretty adept as far as understanding all of those. Um the biggest kind of outside thing to that is the wholesale distribution. We've got a great wholesale manager that's been with us again 15 years. Um he came from a distributor, so he knows the distributor on that side of the world very well. Um, but then obviously our other location, um, which really at this point is just a tasting room, retail room. And then the third floor, um, we previously operated a restaurant up there, and now it's kind of a management agreement where there's a a great chef that took it over a very high-skill restaurant. Um, and that was great for our business because he kind of changed the narrative on who we're seeing there after hours um and even during hours. What they expect for lunch. It's white tablecloth during the week as far as dinner and on the weekends. Kind of upped our you know, customer base a little bit as far as high scale a little bit, and um that's worked out really well. But kind of up there is just worrying about you know the operations of that that retail room and stuff. But there's been there's been talks that have been had, um and I mean I feel I'm I'm ready, ready enough. I mean, I kind of got this not thrown on me, but kind of dropped into with relatively short notice, and I feel I'm doing a relatively good job. Um and this is really the big the big portion of it. So this is the end goal, and I mean I didn't really touch on, but I I worked on worked in Omaha for about three years and kind of told my wife one day that hey, I've got this opportunity to work at the family business. Um we gotta move down to Florida though, and she was very open to it and Oh no, sunny beach weather.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to leave Omaha.
SPEAKER_00I think that was the that was the original, and then it was but I won't be by my family, which has been tough. Um, we don't really have any family nearby, but she made that jump with me and we kind of immediate family.
SPEAKER_01You got your uncle, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um more her immediate family. Mine's kind of spread all over, but um, we were just back there last weekend. It was great that all the great grandparents got to meet the the little one late in Lynn. Um but it it was definitely a jump and definitely a transition, and kind of we put I mean if you're playing a poker hand, we kind of went all in. Um packed up everything that we had, which was one Jeep's worth of stuff, sold most everything, brought our clothes and belongings or whatever, our dog, and um that was about it. But kind of just put put all in and and came down here and hoped that it would work out, and it it has so far, but hope that it does for the next 20, 30, 40 years. I hope that I can I don't want to say a groom, but I hope that I'll obviously give her the option just like I did, um, or had um, but see my daughter out here working, you know, I'll probably throw her to the wolves and say, hey, let's go prune these vines and and see how she takes it. And gotta do the hard work before you kind of get put on the throne. I don't if that's a a good analogy or not.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, top of the cases of
Craft Winemaking AI And Future Worries
SPEAKER_01wine. I the one of the questions I I have for you, and then we'll we'll kind of wrap it up, but this is a very I guess I would say probably labor-intensive manual right. There's there's the art and the science of it. We we touched briefly on your winemaker earlier, but with all these businesses and everyone wants to start an AI company and an app and technology. Uh I mean, how do you view this business? Obviously, there's AI tools you guys can use in the accounting, but when it comes to making the wine, like it has to be that scientist, that artist.
SPEAKER_00So I I told you about Jeannie, who was our previous winemaker. She was here for 41 years. I mean, she nailed and pretty much created what is now Southern Red, Southern White, and Vittner's Wet. Vitner's Red, Vitner's White, which those are our two biggest sellers. So Southern Red and Vitner's Red are about 45% of our sales. Um, Southern White, Vitner's White are about 20%. So you've got 65% of all of our sales are those two wines, and we produce 19 in total. Um she nailed those down. Um so essentially the recipe, just like Oakle's recipe, it's uh hidden secret, um was passed on to now our new winemaker, Andrew. So he was uh he's from New Zealand, he's worked in Italy, south of France, um, north of France, kind of all over the world, and then he actually his last scent was 20 years at a winery out in um Missouri. And so he they had a bunch of sweet wines. It wasn't muscadine, but it was similar, and kind of took it over personal recommendation from Jeannie. She knew him from different wine competitions and and judgings that they had done throughout the years. Knew him and um he came from St. James Winery and felt like it was a good opportunity for him to exit that and and start something new. So he's got a great house down in um Howie in the Hills, and he's been a fantastic addition. And what his expertise is is he's a true winemaker. He really, I mean, this NABACAP, he he knows he receives it. I've been, I mean, and he's very involving with me and and a lot of the retail staff, because they're the ones that are ultimately selling the wine, is bringing them in for tastings, and hey, I got this this wine in, and it's it's raw. So when we buy bulk wine, it's it's raw wine. So he oaks it, tannins it, etc. But he'll sit there with his little pocket knife, cut little tannin things open, and put it in there, swirl it around, mix them between a couple glasses, you know, try this or try this now, try this next. And and he really that's just how his mind works. He's just creative. Um it's done great for our non-muscadine wines, but he's just, you know, it's plug and play on the the muscadine side of stuff as far as our Southern Red and uh the other ones, but uh it's tried and tested. Exactly. And I I mean from day one and before he was even hired, we you know that stays how it stays because it's been the same for the past 30 years plus. Um but the other stuff he's he's really creative with, he's done a great job with our staff and all and all that stuff. But it's a lot different from what we're seeing in our I don't want to say industry, but just the country as far as businesses go is adapting a lot of AI. We've done a little bit as far as um streamlining some processes, but it it's really a hands-on approach when it comes to obviously crushing the grapes and then mixing the wines. There are University of Florida and I had a meeting with them yesterday actually. Um they're adapting an AI tasting model for muscatine wines, which I don't know if I like that or don't like that. I'm kind of in between it, but there's nothing better than a winemaker or a retail staff or customers saying, hey, we're we're trying out this new wine. Tell us what you think. You know, do you like this one or this one better? That's how we determine what we're gonna produce. Um it's it's very much different from what's going on in in the world, really, as a as a whole. Um mostly hands-on with everything, and and that's been really the best part about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Do you have any fear of taking on the next stage when that comes?
