On this episode of Profile, Michael and I visit with Kelly Guay, owner of the Sunset Point Winery and her mother, Kathy Johnson, who is also the Tasting Room Manager and Vice President of the Stevens Point Alliance.
Now, we all have hobbies, but what happens when your hobby becomes a passion, and that passion starts to consume more than just your free time? This is exactly what happened to Kelly Guay and her husband, Don. They started making wine at home for fun, which led to more wine and more experimentation. At some point, they decided to turn this hobby into a business. But they needed help. Kelly’s mom and dad answered her call for help, and they relocated to Central Wisconsin to help with the construction and operations of the tasting room. Sunset Point Winery is now a fixture of downtown, and Kathy and Kelly have become fixtures of our community.
This episode is really a masterclass on how to turn your side hustle into a career and how a family can band together to support a vision. You will be sure to enjoy the story of the Sunset Point Winery with Kelly and Kathy.
www.mstc.edu/podcast
www.mstc.edu/programs
www.mstc.edu/career-accelerator
www.sunsetpointwinery.com
www.portagecountybiz.com
www.mstc.edu/podcast
On this episode of Profile, Michael and I visit with Kelly Guay, owner of the Sunset Point Winery and her mother, Kathy Johnson, who is also the Tasting Room Manager and Vice President of the Stevens Point Alliance.
Now, we all have hobbies, but what happens when your hobby becomes a passion, and that passion starts to consume more than just your free time? This is exactly what happened to Kelly Guay and her husband, Don. They started making wine at home for fun, which led to more wine and more experimentation. At some point, they decided to turn this hobby into a business. But they needed help. Kelly’s mom and dad answered her call for help, and they relocated to Central Wisconsin to help with the construction and operations of the tasting room. Sunset Point Winery is now a fixture of downtown, and Kathy and Kelly have become fixtures of our community.
This episode is really a masterclass on how to turn your side hustle into a career and how a family can band together to support a vision. You will be sure to enjoy the story of the Sunset Point Winery with Kelly and Kathy.
www.mstc.edu/podcast
www.mstc.edu/programs
www.mstc.edu/career-accelerator
www.sunsetpointwinery.com
www.portagecountybiz.com
www.mstc.edu/podcast
00:00:00 Kelly Guay
I didn't have the liquid cash. We took out what we could on our 401K.
00:00:04 Kelly Guay
's and vice versa.
00:00:04 Kathy Johnson
The phone call came home.
00:00:06 Kathy Johnson
Going mom, dad, what do you think if we open a winery in Stevens Point and my first reaction is what insane asylum can I throw you in?
00:00:14 Kathy Johnson
You guys work awful hours.
00:00:17 Kathy Johnson
You have five kids.
00:00:19 Kelly Guay
In a blended marriage.
00:00:19 Kathy Johnson
In a blended marriage.
00:00:22 Kathy Johnson
How do you expect to do this?
00:00:23 Kathy Johnson
When we lived 3 hours away and his parents lived 3 hours away so you have no family here.
00:00:30 Kathy Johnson
So how is this going to work? Well.
00:00:32 Kathy Johnson
That's it. Dad.
00:00:33 Kathy Johnson
Needs to quit his.
00:00:34 Kathy Johnson
Job and move up here now.
00:00:35 Kelly Guay
We did math on this.
00:00:36 Kelly Guay
We did, we put the engineering skills.
00:00:38 Kelly Guay
To work!
*break*
00:00:43 Ben Nusz
Welcome to Profile Central Wisconsin.
00:00:46 Ben Nusz
A podcast about the origins of the organizations that make our community thrive.
00:00:51 Ben Nusz
I'm Benjamin Nusz, your host and the campus.
00:00:53 Ben Nusz
Dean of Mid-State Technical Colleges Stevens Point Campus and I'll be joined by co-host.
00:00:58 Ben Nusz
Michael Witte, executive director of the Portage County business council.
00:01:02 Ben Nusz
On this episode of Profile, Michael and I visit with Kelly Guay, owner of the Sunset Point Winery, and her mother, Kathy Johnson, who's also the tasting room manager and vice president of the Stevens Point Alliance.
00:01:11 Ben Nusz
Now we all have hobbies, but what happens when your hobby becomes a passion and that passion starts.
00:01:21 Ben Nusz
To consume more.
00:01:22 Ben Nusz
Than just your free time?
00:01:24 Ben Nusz
This is exactly what happened to Kelly Guay and her husband Don.
00:01:27 Ben Nusz
They started making wine at home for fun, which led to more wine and more experimentation.
00:01:33 Ben Nusz
At some point they decided to turn this hobby into a business, but they needed help.
00:01:39 Ben Nusz
Kelly’s mom and her dad answered her call for help and they relocated to Central Wisconsin.
00:01:44 Ben Nusz
To help with the construction and operations of the tasting room.
00:01:47 Ben Nusz
Sunset Point Winery is now a fixture of downtown and Kathy and Kelly have become fixtures of our community.
00:01:54 Ben Nusz
This episode is really a master class on how to turn your side hustle into a career. And how a family can band together to support a vision.
00:02:03 Ben Nusz
To tell the story of the Sunset Point Winery, here are Kelly and Kathy.
*resumes*
00:02:14 Ben Nusz
So, we have the pleasure of having, uh, two guests today, both from Sunset Point Winery.
00:02:20 Ben Nusz
If you could just give us a little introduction, tell us your name and.
00:02:23 Ben Nusz
Then your role.
00:02:24 Kelly Guay
Sure, so I am Kelly Guay.
00:02:27 Kelly Guay
I'm the owner of Sunset Point Winery.
00:02:30 Kelly Guay
I started with a business plan and wound up buying a building and having two business plans.
00:02:35 Kelly Guay
So, there's the building and as well as the winery.
00:02:38 Kelly Guay
That's really my role outside of doing the monthly book work.
00:02:42 Kelly Guay
Otherwise, I have a full time position outside.
00:02:45 Kelly Guay
Of the winery.
00:02:46 Kathy Johnson
And I'm Kathy Johnson.
00:02:48 Kathy Johnson
Kelly’s mom.
00:02:49 Kathy Johnson
And I just kind.
00:02:51 Kathy Johnson
Of got roped into.
00:02:52 Kathy Johnson
This I was told that we are starting a winery and that they needed us to come up and run it after retirement.
00:02:59 Kelly Guay
Yep, that's how that worked.
00:03:00 Ben Nusz
OK, well that's the origin shell in a nutshell or origin story in a nutshell.
00:03:03 Kelly Guay
It very much so.
00:03:06 Ben Nusz
So, let's rewind just a little bit and maybe just start a little bit of your personal story.
00:03:12 Ben Nusz
So where did you grow up and what was that like?
00:03:16 Kathy Johnson
Well, I grew up in Sturtevant, WI which is a small, very small community in southeastern Wisconsin.
00:03:22 Kathy Johnson
Right next to Racine, South of Milwaukee. I am.
00:03:26 Kathy Johnson
The 4th generation of my family living there, and my daughter Kelly would have been the 5th.
00:03:31 Kathy Johnson
Since she was.
00:03:31 Kathy Johnson
Also raised there.
00:03:33 Kathy Johnson
Uhm, great little community to grow up in and as well as getting very much involved up here.
00:03:40 Kathy Johnson
I was also very much involved down there so I was a Police Commissioner and sat on the zoning board and what else did I do?
00:03:49 Kathy Johnson
A Girl Scout leader for.
00:03:50 Kelly Guay
Like yeah, a long time.
00:03:50 Kathy Johnson
13 years and.
00:03:53 Kathy Johnson
And many many other roles as far as getting involved with volunteerism.
00:03:57 Ben Nusz
So, you were engaged in in the community, down there, and and clearly you're engaged in the community here, what what drove that?
00:04:03 Ben Nusz
What, what made you passionate about that?
00:04:06 Kathy Johnson
Just wanting to keep the community a vibrant, wonderful living community, it was a very small community, and everybody knew everybody.
00:04:19 Kathy Johnson
So which.
00:04:20 Kelly Guay
Worse than here.
00:04:20 Kathy Johnson
Sometimes is a good thing.
00:04:22 Kathy Johnson
And sometimes is a bad thing *laughs*.
00:04:24 Kathy Johnson
So yeah, you know it was just.
00:04:27 Kathy Johnson
If you're, I always look at.
00:04:29 Kathy Johnson
If you're not involved, you don't have a say.
00:04:33 Kathy Johnson
So, get involved.
00:04:34 Kathy Johnson
You have a voice.
00:04:36 Ben Nusz
So, what brings you to Central Wisconsin?
00:04:38 Ben Nusz
How did.
00:04:39 Ben Nusz
You end up here?
00:04:39 Kelly Guay
That's all my fault. So, we grew up camping.
00:04:42 Kelly Guay
That was one of our pass times.
00:04:43 Kelly Guay
We did a lot of camping and downhill skiing, so we camped at like all the state parks as a kid and the one thing I.
00:04:48 Kelly Guay
Knew is I didn't want to live in Racine, Milwaukee area, which is what Sturdivant is just outside of.
00:04:55 Kelly Guay
Now Sturtevant was a nice small.
00:04:56 Kelly Guay
Knit community, but we went to school in the Racine Unified School District and with that comes all the big city things and I'm like, yeah, I like more outdoorsy things and less concrete parks.
