Episode 42: More Than a Winery. Creating a Multi-Generational Family Business at Sean Minor Wines

Sean and Nicole Minor didn’t just build a successful winery — they built a family business grounded in relationships, resilience, and long-term thinking. In this episode of Capital Region Family Business Center’s A Seat at the Table, the founders of Sean Minor Wines reflect on their journey from meeting at Arizona State University in the 1980s to launching their winery in 2005 while raising four young children.

Sean shares how years of experience in the wine industry — from Napa to Oregon — gave him the confidence to create something from the ground up, while Nicole explains what it meant to support that leap with unwavering belief and a growing family at home. Together, they discuss the intentional choices that shaped the company: avoiding unnecessary debt, building through relationships instead of heavy assets, and focusing on long-term sustainability over rapid growth.

The conversation also explores the next generation of leadership as their daughter Elle steps into the role of head winemaker, the realities of succession planning, and the evolving challenges facing today’s wine industry. Thoughtful, honest, and deeply personal, this episode is a masterclass in balancing entrepreneurship, marriage, family, and purpose.

To learn more about Sean Minor Wines, visit: https://www.seanminorwines.com/

Chapter Overview
00:00 – Introduction and the founding story of Sean Minor Wines
02:00 – Meeting at Arizona State and the values that shaped their relationship
08:45 – Sean’s wine industry journey and the decision to start their own winery
12:00 – Launching the business with four young children and a leap of faith
16:00 – Building a winery through relationships instead of heavy assets
19:00 – Breaking through during the economic downturn and rapid growth
22:30 – Nicole joins the business and helps lead the digital transformation
27:00 – Raising children around the business and Elle’s path to head winemaker
32:00 – Succession planning, family dynamics, and building a real business
42:00 – The changing wine industry, future growth, and defining success

To learn more about the Capital Region Family Business Center visit our website HERE. To learn more about River City Bank and how they can benefit your family business, visit www.rivercitybank.com

Transcript

Steve Fleming: [00:00:00] Hi, my name is Steve Fleming, CEO of River City Bank, which was founded almost 50 years ago. As a leader in a family business myself, and a longtime board member for the Capital Region Family Business Center, I understand firsthand how incredibly important family businesses are to our economy and the unique challenges they face in sustaining from generation to generation.

I think that you will find this podcast series informative, entertaining, and even humorous at times. That's why our family business, River City Bank, is proud to support this podcast. I hope you enjoy today's episode. 

Nicole Minor: When we started the business in '05, we had four children under the age of eight, and I remember lying in bed, having a conversation in the early morning, and Sean saying, "I gotta do this for myself."

And I was like, "I agree." And I will [00:01:00] never forget that moment. It was ... I'm like, "I got this. I'll hold down the fort. You go put this together." I was 100% confident he could do it.

Natalie Kling: Hello, and welcome to A Seat at the Table: Trials and Triumphs of Family Business, brought to you by the Capital Region Family Business Center, helping family businesses to grow and prosper. I'm Natalie Mariani Kling, your host, and a fourth-generation family business member. I am so excited to join you around the table for real conversations about what it's like to grow up in, become a part of, and navigate the complexities of a family business.

Special thanks to another family business, River City 

Nicole Minor: Bank, for their generous support of this program. 

Natalie Kling: Sean and Nicole Minor met at [00:02:00] Arizona State University in 1986. 19 years later, they'd start a winery with four kids in tow under the age of eight. Today, with their daughter Elle as head winemaker, they have created a family business based on the same values that brought them together all those years ago.

We talk about those values and how relationships have been the core of what they've built and how they've built it. We talk about real business versus a family operation, the importance of intentional investment, the benefits of thinking in ag terms, and how all of this has created a strong and durable foundation that allows Sean and Nicole to start planning their next chapter.

Welcome, Nicole and Sean Minor, to A Seat at the Table. We're so happy to have you today. Owners. Really ... Well, I don't know. Do you consider yourself a co-founder, Nicole, 'cause you should. 

Nicole Minor: Yes. Yes. I put co on everything. Yes. 

Natalie Kling: Good. Right. So [00:03:00] co-founders of Sean Minor Wines. And I wanna start at the beginning, where you met at Arizona State University as students.

