The Business Behind the Bottle #1: People think owning a winery is glamorous. The reality is completely different.
What’s one thing people completely misunderstand about owning a winery?
I’ve been building and leading a winery for more than a decade, and one thing always makes me smile.
People assume my days are spent drinking wine, walking vineyards, and watching sunsets.
Those moments exist.
But they’re probably 5% of what I actually do.
The other 95% looks a lot like running any other business.
Hiring.
Forecasting.
Budgeting.
Inventory.
Customer service.
Leading a team.
Making difficult decisions with incomplete information.
Trying to stay true to the vision that inspired us in the first place.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that wine isn’t really the product.
People are.
The vineyard crew.
The winemaking team.
The hospitality staff.
The people packing shipments.
The members who have supported us for years.
Every bottle represents hundreds of decisions made by people most customers will never meet.
I also think social media creates a false impression of entrepreneurship. We mostly share harvest, events, and celebrations because they’re beautiful.
We rarely share the ordinary Tuesday spent working through budgets, solving staffing challenges, or deciding whether to invest in another employee or another piece of equipment.
Those are the moments that actually build a business.
I’m curious:
No matter what industry you’re in, what’s something people assume about your job that’s completely different from reality?