00:05:06 Kelly Guay
And less asphalt around the schools.
00:05:09 Ben Nusz
We have a lot of outdoorsy things around here.
00:05:11 Kelly Guay
We do! We do, and when I was, I think it was a sophomore in high school I was going through like career prospects, sophomore, junior or whatever and I had a biology teacher ask what I was going to be interested in.
00:05:23 Kelly Guay
I'm like: wildlife and biology.
00:05:25 Kelly Guay
I was in like my second year of biology.
00:05:27 Kelly Guay
I loved it and he's like you're not going to make any money in wildlife biology, he says, where do you want to go to school?
00:05:32 Kelly Guay
And I’m like: up north. And that was OK.
00:05:34 Kelly Guay
Everything from Southeast Wisconsin is up north until you get up here, but.
00:05:36 Ben Nusz
I understand.
00:05:40 Kelly Guay
That being said, he said you should really check out the University of Stevens Point and you should really check out the paper industry because you're going to pay your own way through college via, you know grants and loans like most of us.
00:05:54 Kelly Guay
And he says, at least then you'll be able to pay your bills and get a job.
00:05:57 Kelly Guay
So wound up checking out Stevens Point.
00:06:01 Kelly Guay
Really only applied there because I loved it.
00:06:03 Kelly Guay
Got accepted into paper science and engineering.
00:06:06 Kathy Johnson
Bought her first house as a Senior in college.
00:06:06 Kelly Guay
I bought my first house.
00:06:09 Kelly Guay
Yeah, yeah, in Wisconsin Rapids 'cause I my first job was actually at the Rapids Mill and so that's really the foundation of my career and then coming to Central Wisconsin and I love it.
00:06:20 Kelly Guay
I wouldn't leave it.
00:06:20 Kelly Guay
I've got five kids that have gone to school or are going to school in the area and so super passionate about the community and being involved and still super passionate about paper and I'm still in it.
00:06:32 Kelly Guay
And winemaking was a hobby and *laughs*.
00:06:36 Kathy Johnson
Hobby gone awry.
00:06:38 Kelly Guay
Right, yeah, hobby turned business not gone awry it's fine!
00:06:42 Benjamin Nusz
*laughs* Oh no, we went there!
00:06:43 Kathy Johnson
For several years.
00:06:45 Kelly Guay
That it did.
00:06:45 Kathy Johnson
Then we would come up to visit.
00:06:47 Kathy Johnson
And it would be like 30 carboys of wine in the dining room and it stunk like fermentation and there was nowhere to sit for Thanksgiving dinner.
00:06:56 Kelly Guay
This is true.
00:06:58 Kelly Guay
The one year that they the last.
00:06:59 Kelly Guay
Year before we opened the winery, there was literally that many carboys bubbling around the dining room table, so we ate at the small kitchen table and then like the.
00:07:06 Kelly Guay
Countertops and stuff but.
00:07:07 Ben Nusz
So, let's start with the first carboy.
00:07:09 Ben Nusz
Did.
00:07:09 Ben Nusz
Do you remember the first time you ever made wine?
00:07:12 Kelly Guay
So that's also my fault.
00:07:13 Kelly Guay
Actually, it's it's, uh mine and my ex-husband’s story.
00:07:18 Kelly Guay
And he bought me a winemaking kit 'cause he knew I liked chemistry and I.
00:07:23 Kelly Guay
Liked wine so very thoughtful gift.
00:07:25 Kelly Guay
And we started by making an ice wine which is actually where grapes are frozen on the vine and their sugar content is really high.
00:07:34 Kelly Guay
It also is a very high alcohol content, but it comes out very sweet and very.
00:07:38 Kelly Guay
Sugary if you will, and so started there; five-gallon pail kit right from Point Brew.
00:07:44 Kelly Guay
Supply bought on Michigan Street when they were way over there like so.
00:07:47 Kelly Guay
This is a long time ago and.
00:07:50 Kelly Guay
We liked it, right? And so, I just kind of kept with the process.
00:07:54 Kelly Guay
Took a little class up in Wausau from the yield wine makers shop up there 'cause they were trying to promote selling their kits and did a little forum and in a Community Center one night and wound up buying a little book so that you it's called the Purple Book of Wine Makers and it tells you per one gallon.
00:08:10 Kelly Guay
How many pounds of fruit.
00:08:11 Kelly Guay
How much sugar.
00:08:12 Kelly Guay
What to do with pure grapes.
00:08:14 Kelly Guay
Like all these great recipes and just sort of experimented from there and then.
00:08:19 Kelly Guay
Became you know 250 gallon tanks and eleven of them instead of a 3 gallon glass carboy so I started with that.
00:08:26 Ben Nusz
I I can really sympathize with your story.
00:08:30 Ben Nusz
I have to tell a little of my own story.
00:08:33 Ben Nusz
About 15 years ago my brother and sister and I bought my parents a winemaking kit.
00:08:38 Ben Nusz
You know, it's the same thing.
00:08:39 Ben Nusz
It's the five gallon glass carboy.
00:08:43 Ben Nusz
And on a lark, we're like maybe they'll enjoy this.
00:08:47 Ben Nusz
They don't even drink a lot of wine.
00:08:50 Benjamin Nusz
You know?
00:08:51 Kathy Johnson
Who knows?
00:08:50 Benjamin Nusz
With you know.
00:08:51 Ben Nusz
You you know the experience you look.
00:08:52 Ben Nusz
Over at your brother and sister.
00:08:53 Ben Nusz
And say, “What are we going to get them for Christmas?”
00:08:55 Ben Nusz
Let's get him a winemaking kit.
00:08:56 Ben Nusz
15 years later they have almost 7 acres of grapes in in South Dakota, and it got really carried away fast.
00:09:03 Kelly Guay
See?
00:09:04 Kelly Guay
We have the same.
00:09:06 Kelly Guay
Problem I identify with you and your parents.
00:09:10 Kathy Johnson
Me too, unfortunately *laughs* fortunately.
00:09:14 Ben Nusz
So, you know, I think.
00:09:16 Ben Nusz
I think it's always great when, when a hobby becomes a passion, and that passion becomes an employment.
00:09:21 Ben Nusz
So, you start to get more equipment.
00:09:23 Ben Nusz
You know at what point do you realize we need to turn this into a business?
00:09:26 Kelly Guay
So actually it.
00:09:28 Kelly Guay
Was a connection that she had down in Southeastern Wisconsin.
00:09:31 Kelly Guay
They were trained as wine taste testing judges.
00:09:35 Kelly Guay
And I, she'd been talking about the fact that we were thinking about opening a winery like that.
00:09:41 Kelly Guay
Business conversations were in the works.
00:09:43 Kelly Guay
I'd reached out to Brian Cummins, who owns Great Northern Distillery, and so we were talking back and forth about what does the business plan look like when you're going to manufacture alcohol.
00:09:51 Kelly Guay
And then I'm like.
00:09:52 Kelly Guay
Well, first, maybe it would be good to send to somebody who knows something about wine.
00:09:55 Kelly Guay
I mean I like.
00:09:56 Kelly Guay
What I make but.
00:09:57 Kelly Guay
Who knows about the general population, the general public.
00:10:00 Kelly Guay
So, we mix and match a case out of what was in our wine cellar that we had made at home and sent her with 12 bottles one weekend and she gave one to her friend.
00:10:10 Kelly Guay
And the response from her and another.
00:10:13 Kelly Guay
Judge this so she.
00:10:14 Kelly Guay
Had her plus another one, do the taste testing and they're like they'd be kind of foolish not to.
00:10:19 Kelly Guay
They're fairly good at it, like we've tasted a.
00:10:21 Kelly Guay
Lot of bad homebrew and this wasn't it.
00:10:24 Kelly Guay
So, and we've grown a lot even since that batch.
00:10:27 Ben Nusz
Yep, yeah.
00:10:27 Kelly Guay
I mean, we've learned a lot in.
00:10:29 Kelly Guay
The last six years, but it was.
00:10:30 Kelly Guay
Kind of gave us the confidence to be like OK, we want to go into this.
00:10:34 Kelly Guay
She's we're putting a lot on the line, right financially, time, whatever and and that was kind of.
00:10:40 Kelly Guay
I guess the encouragement needed to just launch.
00:10:42 Kelly Guay
It into the business plan.
00:10:43 Ben Nusz
Why do you think those first wines were good?
00:10:46 Ben Nusz
Is this dumb luck or was this something to do with your chemistry training?
00:10:50 Kelly Guay
Chemistry. Chemistry, yeah. There is a lot of chemistry.
00:10:55 Kelly Guay
It's simple chemistry, but we we know how important things like pH are and the condition of the water when you start it.
00:11:02 Kelly Guay
And there's all those little nuances that.
00:11:04 Kelly Guay
Play a role in the final product and the taste of it.
00:11:07 Kelly Guay
And then my husband now, so he is a PhD organic chemist.
00:11:13 Kelly Guay
So, you want to talk about passion on a chemistry front.
00:11:15 Kelly Guay
He takes mine to a whole other level. And some of it's just experimentation, right?
00:11:21 Kelly Guay
Some of it some.