And Nicole, bring us back to college in the '80s. What was the environment like, and what-- when did you actually first meet? 

Nicole Minor: College in the '80s. Wow. I mean, it was Arizona, so everybody was in shorts and tank tops and riding, riding-- what were those bikes called? 

Sean Minor: Beach cruisers. 

Nicole Minor: Beach cruisers, yes. 

Sean Minor: Ugh. 

Nicole Minor: Yes. Beach cruisers.

So cool. I had hand-painted one before I went off to school. I had a bright pink one. And life in Arizona was pretty good. It quite-- the horizons opened up. I came from an all-girls Catholic school, so jumped into a 46,000-person university. Really, I knew one person, but just jumped right in. And then, well, it's kind of funny.

At the beginning, just was hanging [00:04:00] around. It sounds really lecherous, but I was hanging around the SAE house 'cause he was a Sigma- Alpha Epsilon ... Alpha Epsilon, and I was Pi Phi. Let me help you with it. Yeah. Please do. And I was a little sister, so that was just a good way to meet people. And I had actually seen him.

He was going on a date. That was back in maybe November or October of my freshman year, and it was his sophomore year. So I had seen him, met him, but I, I wasn't, I wasn't really looking for a boyfriend or anything. So fast-forward, and then we actually met in April the following year again. 

Natalie Kling: And then when did you actually meet, and do you remember that moment?

Nicole Minor: Yes. I remember it in great detail. 

Sean Minor: Uh-oh. Here we go. We- Is this, is this one of the questions we can edit out? 

Nicole Minor: No. It's really PG. We were at a dance, and it was called Greek Sing, and [00:05:00] that's a huge production that Greek life puts on as a fundraiser. And we were both active in our fraternity and sororities, so in leadership, so it was a big deal obviously.

We were living-- we were drinking the Kool-Aid, for sure. And we met at the Greek dan- the closing ceremonies dance, and if I'm correct, Sean bee-lined across the dance floor and asked me to dance before he saw one of his fraternity brothers going in for the ask. 

Sean Minor: Yeah. 

Nicole Minor: And that was- I beat 

Sean Minor: him to the punch.

Nicole Minor: Yep. 

Sean Minor: Yep. 

Nicole Minor: And- 

Sean Minor: 40 years- 

Nicole Minor: S-so Sean, did you say that you, you made it first or your friend made it first? 

Sean Minor: I made it first, for sure. 

Natalie Kling: Oh, nice. 

Sean Minor: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: Good work. 

Nicole Minor: Yep. 

Sean Minor: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: And was that- 

Nicole Minor: Great ... 

Natalie Kling: the beginning? That's, 

Nicole Minor: uh- 

Sean Minor: That was the beginning. Yep. Yeah. That was the beginning. And that was-- I was 19, Nicole was 18. 

Natalie Kling: And Sean, what was the catalyst for the beeline?

Sean Minor: Look at the smile. I mean, we're on video here. Your podcast [00:06:00] can't s- see that, but the smile was what drew me to her.

Natalie Kling: I love that so much. So, so you... From that point on, did you just start dating, and was it kinda the rest was history? 

Sean Minor: We did. We had a, I think one time, a time, time off when she left for Europe and, and studied abroad. But yeah, we were together, what, seven, eight years before we got married. We got married in our late 20s, so.

Natalie Kling: Okay. And tell u- tell us a little bit about what drew you to each other and how you knew you wanted to get married. 

Sean Minor: You know, I think we had a lot of the same interests. We had a great friends group. We had probably about eight, nine couples that we all hung out together, and actually it's kind of funny, all of them are st- are married today and still together.

So we had a, a really good community of, of people and, and, you know, all my friends were [00:07:00] SAEs, all her friends, most of them were Pi Phi's, and, and we just seemed to hang out and en- enjoy the Greek system. It was a big university, and that kinda shrunk the population down a bit. And, you know, I, I just think that we had a lot of the same similarities and interests, and it was, it was pretty easy.

It never felt like it was a lot of work, so that's the fortunate thing. 

Natalie Kling: And Nicole, what do you think are some of the values that ended up in marriage? 