SPEAKER_00A little bit. Really, what what my fear is is our generation is so much different than the the baby boomers or whatever um older generations that were so used to coming in the winery, coming down, buying two or three cases, and you know, going back up and and staying in and being very brand loyal. We're seeing a a huge shift of loyalty and wanting to try new things. I don't know if you can put the two and two together as I don't know about you, chance, but I go to a new brewery or even go to the store and I want to try something new. What's cool, what looks cool on the shelf, whether it's alcohol or not, whether it's meat or or whatever. You don't you know when to try something new if it it pops up. I think that's kind of our generation's thing is my granddad and uncle, they drink the same wine every single night. Our generation, I mean, I I like to drink something new, I like to try something new. If I find something I like, I'll keep it in my back pocket. But it's like going to the store and saying, man, that's a cool label. Or I didn't know that they produced that grape out of X, you know, whatever, uh, and trying something new. That's that's a huge obstacle, as well as I mean, THC is coming coming into play with with everything as far as our consumers. Um but biggest biggest concerns obviously, you know, the demographic that we're serving to, um and just the overall responsibility of kind of the big big decisions that that come into play as far as the winery. Um that's really the the big things that you know worry me. Uh a lot of the wholesale side of stuff, um price setting, having those tough conversations when prices do increase. We've taken hits on bottles, labels, corks, everything has gone up for us. We haven't increased the the price of wine, but when that point does hit, we've got to increase it. It's those tough conversations. And you know, telling resale staff you gotta tell the Joe that comes in and and gets a case every other week that you know we went up a dollar a bottle and up twelve dollars a case. Um it's those those bigger conversations. And luckily with the staff that we have, I'm not I'm not extremely worried about that. Um but it it's kind of those bigger picture decisions and stuff that I'm more worried about than anything.
Marathon Tasting Story And Closing
SPEAKER_01All right, last question for you. Obviously it's it's 11.30 now or 1125. We've had a glass of wine. Have you or have you not had a tasting where you got back to your desk and you're like, man, I need a cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00Like Absolutely. Um the bet the actually the best comparison is picking out this wine. So it was before a board meeting, which our board meeting was at 10 o'clock, and at 8.30, our winemaker brought up two boxes of samples, so 24 samples of wine that me and my uncle had to try to determine what we wanted to have this 2023 vintage. And it was before the board meeting, in person, our stockholders' meeting, that I had to give a you know a decently big presentation and taste 24 wines, which you can sip and spit, like that's what they do at a lot of the competitions, but I can't get the the right taste unless I swallow the taste buds on the back of your pal. It's like so I I'm not a a perfect taser or whatever, but tasting those 24 wines, I'm like, once we got it, I stood up, I'm like, man, we probably need to go for a walk. Go for a walk of coffee, a cup of coffee, and and kind of come back. And we gave her recommendations, and tasting 24 wines at once is a little bit of a dangerous thing because you know, the first 10 or 12, you can say, you know, I really like this one. You can kind of pick them out, but once you get past those, it's like I don't have a very good palate, but they kind of all start playing blending together. And so I probably didn't give those the the right.
SPEAKER_01It just brought up that idea of that um that scene from uh Shits Creek when they're trying all the fruit wine, and then she's like, that one tastes like nail polish. Oh man. Well, hey man, I appreciate you having me out here. Um you and I met thanks to to Dylan, and I didn't know what you did. And we sat down at dinner, and you just you know casually mentioned what you do, and I'm like, Well, that's pretty freaking awesome, right? And obviously, this you know, winery's been a part of my family's history, which is you know, my my obviously my sister-in-law loves the wine, my my wife's best friend loves the wine. My family lives over here, also my family lives over here in Claremont. So, like, been out here before, my kids, I have pictures of my kids on blankets at some of your guys' events out here. And so to get to meet you and then get to kind of you know slowly get to know you over the last couple of years, uh, it's been exciting. I'm excited that you have a little one now because you're part of Dad Fight Club. Uh hopefully you're gonna come to the golf event in a few weeks, the the first annual uh dad bod golf scramble. Um but I have no doubt you're gonna crush it out here, man. I appreciate it. You've been crushing it. Um I've never heard a bad story of someone coming out here. I've never had a bad glass of wine from you guys. Uh and so I appreciate you having me out, man. I'm looking forward to what the future looks like for you.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that. No, thanks for having me on. Yeah, and that that's the cool thing about running winery, is it's hard for someone to come out here and have a bad time. People will always complain about something, but there's very little to complain about with what what we have, and I I'll give you some B-roll to to throw over and show people kind of what they're looking at, but as far as the fingers and and event space and stuff like that, but I appreciate it.