00:11:22 Kelly Guay
Of our best
00:11:23 Kelly Guay
Wines were founded while drinking wine, mixing concoctions.
00:11:26 Kathy Johnson
Hide wrappers
00:11:27 Kelly Guay
That we weren't sure. We do like, you.
00:11:29 Kelly Guay
Call it a ladder study in chemistry, right?
00:11:31 Kelly Guay
You start with certain concentrations of one based chemical and then you add different concentrations.
00:11:35 Kelly Guay
Of other based.
00:11:36 Kelly Guay
Chemicals, and except for our chemicals, our wine and the sugar additives that go into it, right?
00:11:41 Kelly Guay
So, if it we're just going to do grape, is it?
00:11:43 Kelly Guay
You know we're going to do a base of one type of grape and then experiment with five, ten, fifteen% of another grape.
00:11:49 Kelly Guay
Or are we going to do the case.
00:11:52 Kelly Guay
I'm actually thinking of is where it was me and my dad Gary.
00:11:56 Kelly Guay
And my husband, Don.
00:11:57 Kelly Guay
And we're sitting at the island and we.
00:11:58 Kelly Guay
Had this we had.
00:11:59 Kelly Guay
Invested a lot of money in a Frontenac green grape from the western side of the state from a vineyard there.
00:12:05 Kelly Guay
And when we tasted it, it was like we thought it would be.
00:12:08 Kelly Guay
Great like local wine.
00:12:10 Kelly Guay
And it tasted like sour apple, straight off, like when you take a green apple off the tree and you bite in it and you're like, oh, that was bitter and sour and I have no idea what I'm going to do with this.
00:12:20 Kelly Guay
Meanwhile a.
00:12:21 Kelly Guay
Friend of hers.
00:12:22 Kelly Guay
Grow with Aronia berries.
00:12:22 Kathy Johnson
A cousin a cousin.
00:12:23 Kathy Johnson
Of mine grows Aronia berries and he's like, well you guys are opening a winery.
00:12:28 Kathy Johnson
Can you make a wine out of Aronia berries?
00:12:30 Kathy Johnson
And like I don't even know what an Aronia berry is!
00:12:34 Ben Nusz
*laughs* Yeah what, what is an Aronia berry.
00:12:35 Kathy Johnson
I said it’s in the chokecherry family, it's 600 times more antioxidants in it than a blueberry. So, it's very healthy.
00:12:31 Ben Nusz
OK.
00:12:43 Kathy Johnson
But you know what a chokecherry tastes like?
00:12:44 Ben Nusz
Yeah.
00:12:45 Kathy Johnson
That's what this tastes like, right?
00:12:48 Kathy Johnson
And it's like how?
00:12:49 Kathy Johnson
The heck are we going to make.
00:12:50 Kathy Johnson
A wine out of this!
00:12:51 Kelly Guay
So, I had.
00:12:52 Kelly Guay
Two things going.
00:12:53 Kelly Guay
I had the Aronia berries.
00:12:54 Kelly Guay
In my freezer, which are better chokecherry type flavor.
00:12:57 Kelly Guay
We eat, you know, I’d take one out and it's got the like the dark skin but a white dry center and I'm like: alright.
00:13:03 Kelly Guay
Well, let's try these two flavors together.
00:13:06 Kelly Guay
I don't…
00:13:06 Kelly Guay
Alcohol may have been a factor in this decision-making skill set, and then we're like.
00:13:10 Kelly Guay
Well, then, how much sugar?
00:13:11 Kelly Guay
So first we muddled.
00:13:12 Kelly Guay
Like a whole thing.
00:13:14 Kelly Guay
Full of one Aronia berry, two Aronia.
00:13:15 Kelly Guay
Berry, three Aronia.
00:13:16 Kelly Guay
Berry yeah, I'm not kidding like I.
00:13:18 Kelly Guay
Muddled that. And we're.
00:13:18 Kelly Guay
Like: Oh well.
00:13:19 Kelly Guay
This kind of blends OK and then we took that blend and we're like, OK, now how much doses of sugar?
00:13:25 Kelly Guay
So, we took a simple syrup that we made down and we're like one eyedropper or two eyedropper or three eyedropper, and we made like a one through 10 and we found the right.
00:13:34 Kelly Guay
Sweetness combination with the bitter combination and we sell it today, it's called Red Dwarf.
00:13:39 Kelly Guay
It is the front.
00:13:40 Benjamin Nusz
What's it called?
00:13:40 Kelly Guay
Red dwarf is our name for it, which is the Frontenac green wine made to 100% Frontenac green, just pure grapes.
00:13:48 Kelly Guay
And then we add in Aronia berries and back sweeten it to the right sugar content that we came up in our recipe.
00:13:55 Kelly Guay
It has won awards at the State Fair and.
00:13:57 Kelly Guay
Then sold at the State Fair.
00:13:59 Kelly Guay
So, it should have really been named two wrongs make.
00:14:01 Kelly Guay
A right at the end of the day.
00:14:02 Kathy Johnson
That's correct and I tell everybody that at the tastings.
00:14:04 Kelly Guay
It is, yeah, and it kind of has a sweet tart flavor to it, but it's good.
00:14:08 Kelly Guay
It sells well.
00:14:09 Kelly Guay
It's very similar in flavor to like a cranberry wine.
00:14:11 Kelly Guay
If I were to kind of equate it to something.
00:14:12 Kathy Johnson
it comes off as a granny Smith apple flavor to begin with, hence that it that she talked about.
00:14:19 Kathy Johnson
Earlier and that's your first sip, your second sip will start.
00:14:23 Kathy Johnson
Picking up the Aronia Berry flavor and the third sip is what the rest of it will taste like.
00:14:28 Kathy Johnson
Is so you really have to have three sips of it to make the flavors…
00:14:33 Kelly Guay
Kind of mesh in your head.
00:14:33 Kathy Johnson
Mesh in your head.
00:14:34 Ben Nusz
This is such a great story 'cause I I love the way it illustrated one: That.
00:14:40 Ben Nusz
There's just some.
00:14:41 Ben Nusz
Wild experimentation that's going on, but it's backed by, you know, a very consistent scientific method.
00:14:49 Kelly Guay
Well yeah, Yep!
00:14:50 Kathy Johnson
Kind of.
00:14:52 Kelly Guay
Well, it was. It was measured.
00:14:54 Kelly Guay
We figured it out in the end.
00:14:55 Kathy Johnson
We also made.
00:14:56 Kathy Johnson
Beer, my husband also made beer at home.
00:14:58 Kathy Johnson
So, which is a whole other story and and we won't get into that today.
00:15:02 Kathy Johnson
Maybe some other day, but he…
00:15:04
Home Brews?
00:15:05 Kathy Johnson
Yep, he.
00:15:05 Kathy Johnson
Yeah, he would.
00:15:06 Kathy Johnson
He brewed for many many years.
00:15:06 Ben Nusz
You you grew up watching him brew beer?
00:15:07 Kelly Guay
Yep, yep, absolutely.
00:15:11 Kelly Guay
With his five gallon pail.
00:15:12 Kelly Guay
And a Star Boy.
00:15:14 Kathy Johnson
Kind of come over and help. He.
00:15:16 Kathy Johnson
Yeah he had that experience behind him.
00:15:18 Ben Nusz
So, let's get back to this thread.
00:15:21 Ben Nusz
You have a whole bunch of wines that you made.
00:15:22 Ben Nusz
At home you.
00:15:23 Ben Nusz
Send him off to to a professional.
00:15:25 Ben Nusz
They taste him and they say: this is pretty good.
00:15:27 Ben Nusz
What do you do next?
00:15:27 Kelly Guay
Yep, so then we started.
00:15:31 Kelly Guay
Then I started researching business plans.
00:15:34 Kelly Guay
Online actually for wineries and the University of Iowa, I believe it was had kind of a canned one to start with.
00:15:40 Kelly Guay
4 wineries ironically.
00:15:42 Kelly Guay
And then there was some other really good business resources in the University of Illinois systems.
00:15:46 Kelly Guay
So I took.
00:15:47 Kelly Guay
A couple business plans and then I I knew Brian Cummins was kind of doing something similar, but he was about six months in front of me.
00:15:54 Kelly Guay
For a thought process and the one thing we knew together is that he can't make Brandy without white wine and Brandy is a staple to here, and you also have to age it for two years before you can sell it at a distillery.
00:16:06 Kelly Guay
But white wine to bring in in too much water content to bring it in.
00:16:10 Kelly Guay
From like the coast where.
00:16:11 Kelly Guay
You traditionally would get white wine from and so we kind of worked out a well.
00:16:15 Kelly Guay
I'll buy the first batch if you sell it type of a gig so that kind of we still have that partnership going, which is really cool.
00:16:21 Kelly Guay
So, in tandem, even though we spent six months in front of me in the process, then he helped me.
00:16:26 Kelly Guay
More on the spreadsheet end I kind of have the basic storyline.
00:16:30 Kelly Guay
The business case why Central Wisconsin would make sense.
00:16:34 Kelly Guay
Why a downtown venue might make sense.
00:16:38 Kelly Guay
And then you go with that.
00:16:40 Kelly Guay
Then that's how you get into the banks.
00:16:43 Kelly Guay
So, with that you kind of take your your proposal to the banks.