Nicole Minor: The values were really apparent right from the beginning. You know, Sean comes from a really wonderful Midwestern family. I come from a very chaotic, wonderful Italian family.

So, I was drawn to their calmness. They don't interrupt each other. They're really... They're just solid, good people, and he's that, and I knew that from the very, very beginning. And I have three older brothers, so [00:08:00] this was not a simple task for him to find himself into my family because they, they held me...

I'm their baby sister and only sister, so they made sure he passed a lot of physical tests, basketball. Yes, had a good head on his shoulders business-wise, and he fell right into position pretty quickly. 

Natalie Kling: Well, the reason I wanted to start with your story is because it's apparent that the values that drew you together are the s- probably very similar to the values, and we'll talk about this a little bit later, that were part of how you envisioned a company together and are the same values that have created such a strong foundation.

Nicole Minor: Right. 

Natalie Kling: So, so I just love imagining you guys In the '80s on your beach cruisers. So, Shawn, you studied horticulture, right? 

Sean Minor: Well, I, my undergrad's in finance, and then I did go [00:09:00] back to UC Davis and did a, a lot of extension classes. I took a few classes before they started the extension program, and now the extension program's fairly evolved, I should say.

So there was a lot of opportunities for people that were in the industry working full time that could get caught up on what they needed to know from both viticulture and, and winemaking standpoint. 

Natalie Kling: Fantastic. So then you started working for wineries and- Yep ... right out of c- right out of grad school?

Right out of college. Or right out of 

Sean Minor: college? Right out of college, and then went back- Okay ... to UC Davis while I was working for one of the wineries in Napa. So yeah, I got in the industry in '88, right out of school. 

Natalie Kling: Okay. And during that time, what were some of the experiences and successes that you were able to create with the companies you were working with that might have impacted you in starting to think, "Maybe I could do this"?

Sean Minor: You know, I, I was very fortunate. I, I was surrounded by some very, [00:10:00] very good people, so we had some, I had some great mentors, especially when I went over to Beaulieu Vineyard in, in Napa. Uh, it was kind of a time when the winery itself was struggling to find its place. The... It'd been around for many, many years, and there were a lot of new, upcoming, exciting new wineries that were kind of gathering a lot of momentum and gathering a lot of, uh, attention from the press, and we were part of a small team that was brought in to kind of resurrect in a way.

So we were fortunate. We had a great leader. I learned a lot from that individual, and just that experience of kind of b- creating a new team, creating new culture, was something that I was able to take on to my, my future roles and anything I did from that point on. So I think a lot of it stemmed from that.

Natalie Kling: And then in 2005, or maybe a little bit before that, you started thinking about starting your own- 

Sean Minor: Yeah ... 

Natalie Kling: winery. 

Sean Minor: Yeah, I think so. I, I think maybe a little [00:11:00] before that. We, we left Napa and went up to Oregon, so we lived in Eugene, Oregon. I ran a couple wineries up there, so very different aspects and different experience, cool climate viticulture.

Again, another area that was really up and coming. When I moved up, when we moved up there, there was only 97 wineries. Now there's, I think, well over 700. So it, it was a very industry that was just beginning to, to get its, its footing, and so that experience was incredible. But- I think then I started realizing, you know, this is something I wanna do on my own.

I had done a pretty good job of growing both the wineries that I was associated with and, and kind of saw an opportunity and, and had gained some experience, and there was probably one piece of the puzzle that I hadn't experienced before, and that was really creating something from the ground up. So that experience was really garnered with my next role when I came back to California and went to Renwood Winery just outside of Sacramento in 2001, [00:12:00] and kind of created a, a brand new tier of wines that required us to have, you know, the experience of getting, going out and sourcing fruit and, and developing partner relationships with growers, and kind of really putting together something from, from scratch.

And so that, that experience really kind of gave me the confidence to say, "Yeah, we can, we can do this." 

Natalie Kling: So tell me about the flip chart and how the two of you started talking about your values, and if you were to create your own company, what it was gonna mean to you. 

Sean Minor: So that, that was a great experience.

So Nicole and I sat down and just kind of threw up words that we felt kind of helped define who we wanted to be and the type of organization that we wanted to create, and it was everything from fun, energetic, approachable, you know, sen- sense of purpose. It was just all these [00:13:00] words that really kind of meant something to us, and it was probably about 40 or 50 words that we threw up there, and it was, you know, not a formal process.

There was only two of us sitting in the room going through this, probably with a glass of wine in our hand. But it, what it did was it really gave us, I think, somewhat of a clarified vision on what we wanted to try to create and what we thought was not only important to us, but we tried to look at our external customers in terms of wholesalers and restaurateurs and retailers and consumers, what they were looking for.

So we tried to describe that in a very simple fashion, and it really... That, that exercise really helped kind of put the guardrails in place and really helped define what we wanted to see as our purpose. 

Natalie Kling: And Nicole, you s- have said that you had 100% faith in Shawn taking this leap from your family, 'cause at the time, how...

Did you have [00:14:00] kids at the time? 

Nicole Minor: Yes, at the time we had... Well, when we started the business in '05, we had four children under the age of eight. So we had an, really a newborn. He was maybe eight months old. And I remember, I mean, literally lying in bed, having a conversation in the early morning, and Shawn saying, "I gotta do this for myself."

And I was like, "I "Agree." And I will never forget that moment. It was... I'm like, "You gotta do it." I said, "They're going, all of them are going to Catholic schools." We knew we had expenses coming, but they were still easy. They weren't, you know, the problems were easier. They were little kids. They still followed the rules, and I'm like, "I got this.

I'll hold down the fort. You go put this together, and we can do this." So I was not... I was planning on being his support that time, and I was [00:15:00] 100% confident he could do it. 

Natalie Kling: And how did it feel for you, Shawn, to take that risk? 

Sean Minor: You know, I, we've always said this before, I never felt like Nicole mentioned I come from a fairly conservative Midwest family, so I, I don't know if that was kind of in our makeup in terms of an entrepreneurial spirit.

But, you know, I, I think I had done the work to experience everything I c- could really, quite frankly, on someone else's dime. So there was a lot of learning on the day-to-day side of things leading up to that, and, you know, I had just turned 40 and felt like, okay, well, you know, it's, it's now or never type of thing.

And the situation just laid out before us, and, and I don't think... I never felt like it was a risk. I felt like we were gonna be able to get this thing off the ground and do it very, very quickly, and, and we were able to do that. There were some things that fell in place along the way that really, really helped us that we, we probably [00:16:00] couldn't forecast or, or count on, but it, it really did catapult the business forward.

And I, like I said, I never felt like it was a risk. It w- it was always the attitude, well, you know, if it doesn't work out, yeah, okay, we lose a little money, but quite frankly, I'll just go out and get a- another job. So I, I, I never felt like it was overly risky in that regard. 

Natalie Kling: And that was one thing you guys mentioned that I think is so smart, is you really didn't take on any huge assets.

You didn't buy a vineyard. You didn't buy a winery. You really, you created a rela- you c- you created a company based on relationships, right? Do you wanna talk to that for a second? 

Sean Minor: Yeah, I, I, I think it was, you know, especially being a finance guy, you know, that the, the wine business is an asset intensive business, and those assets are, quite frankly, a lot of the time aren't used to their fullest.

You know, a bottling line you only might use 80 days a year type of thing. So it was recognizing [00:17:00] opportunities to take advantage of excess capacity in the industry at the time. And so we, we carved out our niche in terms of being a full-fledged winery, being capable of, of carrying permits and all the things necessary to be a winery, but we just leased space.

We didn't, we didn't invest in, in capital equipment. We didn't invest in bricks and mortar. We put our, our capital into the sourcing of our fruit so that we exceeded expectations in terms of price to quality, and that's kinda what we did. So we were very, very agile, very, very quick to move when s- circumstances changed.

And if you remember, I mean, 2005 was a great time, but it was followed by 2007, probably one of the worst economic meltdowns that we've experienced, I know, in our, our grown-up lifetime. And, and so fortunately, we were positioned well to weather that and, uh, make it through that, and really take ad- advantage of the [00:18:00] situation that was coming about, especially in '08 and '09 when there was so much excess fruit on the open market that we could kinda bounce around the state in our F-150, uh, just picking up opportunities with fairly well reputable, incredible wine grape growers.