00:16:46 Kelly Guay
We'd reach out to several of them locally who had read through our business plan.
00:16:50 Kelly Guay
And one of them decided us to take us up on this.
00:16:54 Kelly Guay
I feel like this is the Shark Tank of the, you know, getting launching from paper to the real world, right?
00:16:57 Benjamin Nusz
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:59 Kelly Guay
So, some people give you some fairly critical feedback.
00:17:01 Kelly Guay
Some people decide they want to take a risk on you as long as you're willing to take some whatever financial risk on yourself.
00:17:07 Kelly Guay
And invest… it, ironically.
00:17:11 Kelly Guay
Investors Community Bank was the first one that kind of gave us our break, right?
00:17:15 Kelly Guay
They're the ones that said: If you and you can afford to invest so much, then you meet with an accountant and a financial planner and you figure out where you're pulling the funding from.
00:17:23 Kelly Guay
And that's actually somewhere my dad got involved with the buying of the business.
00:17:27 Kelly Guay
He was able to liquidate his one and only small 401K to help put the 20% down.
00:17:32 Kathy Johnson
Yes.
00:17:32 Kelly Guay
Yeah, and I'm paying him back on that, but it was a, it was a family trade off like I didn't have the liquid cash we took out what we could on our 401K, and vice versa.
00:17:42 Kathy Johnson
The phone call came home going: mom, dad.
What do you think if we open a winery in Stevens Point?
00:17:47 Kathy Johnson
And my first reaction.
00:17:49 Kathy Johnson
Is what insane asylum can I throw you in?
00:17:50 Kathy Johnson
You guys work awful hours.
00:17:55 Kathy Johnson
You have five kids.
00:17:57 Kelly Guay
In a blended marriage.
00:17:57 Kathy Johnson
In a blended marriage.
00:17:59 Kathy Johnson
How do you expect to do this when we live three hours away?
00:18:02 Kathy Johnson
And his parents live three hours away so you have no family here.
00:18:08 Kathy Johnson
So how is this.
00:18:09 Kathy Johnson
Going to work?
00:18:09 Kathy Johnson
Well, that's it.
00:18:10 Kathy Johnson
Dad needs to quit his job and.
00:18:12 Kathy Johnson
Move up here now.
00:18:12 Kelly Guay
We did math on this. We did!
00:18:14 Kelly Guay
We put that engineering skills to work.
00:18:16 Kelly Guay
We did math on this.
00:18:16 Kathy Johnson
Dad needs to quit his job and.
00:18:18 Kathy Johnson
Move up here now and live in our basement.
00:18:21 Kathy Johnson
Mom, you can.
00:18:22 Kathy Johnson
Stay back in Sturdivant for a couple of years until you can retire, and then you can move up and finish helping us out.
00:18:30 Kathy Johnson
And then the next.
00:18:31 Kelly Guay
Pretty much *laughs*.
00:18:32 Kathy Johnson
Mom, Dad, how much do you have in?
00:18:33 Kathy Johnson
Your 401Ks?
00:18:34 Kelly Guay
Because of the 20 days sent down part.
00:18:36 Kathy Jounson
Dad’s fifty-nine and a half, and he won’t take out penalties.
00:18:41 Kathy Johnson
Where if they took there’s out they’d get pentalites.
00:18:42 Kelly Guay
Well, major penalties yeah.
00:18:42 Kathy Johnson
It would be penalized. So we're like: Yep, let's do this and all of our friends thought we were insane.
*break in interview*
00:18:51 Ben Nusz
Hello listener. We'll get back to our interview with Kelly and Kathy in a moment.
00:18:56 Ben Nusz
One thing we're learning from our guests is that starting a small business is hard.
00:19:01 Ben Nusz
There are the obvious things you need, like a product people want, and a retail space to sell it.
00:19:07 Ben Nusz
But there are likely many things that you have to learn along the way.
00:19:11 Ben Nusz
It's a challenge that we hear about all the time and that's why Mid-State is here to help.
00:19:16 Ben Nusz
You don't need to come up with these solutions alone.
00:19:18 Ben Nusz
Whether you need assistance in accounting, human resources, marketing or developing your business plan.
00:19:24 Ben Nusz
We offer these.
00:19:25 Ben Nusz
Courses every semester.
00:19:27 Ben Nusz
All of our.
00:19:28 Ben Nusz
Business classes can actually be completed in just eight weeks.
00:19:31 Ben Nusz
We have course delivery in length that's designed to meet your needs and to get you back to envisioning how you will make the world a better place.
00:19:40 Ben Nusz
In fact, starting on March 28th we have some business-related career accelerator certificates. You can earn nine credits.
00:19:47 Ben Nusz
In just eight weeks. Or if you want to spread things out, you can take one class at a time and complete in just over six months.
00:19:55 Ben Nusz
We've been listening to community members like Kelly and Kathy, and when you're starting a business, you can't wait to develop your business plan.
00:20:03 Ben Nusz
That's why we've developed these certificates so you can get started today.
00:20:08 Ben Nusz
The 1st twenty-two students to.
00:20:09 Ben Nusz
Enroll will actually all receive one of the three classes for free. So check out our website.
00:20:15 Ben Nusz
Or stop in to any of our campuses and we can tell you more about our offerings.
00:20:19 Ben Nusz
If you pop by the Stevens Point campus, you'll even find me! Seriously.
00:20:23 Ben Nusz
I'd love to sit down and chat, so come in and say hi.
00:20:27 Ben Nusz
Once again, thanks for listening.
00:20:28 Ben Nusz
We can now get back to the story of the Sunset Point Winery with Kelly and Kathy.
*interview resumes*
00:20:35 Michael Witte
So now we know that you're both insane and you're moving forward with this plan anyway.
00:20:41 Michael Witte
Yes, 'cause it's a great idea.
00:20:43 Kelly Guay
'cause it’s a great idea!
00:20:44 Kelly Guay
What's better like it's a tourism thing.
00:20:46 Kelly Guay
It's a good fit for the community.
00:20:48 Kelly Guay
There's nothing like this within 60 miles of us.
00:20:51 Kelly Guay
And if you're going to Door County, you have to drive through us.
00:20:54 Kelly Guay
And if you're going to Minocqua, you have to drive through us.
00:20:56 Kelly Guay
And if you're going to Lake Geneva, you have to drive through us. Right?
00:20:59 Ben Nusz
Yeah, we’re the gateway.
00:21:00 Kelly Guay
We’re the gateway! So stop in, say.
00:21:03 Kelly Guay
Hi. Yeah, that was all part.
00:21:05 Kelly Guay
Of the plan, kinda.
00:21:07 Ben Nusz
And part of this plan was you're going to make wines, and then you're also going to have a tasting room that was always.
00:21:12 Kelly Guay
Yes, always part of the plan, yes.
00:21:12 Ben Nusz
Part of the vision.
00:21:14 Ben Nusz
Where does downtown come into play and and how did you settle where you are now?
00:21:17 Kelly Guay
That was only...
00:21:18 Kathy Johnson
We looked at several.
00:21:20 Kathy Johnson
We looked at several locations outside the city.
00:21:20 Kelly Guay
Lots of properties outside of.
00:21:23 Kelly Guay
The city. In the city.
00:21:26 Kelly Guay
And then our realtor.
00:21:28 Kelly Guay
This one, shout out goes to Dave Pius.
00:21:30 Kelly Guay
Actually. Dave Pius.
00:21:31 Kelly Guay
We curl with. We curled with him.
00:21:33 Kathy Johnson
Yeah, but he’s also from Racine.
00:21:35 Kelly Guay
He’s from Racine.
00:21:36 Kelly Guay
But also, in realty at the time.
00:21:38 Kelly Guay
So we were using him as.
00:21:39 Kelly Guay
A realtor. And he goes: This.
00:21:41 Kelly Guay
Has been on the market, it's.
00:21:43 Kelly Guay
Outside of your price range, but I.
00:21:45 Ben Nusz
Like a good realtor *laughs*
00:21:47 Kelly Guay
Right, but I.
00:21:47 Kelly Guay
Need you to go look.
00:21:49 Kelly Guay
At it. And I'm like, OK.
00:21:51 Kelly Guay
So, we go in and the bottom floor is all office, like.
00:21:56 Kelly Guay
It's carpeting and cubicles and office walls and cap services have been in and out of there, and bakeries have been in and.
00:22:02 Kelly Guay
Out of there.
00:22:02 Kelly Guay
And it was so the old bakery building, but.
00:22:04 Kelly Guay
Lots of things had.
00:22:05 Kelly Guay
Moved in and out of it, but upstairs was.
00:22:07 Kelly Guay
The scoliosis rehab.
00:22:09 Kelly Guay
Center and a Pilates.
00:22:11 Kelly Guay
Yoga studio, which probably very few people know.
00:22:14 Kelly Guay
At least in this juncture in time, and we walk upstairs, and it's pretty much what you see today.
00:22:20 Kathy Johnson
It's wide open.
00:22:21 Kelly Guay
There's vaulted ceilings with the old boards.
00:22:24 Kelly Guay
There's skylights and they're like kind of walk in.
00:22:26 Kelly Guay
You're like: Oh yeah, God said.
00:22:28 Kelly Guay
This will be a tasting room. Like it was.