So that's kinda how we carved out our, our niche very quickly. 

Natalie Kling: And so Sean hits the road. Nicole, what did those early years look like for your family? 

Nicole Minor: Ha. I, I laugh. I say, "Well, we ate a lot of hot dogs and mac and cheese and quesadillas," and we, we didn't start with a pile of money, so we, we started this very organically.

We had investors at the beginning, but it was-- Sean was very smart in the way he put this together, and we knew we had X amount, and we knew we could survive for a certain period of time on what we had saved, and so we were just really [00:19:00] smart. In that time period, I also had a design background, so I started working on the side, and I built this design company, and it was great timing 'cause it just filled in some of the, the, the hurtful spots where you needed a little extra.

Natalie Kling: Sean, when you look back at that time, what was your first real success that you felt like, "Okay, we got this. Maybe this is gonna be bigger than me"? Uh, 

Sean Minor: yeah, you know, I think that time I was describing earlier when we came out of that economic crunch, you know, prior to that, I was on the road trying to- Place our brands.

With our, our industry, we, we're primarily a three-tier system, so we have to go sell to a wholesaler that sells to... And by law, and every state's a little bit different, but we have to have a different wholesaler in every single state. So to go to market, you're selling to a wholesaler, then trying to get their attention to sell it to restaurants and retailers, [00:20:00] along with all the other things that they have in their warehouse and in their portfolio of wine.

So for us to garner attention, I had a lot of contacts in the industry, but those contacts were really with wholesalers that were very, very large and, and it was gonna be very difficult for us to get any share of mind. So I had to go out and try to solicit really a lot of wholesalers I had never had experience with, so making presentations and doing that type of stuff.

So those first, that first year, we didn't release our, our first set of wines till 2006 because of just the production process. It was, it was, uh, very difficult to get, get wholesalers to, to, uh, take on the brand, and it was really when the economy just took a header. Our focus was really producing wines that exceeded expectations.

We obviously, as I mentioned before, we put our capital into our sourcing, and that, that fruit was phenomenal. It was our job just not to screw it up and make it into [00:21:00] fantastic wines. It really was when the economy started taking a header, a lot of these wholesalers were heavy weighted on the upper tier of their, their wine portfolio, so they had a lot of high-end Napa stuff, a lot of high-end Sonoma stuff, a lot of imports, and they were really looking for something that would fight through the economic downturn that we were experiencing, and I was getting just great reviews and press on our wines.

And right then was when the switch happened. I wasn't going out and soliciting wholesale representation. They were actually picking up the phone and calling us because they either read about us in an article or they tasted us at Salt Lake City Airport because we were in Utah, and they were happening to go through there on Delta Airlines, and they tasted us in the airport.

And all of a sudden, I had phone calls all over the place, and we went from six states distribution to 32 in one year. 

Natalie Kling: [00:22:00] Wow. Oh, that was an exciting year. 

Sean Minor: Yeah. Well, you know, what that means, you have to build some inventory and, and you start learning how, what cash crunch really means. So it was a- ... uh, a crazy time in terms of making sure our funding and our conventional sourcing and our banking relations were all in place because, you know, I was going around buying fruit, fruit and developing contracts and owe- owing people a lot of money and, and trying to build a brand very quickly.

Natalie Kling: Nicole, you were there every step of the way emotionally, obviously, and then in 2016 you officially joined the company. What role did you take on then? 

Nicole Minor: It was really a great time for me to come in. Obviously, the children were a little bit older. Shawn had lived on airplanes, so there's no way I c- could have been involved on a more day-to-day earlier, just for that [00:23:00] reason alone.

But when I came in in 2016, and this, this cracks me up, it was the beginning of e-commerce really. It was-- There we- were not wines sold, not a lot of wine sold online. It just didn't exist. So we, we had to create a website and a shopping cart, and all of that took a lot of learning. It was not something that either of us were educated in.

It didn't exist in the '80s. So I love a good puzzle, and I love to take something and figure it out. I don't take no for an answer very well. So I thought, "Okay, this is something I could sink my teeth into." And so it started there, and then it went on and on. We, we changed labels. We did website redos.

Social media then came on. All these things. Instagram became a thing. Everything happened under this last 10-year period in time. And then of course [00:24:00] with COVID, it felt like it went 10 times faster for me to learn that, that technology. And, but I like it. I've always liked to do that, so it was a perfect role for me to jump into.

Natalie Kling: And how did-- Once you came into the company, how did that shift your relationship day to day with Shawn? 

Nicole Minor: Well, it was definitely a learning curve. I have a great amount of respect for what Shawn has done and has built for this company. We really wouldn't be where we are today without his leadership. And while I knew I was an integral part, I had a lot to learn.

I didn't understand the three-tier system, and it's, it can be a frustrating system sometimes because you're only in control of so much, and then it's in someone else's hands. And so I had to really learn that. And yes, there were moments where he would give me a quick tutorial to keep, keep me in my lane, so to speak.

But it was not-- The benefit [00:25:00] was for the, it was all for the good, so. But I did have to learn, and sometimes I had to stay quiet and listen because I wanted things to happen faster or in a different way, and, and I didn't understand the program. But now that we're, gosh, how many years? 11 years of me being involved in that way, I feel like I add a lot on the creative side.

And I think Because the industry ch- has changed so much in 10 years, the timing couldn't have been better because he was so good at focusing on obviously risk aversion and smart business management and everything in that regard, that it allowed me to come in and kind of mix things up a little and say, "We, we've gotta look in these directions."

And it wasn't easy at the beginning. Just social media alone, it's not fun if you're not used to being in front of a video camera or taking photos all the time, and that's where my creative came in and I had to push pretty hard for [00:26:00] us to become a presence there. And so did your, what do they call it, pillow talk, did it change?

Sean Minor: Hmm. 

Nicole Minor: Yes. 

Sean Minor: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. She, uh, she's very creative, has a, a lot of ideas. So we've, we learned how, you know, she wakes up in the morning and she's got 20 things she's thinking about, and this is what I think, and I'm always, I'm a little bit slow to start. I'm an early riser, but I like my time, so th- every once in a while it was, the talk was about, "Okay, love the idea.

Let's pump the brakes. Give me like 20 minutes to get my coffee, have my jacuzzi run, and then we can get, we can dig in," so. 

Nicole Minor: It's very true. It went just like that. Took me a little while. I'm a little thick-headed sometimes. It's, it's my Italian heritage. We have to push hard to get our way. And I finally learned, all right, I need to zip it for the first 15 minutes of the morning.

Natalie Kling: Oh [00:27:00] gosh. Okay. Let's see. So did your kids grow up in the business? Did they work on it at all as kids in the summers or anything like that? 

Sean Minor: Somewhat. I mean, we've-- To be honest, we, we commuted here to Sonoma for a number of years before we relocated. I mean, the kids, we were entrenched in the Sacramento community, so they all were in schools there.

So we, we tried to not have a lot of disruption when we changed the business or started the business in 2005. We really wanted the kids to kinda stay with their friends and not, not, uh, feel like they had to be uprooted for us to go over here. So I commuted over here a lot. So that kinda kept them outside of it a little bit.

Obviously, they're around it and heard it during the high points of harvest and things of that, bottling and, and other experiences. They, they were able to come over and en- enjoy that. But we really felt like it was important for them to kind of find it somewhat on their own, [00:28:00] and not feel like they were going to be saddled with something that maybe they didn't find the passion that we, we find with it.

So obviously, like any family business, any industry, I think there has to be some level of passion to have to put up with some of the things we have to put up with. So we try to keep it a little bit more, just expose them to it, but not feel like they were being pushed into it. And there's a tendency in our industry to see a lot of romance, right?

So, you know, y- it, for them just to see the romance side of it, it wouldn't give them a real clear picture of what the industry truly is behind the curtain. So we would take them to, to events and, and things of that nature and expose them to that, but it really wasn't something that we were pushing on them.

Natalie Kling: I wanna talk about your daughter Elle in just a minute, but before that, would you mind listing your children, their ages, and your thoughts on their orientation towards the business at [00:29:00] this moment in time? 

Nicole Minor: Okay. So our, our oldest is Nicholas. He's 30, and he's very creative, which is a lot of fun. I actually often ran ideas off of him when I came into the website side when I first started, because he's, he's smart in that capacity.