00:22:30 Kelly Guay
Just like how cool you're going to take this old bakery building, you're going to give it a new vital life.
00:22:34 Kelly Guay
It's got production capacity and the main floor.
00:22:36 Kelly Guay
Oh yep.
00:22:38 Kelly Guay
We're going to make this baby work, and that's when we made the phone call about: OK, so 20% down on this building was out of our price range.
00:22:45 Kelly Guay
20% down on what was in our price range was in our plan, but like this was sort of out of scope and that's where we roped dad into the building ownership with us.
00:22:56 Ben Nusz
So, give us a.
00:22:57 Ben Nusz
A date for this about when were you…?
00:22:59 Kelly Guay
It would have been a.
00:23:01 Kathy Johnson
We bought the building in October 6th of 2014.
00:23:04 Kelly Guay
Right, and I wrote the business plan starting in April that year.
00:23:07 Kelly Guay
It was a crappy April.
00:23:08 Kelly Guay
I'd had a really bad long weekend working in a paper mill.
00:23:12 Kelly Guay
And I'm like: I need an out plan at some time at my delineation.
00:23:16 Kelly Guay
I don't want anybody else that would say on it, so, yep; so it turned from a like cloudy, gross April like me on the web, researching business plans to signing paperwork in October at McDonald title to take.
00:23:32 Kelly Guay
Over that building.
00:23:32 Kathy Johnson
And Gary moved up in December lived in, in their basement for 2 1/2 years.
00:23:36 Kelly Guay
Yeah, two and a half years.
00:23:38 Ben Nusz
What incredible generosity from my parents, let's just take a moment and and and acknowledge that Kathy.
00:23:45 Kathy Johnson
It was crazy.
00:23:46 Ben Nusz
Yeah, and brave!
00:23:48 Ben Nusz
I mean, and there's a certain amount of bravery.
00:23:49 Kathy Johnson
Well, yes and no.
00:23:51 Kathy Johnson
Gary was ready to move.
00:23:53 Kathy Johnson
He and we knew that our other daughter lives in Eagle River, so we knew that Northern Wisconsin.
00:23:59 Kathy Johnson
Is going to be home eventually, although our friends want us to move to Florida, but that's not happening.
00:24:04 Benjamin Nusz
I was going to say.
00:24:04 Ben Nusz
A lot of people retire in Florida.
00:24:07 Kelly Guay
Including their friends.
00:24:08 Kathy Johnson
I don't like sand.
00:24:10 Kathy Johnson
I prefer snow.
00:24:11 Kathy Johnson
It's so Central Wisconsin, Northern Wisconsin is not a bad place to retire.
00:24:16 Kathy Johnson
So you know, we always knew we were going.
00:24:19 Kathy Johnson
To move north. Now, we thought we'd live somewhere between the two, but when this opportunity and I'm going to look at it as an opportunity when this opportunity came around, we jumped on it.
00:24:30 Kathy Johnson
One you always try to help your kids.
00:24:33 Kathy Johnson
But two, it brought us north and.
00:24:36 Kathy Johnson
Probably five years quicker than we would have otherwise, so it you know it really, and our money.
00:24:42 Kathy Johnson
Yep, we didn't put it into the winery.
00:24:45 Kathy Johnson
We put it into the building so when our friends thought we were crazier than crazy, we're like you know what a 401K can crash just as well. But a real estate.
00:24:56 Kathy Johnson
Is kind of more sustainable than the 401K, so we didn't feel like we were really.
00:24:57 Ben Nusz
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:02 Kathy Johnson
Jumping in and rounding, yeah, or even had a chance to drown it because real estate would always.
00:25:07 Kathy Johnson
Be there.
00:25:08 Ben Nusz
So, if I asked someone to imagine a winery, they would say Napa Valley they would say Italy they would.
00:25:15 Ben Nusz
They would picture, you know, a field of grapes.
00:25:18 Ben Nusz
Yep, in a barn next to that.
00:25:21 Ben Nusz
We don't have a field of grapes, we are, we are downtown.
00:25:25 Ben Nusz
So where do you get your grapes from?
00:25:27 Ben Nusz
And talk us just a little bit through the winemaking process.
00:25:29 Kelly Guay
So, we get our grapes locally as close as Amherst from Rock Ridge Vineyards.
00:25:34 Kelly Guay
The Kottke brothers out there have land, so we get as close as there. We do.
00:25:38 Kelly Guay
Get him from another Danzinger vineyard also.
00:25:41 Kelly Guay
Out of Wisconsin and then we get him.
00:25:42 Kelly Guay
As far away as.
00:25:44 Kelly Guay
California, Argentina and Italy.
00:25:47 Ben Nusz
Sure. Are you bringing in grapes or wine or?
00:25:48 Kelly Guay
New York and New York.
00:25:50 Kelly Guay
Yeah, we bring.
00:25:51 Kelly Guay
Yes, there's a variety of ways to bring it in locally.
00:25:55 Kelly Guay
Bringing in in grapes, we crush it into stomach, in in house, and so that's all taken care of.
00:26:00 Kelly Guay
Literally in our yard.
00:26:02 Kelly Guay
Farm properties.
00:26:03 Kelly Guay
And then we do the stuff that comes from Italy actually comes in as semi crushed with juice with the skins.
00:26:10 Kelly Guay
And stuff in it.
00:26:11 Kelly Guay
So, what they do there is they spray the natural yeast from the area on those grapes.
00:26:17 Kelly Guay
They crush them destem them, and then they put them in a container they're partially fermenting on the way over so that they don't spoil.
00:26:23 Kelly Guay
So, that's part of their business model and then we get them delivered into Pennsylvania off of a barge.
00:26:29 Kelly Guay
And then we get a truck and we get it here and then.
00:26:32 Kelly Guay
A lot of the stuff that comes out of Argentina in California is actually crushed locally, destemmed locally, and then they concentrate it.
00:26:38 Kelly Guay
So similar to how you can go to the store and get Welches.
00:26:43 Kelly Guay
Grape concentrate and you can put it in there.
00:26:45 Kelly Guay
It's just different varietals.
00:26:47 Kelly Guay
So, if I make a Pinot Noir.
00:26:48 Kelly Guay
It's a Pinot Noir concentrate, not Concorde grape, right?
00:26:51 Kelly Guay
So Welches Concord: grape, Pinot Noir, Pinot noir: Grape.
00:26:55 Kelly Guay
So there's just different ways to bring it in.
00:26:58 Kelly Guay
We do things here to make it taste like the skins have been fermented in it in the Reds.
00:27:03 Kelly Guay
We'll actually keep crushed red grape skins, local ones.
00:27:07 Kelly Guay
We'll freeze them and will.
00:27:08 Kelly Guay
Add them to the concentrates so that we're imparting our local flavor to it, even if it's a Pinot Noir, but you want the tannins and stuff out of those skins, so in the in the tannins out of the grape seeds that's in part of what imparts the flavor.
00:27:21 Kelly Guay
So, we kind of conserve that way.
00:27:23 Kelly Guay
I guess if you want a little bit of reuse and recycle on process for us.
00:27:28 Kelly Guay
And then other fruits we get in, we get in cranberries locally we get apples crushed up at Helene’s Orchard.
00:27:36 Kelly Guay
So, for our Apple based wines.
00:27:40 Kathy Johnson
Chut’s blueberries.
00:27:40 Kelly Guay
Chut’s blueberries.
00:27:41 Kathy Johnson
We just got those dropped off.
00:27:43 Kelly Guay
Yeah, we've tried to keep some of the more local type fruit local.
00:27:47 Kathy Johnson
Rhubarb
00:27:49 Kelly Guay
Rhubarb from local rhubarb farmers like just and our backyard.
00:27:51 Ben Nusz
Your your field is just a little bit bigger. *laughs* Right, it's it's the community.
00:27:55 Kelly Guay
Well, yeah, it's the community, yeah and I guess out of our view we have the Wisconsin River.
00:28:02 Kelly Guay
I mean we overlooked the Wisconsin River, which faces West.
00:28:03 Ben Nusz
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:05 Kelly Guay
So, you can catch.
00:28:06 Kelly Guay
Some pretty cool sunsets come out.
00:28:08 Kelly Guay
Of the upper area there.
00:28:10 Kathy Johnson
Hence the name Sunset Point.
00:28:10 Kelly Guay
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:12 Kathy Johnson
But there's another reason behind that, so why don't you.
00:28:15 Kathy Johnson
Tell em that?
00:28:15 Ben Nusz
Yeah! Tells us the history with the name.
00:28:17 Kelly Guay
The name occurred to me at 2:00 in the morning.
00:28:19 Kelly Guay
Uhm, because
00:28:20 Kelly Guay
All of my bizarre creativity happens to come to my brain between 2:00 and 4:00.
00:28:24 Kelly Guay
AM and wake.
00:28:24 Kelly Guay
Me up good, bad, or indifferent.
00:28:26 Kelly Guay
That's how it is.
00:28:27 Kelly Guay
For me, so I.
00:28:29 Kelly Guay
My husband and I were married on Sunset Lake in Amherst. So, we rented.
00:28:34 Kelly Guay
Out swez; we both were graduates.
00:28:36 Kelly Guay
Of Point. We were doing this whole blended family.
00:28:39 Kelly Guay
Thing so super chill.
00:28:41 Kelly Guay
And we live in Stevens Point, so that's where the name came from.
00:28:45 Kelly Guay
2:00 in the morning.
00:28:45 Kelly Guay
I know the name of the winery.
00:28:46 Kelly Guay
It's going to be Sunset Point! And it seemed to fit kind of on the family level as well as the Stevens Point local level.
00:28:53 Kelly Guay
So, and the logo is actually a design of my friend who's a graphic artist from Racine and she also graduated.
00:29:01 Kelly Guay
From Point and I said the only thing it needs, DeeDee, is has to have seven rays in the sunshine or the sunset if you will, because there's seven of us.
00:29:08 Kelly Guay
There's five kids plus us two, so the logo is also speaks.
00:29:12 Kelly Guay
It's more than just the winery logo.
00:29:13 Kelly Guay
It's also a little bit of a family logo if you will.
00:29:15 Kelly Guay
So, when she designed it with that in mind.
00:29:18 Kelly Guay
So, it takes the whole entourage of.
00:29:20 Kelly Guay
Us to pull this off! *laughs* So…
*break*
00:29:28 Ben Nusz
More from Kelly and Kathy.
00:29:29 Ben Nusz
In a moment, just a quick break.
00:29:31 Ben Nusz
To share some brief announcements.
00:29:33 Ben Nusz
The spring term at Mid-State is now underway, but we always have a great slate of continuing education courses available that are refreshed every week.
00:29:42 Ben Nusz
From learning how to design a website for your own small business or to learning how to brew your own beer, our continuing education department.
00:29:50 Ben Nusz
Has a lot to offer.
00:29:51 Ben Nusz
The courses are designed for both personal enrichment and professional development.
00:29:56 Ben Nusz
Sometimes what you
00:29:57 Ben Nusz
Need to succeed.
00:29:58 Ben Nusz
Is just a little.
00:29:59 Ben Nusz
More learning or the next credential and Mid-State can help you on your way.
00:30:04 Ben Nusz
Check out upcoming classes at mstc.edu/continuing-education. Also, one more reminder about our career accelerator certificates.
00:30:14 Ben Nusz
9 credits in just eight weeks.
00:30:17 Ben Nusz
Mid-State offers certificates in communication essentials, competitive sales, human resources, foundations, small business accelerator.
00:30:24 Ben Nusz
Social and mobile marketing, team leadership, and business skills.
00:30:30 Ben Nusz
It's a lot of offerings, I know, but we want to make sure that we are meeting.
00:30:34 Ben Nusz
Everybody needs right now, as our college president, Doctor Shelley Mandic likes to say, do it today, not someday.
00:30:42 Ben Nusz
Now let's hear more of the story of the Sunset Point Winery with Kelly and Kathy.
*interview resumes*
00:30:51 Ben Nusz
The winery is established, you’re downtown.
00:30:53 Ben Nusz
What's what's happening next?
00:30:55 Ben Nusz
Are you developing additional types of wine? And and and.
00:30:59 Ben Nusz
What what is your.
00:31:00 Ben Nusz
What's the next phase of your business model here?
00:31:03 Kelly Guay
So, next phase of our business model is probably focusing a bit more on our wholesale and broadening what.
00:31:08 Kelly Guay
We've got with.
00:31:09 Kelly Guay
What we have to offer to a broader audience than probably within the local 60 miles and then getting more thought thought of throughout the state of Wisconsin.
00:31:20 Kelly Guay
From the wine development we have Earl, who is a new production manager for us, and he's been experimenting, kind of with his own palette, right?
00:31:30 Kelly Guay
And what does he want to bring to the table?
00:31:31 Kelly Guay
So that's kind of neat 'cause you get just different people.
00:31:33 Kelly Guay
Takes on it, he's been able to develop an awesome white fruit blend for us from Wisconsin grapes, which I'm super excited to release this Spring.
00:31:42 Kelly Guay
So, I think some of it's just working with the people you have in their flavor profiles and what do they want to see develop and what does the community want to see developed?
00:31:50 Kelly Guay
Originally, we've done like a like a survey like on the counter.
00:31:54 Kelly Guay
Hey, what do you want to see.
00:31:55 Kelly Guay
Bring brought to the table? And you know that kind of guided us for a little while.
00:31:58 Kelly Guay
So, what did people want to see brought into our winery for us to make or try ourselves.
00:32:03 Kelly Guay
I think a lot of investment into the local I.
00:32:06 Kelly Guay
Think is going to be important.
00:32:07 Kelly Guay
So as climate change happens, this is my take on what I think the Wisconsin wineries and vineyards could be.
00:32:15 Kelly Guay
When I say this, is that as their climate changes, it makes our climate more desirable for growing grapes and the grape development and the University of Minnesota has invested heartily into that realm, right?
00:32:27 Kelly Guay
That's where a lot of our local grape varietals come from is their research and development.
00:32:31 Ben Nusz
Yeah, my parents have some. *laughs*
00:32:32 Kelly Guay
Yeah, see and so and so you think South Dakota.
00:32:35 Kelly Guay
Like you mentioned, where your parents are.
00:32:36 Kelly Guay
Growing; same type of investment, it's a long term one right? We might not really reap all the benefits on that for 50 to 100 years.
00:32:44 Kelly Guay
But hey, if we're in front of the curve, we're in front of the curve.
00:32:46 Kelly Guay
I'm I'm OK with that risk and so I think some of it is also continuing to partner with the Wisconsin wineries and their associate.
00:32:53 Kelly Guay
There's an association we belong to there.
00:32:55 Kelly Guay
And where does the.
00:32:57 Kelly Guay
Consumers say we should take our market, take our skill set, you know, and then learn from what California has done and try to bring it to the Midwest.
00:33:06 Ben Nusz
So, one of the programs we have at Mid-State is in agronomy and and is in the science of growing, and you mentioned something like University of Minnesota.
00:33:15 Ben Nusz
How does the grower.
00:33:16 Ben Nusz
Influence the individual taste? And I have to share an experience.
00:33:20 Ben Nusz
We Mid-State, we have an exchange program with a comparable school in in Frankfurt and.
00:33:26 Ben Nusz
In Germany and we went on a tour, and we visited a 200 year old winery.
00:33:33 Ben Nusz
Driving past all of the the different grapes and they were able to say: OK, this particular year.
00:33:41 Ben Nusz
It grew on this slope, and it imparted this sort of flavor because this is what the season was like.
00:33:48 Kelly Guay
Yep.
00:33:48 Ben Nusz
So how do you as someone who's making wine interpret what's happening?
00:33:53 Ben Nusz
In the soil and was happening in the Earth into what we eventually drink?
00:33:55 Kelly Guay
So, I think the closest regional thing I can talk about is been working with the Cockies on their farm and.
00:34:02 Kelly Guay
Uhm, they have.
00:34:03 Kelly Guay
They do have a nice facing slope faces SW ish so they get the nice afternoon sun and this year was not one of the better years and it has to do with the amount of waterfall like so the amount of rain that comes in what's going on in the soil when that happens so it can be imparted.
00:34:22 Kelly Guay
By runoff, it can be imparted by just the age of the grapes and how deep those roots are down into the soil beds. So 200 year old grapes have root bases that go way, way down there. Insanely deep root systems.
00:34:36 Kelly Guay
Y’know? And and it's always a learning experience for us.
00:34:39 Kelly Guay
And them because we're kind of on this again, this learning adventure together so that growers can do some things to adjust like pHs of their soil.
00:34:47 Kelly Guay
They can do things that are just.
00:34:49 Kelly Guay
Do they burden at it?
00:34:51 Kelly Guay
Do they waspen at it, because those bugs can even impart different flavors.
00:34:55 Kelly Guay
So, so we've learned some things the hard way.
00:34:58 Kelly Guay
I hope to one day be able to go to a cocky vineyard and be.
00:35:02 Kelly Guay
Like: So this.
00:35:03 Kelly Guay
Batch came off of this slope and this year and this year is different from last year.
00:35:07 Kelly Guay
Because of that, I think we're in such an infancy.
00:35:09 Kelly Guay
We're not there yet, but the toure of the soil, as they say, is the flavors that come out of the soil into the grape and then impart the grape flavors, and that can change seasonally based on weather conditions, so.
00:35:22 Kathy Johnson
Some of it also comes down to the pruning too.
00:35:24 Kathy Johnson
So, if we have cloudy days throughout summer, you're not going to get that flavor, and the sugars that's needed in those grapes.
00:35:33 Kathy Johnson
And then it comes down to the pruning aspect.
00:35:35 Kathy Johnson
How many leaves do we actually prune off the vines in order for the sun to hit the grapes versus burning the grapes?
00:35:43 Kathy Johnson
So, there's that fine line that has to be crossed in the.
00:35:46 Kathy Johnson
Vineyard end of things.
00:35:48 Kathy Johnson
And there again they are learning as well as we are through this process.
00:35:53 Kelly Guay
Yeah, being yeah that hope the one thing I will say is I love land.
00:35:58 Kelly Guay
I love living on land, but I do not want to be a farmer like they are blessed.
00:36:04 Kelly Guay
That is a.
00:36:04 Kelly Guay
Blessed group of people right there.
00:36:06 Kelly Guay
I just have there.