Then we have Elle, who is going to be 28 this June, and she obviously is very entrenched in the business, and we'll get into that. And then Jack, who is a construction management major out of Cal Poly, and he is on his way building beautiful buildings in San Diego. And then Charlie, our fourth, is graduating this June from Cal Poly.

Actually, he's our third child to graduate from Cal Poly. Elle, Jack, and Charlie all went to Cal Poly, and Nick went to University of Nevada. And Charlie graduates in June. He really wants to live in San Francisco and [00:30:00] experience something in the tech finance world, but we're still open to having 

Natalie Kling: them 

Nicole Minor: come on in.

Natalie Kling: And so tell us about Elle and her journey and, and what she's doing with you guys now. 

Sean Minor: So she, she was an ag business major, and she knew that she wanted to do something in that world, but it really wasn't ever talked about coming back into our business. In her junior year, she reached out and, and said, "Hey, I, I think I might be interested in the wine business," which we were obviously thrilled to hear.

So she took a, some time off and did a harvest. Cal Poly's on the quarter system, which always makes it difficult because it kind of overlaps with harvest. So she took some time off from school, did a harvest with Jay Lohr in the lab, and then worked in the vineyards, and then looked at changing over to wine in bit, but she was far enough down the road, we just-- she decided that she would do kind of the same thing [00:31:00] I did and go back to UC Davis and get the winemaking certification that way, post-graduate.

So then she went to work for Calera and another winery, and then also Epic Wine Estates down in Paso Robles after she had graduated, and then started doing the Davis thing and, and she joined us three years ago as assistant winemaker. She's very much on the production side and likes that aspect, loves being in the vineyards, loves-- I, I just recall her calling us one, one time at, at Cal Poly telling us her favorite class was tractor driving, so we knew that she was destined for something in the ag world.

But so she's now-- She was promoted this last year to head winemaker, and so she oversees all our day-to-day winemaking operations. 

Natalie Kling: So cool. Yeah. So I know, I-- it must be so exciting to have her working with you guys, and because I know how intentional you both are too, how are you navigating your personal [00:32:00] relationship while also building a working relationship with someone who is playing quite a big role now in your company?

Nicole Minor: Yes. We actually-- Sean was smart. About three years ago, we invested in a resource, in a person that would help us, and it's kind of like a succession planning, but it's more holistic. It's, it's full circle. It's, it's got-- We talk about religion sometimes. We talk about health. We talk about our marriage. We talk about our children.

And he's a great resource, and so we've counted on him. We meet once a month, and I think he meets with Elle once a month, and he's really wonderful in that he asks questions that we may not think to ask because we're so in it, right? And We respect Elle's privacy, and we respect that we need to follow the lines and not constantly speak about work.

And I know personally that's [00:33:00] difficult for me 'cause I get excited about things, but I have to really concentrate and stop and be mom. And sometimes I'll say, "I'm putting my mom hat on now," and then, "Now I've got my Sean Minor hat on." Because I still do run our marketing department, so I need her to do things for me, and, and she's my daughter, so it's, it-- You have to be sensitive, and she's extremely sensitive and loyal and kind.

So I'm learning a lot about her because I don't know her as a working person. I knew her as my baby, right? So I'm learning a lot about her, and I really respect her every day more and more. 

Sean Minor: Yeah, and I think that consultant, I mean, his main purpose was he works with family businesses and, and kinda shepherds them through the process of bringing someone in.

So we, we actually engaged him before Elle was even thinking about... We knew that eventually she would come back to the business, but when she was working with other companies, he, he was [00:34:00] meeting with her and meeting with us and kinda setting up the standards and vision that we all three had, and made sure that they kind of came together in a way.

And, and he still, still works closely with the, the organization and, and it's really, it's been his work and effort really helping us making sure that we make this transition and one that is, is successful. 

Natalie Kling: Sean, you said something really interesting to me the other day, which is that you, it's important to you, and it always has been, to build a real business, not just a family operation.

And I see that same forethought, you know, in this, in how you're navigating, obviously, the roles and the communication with your daughter coming into the business. Tell us why that's important, and maybe that segues also into the, another question I have, [00:35:00] which is what gave you the confidence to make that kind of investment in a family business consultant?