00:36:07 Kelly Guay
Is so much that painstaking agony goes into the weather and the.
00:36:12 Kelly Guay
The whims of the weather and what you're trying to produce and like that is too stressful for me.
00:36:17 Kelly Guay
Taking a risk on a building.
00:36:19 Kelly Guay
And my parents and a business downtown.
00:36:21 Kelly Guay
That's my risk.
00:36:22 Kelly Guay
But the weather I'm not capable of doing that.
00:36:25 Kelly Guay
Which is great.
00:36:26 Kelly Guay
That there are people capable of taking that.
00:36:28 Kelly Guay
'cause it's huge, and it's underestimated.
00:36:30 Kathy Johnson
And that was the beauty of this.
00:36:32 Kathy Johnson
They didn't want a winery.
00:36:34 Kathy Johnson
And we didn't want a vineyard, so it was a perfect blend, a perfect marriage of two companies coming together to make this happen so.
00:36:43 Kathy Johnson
And they started growing grapes about two years, 18 months to two years ahead of us, and they were ecstatic to hear that there was a winery coming to town,
00:36:51 Ben Nusz
It's perfect.
00:36:52 Kathy Johnson
It was.
00:36:52 Kathy Johnson
It was a.
00:36:52 Kathy Johnson
It was a perfect marriage.
00:36:54 Kathy Johnson
It really was.
00:36:54 Kelly Guay
And it just so happens they have ties to the paper industry as well.
00:36:56 Kelly Guay
You know some things are meant to be for a reason, right?
00:37:00 Kelly Guay
People meet or cross paths for one reason or another, and there's happen to workout with ours.
00:37:05 Ben Nusz
So take us into the tasting room right now.
00:37:08 Ben Nusz
If uh, if we left this interview and went over there, what are some of the delicious things.
00:37:13 Ben Nusz
I could drink?
00:37:14 Kathy Johnson
Oh, right now there's a lot! There's about 22 different flavors out there right now, and several on their ways so.
00:37:24 Kathy Johnson
Right now.
00:37:26 Kathy Johnson
Well, of course my favorites are locally grown because I think that's so important that we work together.
00:37:32 Kathy Johnson
So, my favorites are the Pocus Stamp.
00:37:35 Ben Nusz
Pocus Stamp?
00:37:35 Kathy Johnson
Pocus Stamp.
00:37:37 Kathy Johnson
Yes, Polish community, perfect garden and.
00:37:41 Kathy Johnson
And farmers Polish family vineyard, exactly so Pocas Stamp is a Frontenac Blanc, grape wine.
00:37:49 Kathy Johnson
And it’s a off sweet.
00:37:52 Kathy Johnson
It's not a sweet wine, but it's not a dry wine, so I'm going to call it off sweet.
00:37:57 Kathy Johnson
And then we have Blazing Brianna, which is a Brianna grape, and that is my number one favorite, and that is a sweet white.
00:38:06 Kathy Johnson
Our Standing Rock Red is a.
00:38:08 Kathy Johnson
Red blend, that's all.
00:38:09 Benjamin Nusz
I love the name.
00:38:10 Kathy Johnson
The Reds grown out there and of course their farms are near the Standing Rock Park, so it's standing rock red.
00:38:17 Kathy Johnson
But along with that, we have Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot noir, Cabernet, and then, of course, our fun wines.
00:38:26 Kathy Johnson
Which will run into our pomegranate flavored our BlackBerry flavored our Mandarin orange flavored our pineapple.
00:38:33 Kathy Johnson
Flavored and those are kind of our fun ones and then our.
00:38:37 Kathy Johnson
Of course, you know we've got our dessert wines, which are always great so.
00:38:41 Michael Witte
So is blazing Brianna, the one with the Amherst grapes?
00:38:45 Kathy Johnson
Yep Yep Yep.
00:38:45 Benjamin Nusz
Yes, yes, yeah.
00:38:47 Michael Witte
I have three bottles of that.
00:38:48 Kelly Guay
Oh OK, it's delicious.
00:38:50 Kelly Guay
That one is my favorite.
00:38:50 Kathy Johnson
It is my number one favorite, yeah?
00:38:51 Kelly Guay
It's really good.
00:38:52 Michael Witte
It is.
00:38:53 Michael Witte
It is tremendous, absolutely.
00:38:54 Kelly Guay
Yeah, well, thank you.
00:38:55 Kelly Guay
I'm glad you.
00:38:55 Kelly Guay
Like that one so.
00:38:57 Kathy Johnson
And of course you can buy a tasting up there, which is a flight of six flavors.
00:39:01 Kathy Johnson
And go from there and taste whatever you want and then buy glasses.
00:39:08 Kathy Johnson
Or take a bottle home or two or three or
00:39:10 Kathy Johnson
Four; we prefer a case.
00:39:11 Michael Witte
OK, we're done here, let's go.
00:39:12 Kelly Guay
Yeah, exactly right and for the non-wine drinkers that happen to come with the wine drinkers, there is a whole bunch of local craft beers in the cooler.
00:39:21 Kelly Guay
So which is nice.
00:39:23 Kelly Guay
We want to offer that and as well.
00:39:24 Kathy Johnson
And Point soda.
00:39:25 Kelly Guay
We do offer Point soda.
00:39:26 Kelly Guay
I think people think winery and they think not family friendly or maybe a little bit stuck up and snobby.
00:39:32 Kelly Guay
Just because there are some connotations to wine drinkers, but we own a winery in Central Wisconsin, and we have five kids, so this is a very family friendly winery.
00:39:43 Kelly Guay
There's coloring books at the back bar if you just ask for them.
00:39:46 Kelly Guay
There is.
00:39:46 Kelly Guay
Uhm, there's chocolate bars and point sodas and munchies and snacks and swing chairs.
00:39:53 Kelly Guay
And just a very like you should feel like you can wear your shoes in my living room type.
00:39:57 Kelly Guay
Feel right?
00:39:58 Kelly Guay
Like hang out, bring a board game if you want.
00:40:01 Kelly Guay
It's like those.
00:40:02 Kelly Guay
Types of things are all OK with us, yeah?
00:40:03 Kathy Johnson
Coloring book. We play Wino bingo and we have art classes and just fun things going on and don't call him swing chairs please.
00:40:11 Kathy Johnson
When you're saying family OK, I have to.
00:40:13 Kathy Johnson
Stop the kids from swinging.
00:40:14 Kathy Johnson
In them! Or they'll fall off! No spinning and swinging please.
00:40:17 Kelly Guay
Respectfully swinging. They’re hammock chairs.
00:40:19 Kathy Johnson
Come and relax!
00:40:22 Kathy Johnson
No spinning or swinging please!
00:40:24 Kelly Guay
For safety sake.
00:40:27 Ben Nusz
So I think it it.
00:40:28 Ben Nusz
It really gives people just a great downtown experience.
00:40:32 Ben Nusz
And so I I do want to shift just a little bit and talk about your involvement Kathy with.
00:40:37 Ben Nusz
The Stevens Point Alliance.
00:40:39 Ben Nusz
The Downtown Business Association that we have here, which does tremendous things for the downtown community that maybe a lot of people don't know about.
00:40:48 Ben Nusz
So maybe tell us your your role there and and give us a cliff.
00:40:51 Ben Nusz
Notes for things.
00:40:52 Kathy Johnson
Sure, well, one thing that I did miss in the Sturdivant history was I also sat on the Community Development Authority in Sturdivant for 24 years, so I.
00:41:02 Kathy Johnson
Knew a lot about.
00:41:04 Kathy Johnson
Developing an area and how to bring that to life and I always think that sometimes new eyes see things differently and so when moving it well, when we thought about the building in October, I think by November I had already signed us up to be a member of the downtown alliance.
00:41:24 Kathy Johnson
Because I felt that if we're going to be in the downtown.
00:41:28 Kathy Johnson
Area again like I said earlier, you need a voice.
00:41:31 Kathy Johnson
But it's also.
00:41:33 Kathy Johnson
To help people know who we are.
00:41:36 Kathy Johnson
And and to make recognition of our business so it works both ways in being involved.
00:41:42 Kathy Johnson
And so yeah.
00:41:44 Kathy Johnson
So getting involved right away.
00:41:46 Kathy Johnson
Becoming a member. I couldn't do much because I was in Sturdivant for 2 1/2 years waiting to retire from the post office, but.
00:41:55 Kathy Johnson
I still whenever I was here, which would be monthly, I would come up at least once a month. I was very much in contact with people in the downtown area working at the winery and helping out that way before the retirement. Once I got here in 2000… May of 2017, I moved up permanently.
00:42:16 Kathy Johnson
And with that, I don't know how quick I was appointed to the board, but I think.
00:42:21 Kathy Johnson
It was instantly.
00:42:22 Kathy Johnson
I don't remember any timeframe in between.
00:42:25 Kathy Johnson
I think it was like instantly you are on the board and no sooner was I on the board of the Downtown Alliance.
00:42:32 Kathy Johnson
But then I was also asked to be on the board for the Visitors.
00:42:36 Kathy Johnson
Bureau and Convention Center, so I also sit on that and again, just being involved getting to know people, people getting to know me I think was so.
00:42:45 Kathy Johnson
Important and as far as doing things downtown, my whole purpose is bring feet to the street.
00:42:52 Kathy Johnson
That's all I want.
00:42:53 Kathy Johnson
So, whatever I can do to bring people to downtown, it benefits my business and it benefits every other business in the downtown area.
00:43:02 Kathy Johnson
And that's what I'm all about.
00:43:03 Kathy Johnson
Is just benefiting downtown.
00:43:05 Kelly Guay
Yeah, one of the key messages that.
00:43:08 Kelly Guay
I have heard.
00:43:09 Kelly Guay
Um, sitting on late night City Council calls or whatever.
00:43:14 Kelly Guay
There's still some misconception about what our downtown is.
00:43:18 Kelly Guay
There are people that have not been downtown that live in our community in years because they think of it as the bar scene and the frumpy storefronts that it once was.
00:43:29 Kelly Guay
And I lived.
00:43:30 Kelly Guay
In that during college, so I know.
00:43:32 Kathy Johnson
What it looked like.
00:43:33 Kelly Guay
And I know what it is today.
00:43:35 Ben Nusz
So well, this was a.
00:43:37 Ben Nusz
This was a mall.
00:43:38 Kathy Johnson
You’re sitting in the mall!
00:43:38 Kelly Guay
Right, yes, great.
00:43:40 Kelly Guay
We're sitting in the mall right now in the Mid-State.
00:43:43 Kelly Guay
The nice, beautiful renovated JCPenney building and the the downtown streets are filled with tons of adorable little businesses, right, and they're all entrepreneurs that are local and they live here and it isn't.
00:43:58 Kelly Guay
It isn't a bar.
00:43:59 Kelly Guay
Every other you know spot. Now.
00:44:01 Kelly Guay
Are there still some really good places?
00:44:03 Kelly Guay
Absolutely, I mean hello, somebody we need something to do after midnight.
00:44:07 Kelly Guay
But that being said, it is, uh, even that has taken on a different life.
00:44:11 Kelly Guay
And so what we're trying to break the barrier on with, you know, my mom being from an outside perspective.
00:44:19 Kelly Guay
But trying to bring the feet to the street and make it a community involved area where there's something for everybody downtown.
00:44:25 Kelly Guay
You think of it, we have everything from rental kayaks to high.
00:44:29 Kelly Guay
Like really beautiful clothing shops to nail salons to art studios, to a winery to what's going to be, a distillery to ice cream to coffee.
00:44:40 Kathy Johnson
To a tech college!
00:44:42 Kelly Guay
To a tech college. There is so much here and people don't see it.
00:44:45 Kelly Guay
It's like.
00:44:45 Kelly Guay
Get out like I've heard people say I didn't know you owned a winery like I've been in business six years.
00:44:50 Kelly Guay
What rock have you lived in?
00:44:52 Kelly Guay
Get out in your community.
00:44:53 Kelly Guay
Explore it, go see what there is to see and like by doing things like bringing the kayak launches or the ice rinks downtown.
00:44:58 Kathy Johnson
The ice rink to downtown.
00:45:01 Kelly Guay
Yeah, you know the fighting we had on the ice rink from the general public.
00:45:06 Kelly Guay
'cause there's gonna be a bunch of drunks and there's gonna be puke and blood everywhere on the ice. I have yet to see it. It's been here two years or three years now. 3 winters.
00:45:14 Kelly Guay
Here's what is what I do see, though, is people getting engaged in front of the Christmas tree on the ice, and little kids playing crack the whip and hitting snowbanks.
00:45:23 Kelly Guay
And you know, that's the memories.
00:45:26 Kelly Guay
That's the fun stuff that you know should be bringing people downtown, not what used to be.
00:45:30 Kelly Guay
So let it go; calm down.
00:45:32 Ben Nusz
And I think I think of some of the events that the downtown alliance holds.
00:45:36 Ben Nusz
You know, they started notes at night, so every Wednesday night there's live music on the square.
00:45:41 Ben Nusz
There's a vibrancy to that. The the winter parade.
00:45:44 Ben Nusz
The downtown alliance.
00:45:45 Ben Nusz
Runs that and all of these things you know add to the vibrancy and into the community, down here.
00:45:52 Kathy Johnson
Yeah, in the last five years we put the dock on the river because again I saw that you know the people on the river have boats and if we want them to come up and have lunch.
00:46:02 Kathy Johnson
And a beer.
00:46:03 Kathy Johnson
Why don't we have a dock down there for them?
00:46:05 Kathy Johnson
So we got the dock on.
00:46:06 Kathy Johnson
The river and.
00:46:08 Kathy Johnson
You know the reindeer.
00:46:09 Kathy Johnson
This past year the the parade came back, the ice rink just all of that is all about the vibrancy and bring people and families downtown.
00:46:21 Ben Nusz
So, there's a a question I always ask.
00:46:24 Ben Nusz
What's next for Kelly and Kathy and Sunset Point Winery?
00:46:30 Kelly Guay
I think what's next for us is probably figuring out the transition plan so my dad officially retired this last July.
00:46:37 Kelly Guay
That is, in Mom's couple year plan here. So, we've got to sort of figure out. What does that look like.
00:46:44 Kelly Guay
For us? And how do we keep the quality of the wine and the quality of the experience?
00:46:49 Kelly Guay
And you know the quality of the staff.
00:46:52 Kathy Johnson
The quality of your life.
00:46:54 Kelly Guay
And the quality of our life. And how do we manage and manipulate that going forward.
00:46:57 Kelly Guay
Probably the next two years is gonna be a little bit of a transition in that realm, but well, we'll navigate through it like we do everything and put our best foot forward and keep marching.
00:47:06 Kelly Guay
So yeah, I don't know that I have a.
00:47:08 Kelly Guay
Full firm plan.
00:47:09 Kelly Guay
Yet, but got some things in the words.
00:47:10 Kathy Johnson
We keep looking at it.
00:47:11 Kelly Guay
I like I do.
00:47:12 Kelly Guay
I'm I'm actually very excited to have the distillery come down 'cause we've partnered well in the past, even with them.
00:47:17 Kelly Guay
Them being in Plover so having them come across the street from us, it's going to be a really big deal.
00:47:22 Kelly Guay
I'm kind of looking forward to partnering with them.
00:47:24 Kelly Guay
District One and us also do a lot of partnerships and you know.
00:47:28 Kelly Guay
So, I think maybe we can get some collaborative stuff going with the Portage or the craft collective in Portage County, and maybe do some bigger things along that realm.
00:47:37 Kelly Guay
Bring in more of the tourism aspects of that right.
00:47:40 Kelly Guay
Hit up your populations in the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Chicago.
00:47:44 Kelly Guay
See if we can drum up some different business, so.
00:47:47 Kathy Johnson
And turn us into a destination.
00:47:50 Kathy Johnson
In downtown Point.
*interview ends*
00:47:57 Ben Nusz
Thank you for listening to Profile Central Wisconsin.
00:48:01 Ben Nusz
Special thanks to Kelly Guay and Kathy Johnson from Sunset Point Winery and to Michael Witte for joining me in this conversation.
00:48:08 Ben Nusz
Profile is a production of Mid-State Technical College out of the Stevens Point campus.
00:48:13 Ben Nusz
If you want to learn the business management skills to turn your side hustle into your career.
00:48:18 Ben Nusz
Mid-State has a two year associate degree in business management.
00:48:21 Ben Nusz
Or a one year technical diploma in entrepreneurship with flexible delivery and both online and in person options. It's the type of program made to help you advance. Learn more at mstc.edu/progams.
00:48:35 Ben Nusz
If you want to get started right away, check out our career accelerator certificates. You can find the full list of offerings and dates and times on our website at mstc.edu/career-accelerator.
00:48:48 Ben Nusz
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00:48:55 Ben Nusz
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00:49:01 Ben Nusz
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00:49:07 Ben Nusz
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00:49:15 Ben Nusz
Mstc.edu/podcast has all the latest information and all the ways to listen.
00:49:21 Ben Nusz
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00:49:22 Ben Nusz
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00:49:26 Ben Nusz
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00:49:28 Ben Nusz
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00:49:30 Ben Nusz
Thanks for listening.
*interview clip resumes*
00:49:39 Kelly Guay
To get us started in the equipment realm, uhm, we had some of it.
00:49:44 Kelly Guay
We started with glass carboys and.
00:49:45 Kelly Guay
What we could afford.
00:49:46 Kathy Johnson
A little crusher.
00:49:49 Kelly Guay
A little baby itty bitty local.
00:49:50 Kelly Guay
It was cute.
00:49:51 Kelly Guay
It was like 20 gallons.
00:49:52 Ben Nusz
You didn't, you didn't stomp the grapes?
00:49:54 Kelly Guay
Oh no, we did that once, but that's a different story.
00:49:56 Kelly Guay
Maybe I'll get to that yet, but.
00:49:58 Michael Witte
Was alcohol involved?
00:49:59 Kathy Johnson
No, not that one.
00:50:00 Kelly Guay
Maybe the thought of it was.
00:50:01 Kathy Johnson
Well, maybe.
00:50:02 Kelly Guay
The thought of it for sure.
00:50:04 Kelly Guay
Uhm, we were thinking Lucille Ball style.
00:50:07 Kelly Guay
It wound up more like a plastic swimming pool that was really slimy anyway.