Because so many small businesses, especially family businesses, I think could really use that kind of outside perspective, but it's a very difficult jump to make when you feel like you're barely paying for your marketing. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So what is it about all of that that's important to you, and where are those values for you?

Sean Minor: You know, I, I think some of it's dictated by just the type of industry we're in, right? We're, we're in an industry that has a very long product life cycle curve in terms of from inception to bottling to when we're selling it. It gets stretched out Year and a half, two years. And then we're making decisions right now for grape contracts that we might be five, six, seven years down the road.

Typically, our contracts are five to s- seven years. They evergreen after that. [00:36:00] So you're doing a lot of crystal balling and, and thinking really down the board in terms of, okay, where are we gonna be as a sales organization? What are our needs gonna be, you know, five, six, seven years down the road? So it gets you into a mindset to think in much longer terms.

So, you know, we don't typically... It's not uncommon for us right now to be really talking about where we wanna be in 10 years. So if we're talking in that way, it kind of just is part of the, the culture that, that we have within the organization. So I, I, you know, we've never, we never felt like we were setting this company up with the idea that we were going to cash out and, and, and have a big acquisition somewhere down the line.

It might happen. We're never, never shy about that. If that happens a- and it's great for the family, so be it. But it was never set up like th- like that. It was just about the idea that we need to make [00:37:00] decisions now that are healthy for the business long term, not just healthy for the business in the next 12 months, right?

So that, that part of it has always been embedded within what we wanna do as an organization. So that idea of that, that investment with this consultant just fit what we typically look at. We look at things, okay, we just went through planning meeting this last year. We do it once a year with the entire company, and it was all about where do we wanna be in the next decade.

It wasn't talking about, "Hey, what are we gonna do in 2026?" It was talking about, "Hey, where do we need to be in the next 10 years, and let's talk about the steps along the way to get there." And so that just kind of fit in to, to spend and invest with someone like Chris, who, who works with us closely. It's just, it kind of fits right into that same type of mentality.

Natalie Kling: And what do you think the difference is, and have you, I'm curious if you've [00:38:00] seen this along the way in your experience, the difference between a real business and a family operation? 

Sean Minor: Ooh, that's a tough question. Um, because I think they, you know, we're a family operation, but we're also a real business. Uh, you know, family operations probably is the Because we have, I, I think of our company as a family operation just because our employees are so dedicated and so part of our experience.

I mean, many of them have been with us longer than 10 years. We have some employees that have been with us since day one. We haven't had a lot of turnover of those employees, and we've added some employees, but even then, they're, the, it's definitely a family experience and a family operation that happens to be a successful business.

I guess that's probably the best way to answer that. 

Nicole Minor: And I think the beauty of that is that we run it as a business, a successful business, but we [00:39:00] can pivot and make quick changes if we need to. It's, it's not where we have to go through levels of bureaucracy. It, it's us, and we're pretty practical-minded people.

So if we see some direction maybe just isn't fitting, we're, we're thoughtful about it, but we'll, we'll change, and we're actually okay with saying, "You know what? We made a mistake. That's just not where we wanna go." And everyone, everyone in our business wears many hats. There's only 10 of us, so actually we just hired someone, so there's 11 coming.

But we wear many hats, and everybody truly wants to see the greater good happen, and you can feel it. And in fact, when our consultant that we worked with sort of interviewed everybody separately, he said, "I've never worked with a company where everybody has the same goals. Like, and they're in sync with each other."

Wow. Wow. We, I mean, I don't even think we realized that. I mean, we've always felt good, but it was nice to be validated. [00:40:00] 

Natalie Kling: I think one thing I, I sort of interpreted from your talking about family operations too is accountability. That in, in a, in a family operation that's a real business, there has to be accountability for everybody, and everybody's treated to some degree the same, right?

Which- 

Sean Minor: Yeah ... 

Natalie Kling: I think is really wise and something we can learn from as family businesses, because it's so easy to not run that way. Yeah. You know? A- and accountability being the biggest thing, I think, that really can, that actually everybody else feels too, whether or not the family has true accountability, right?

Yeah. 

Sean Minor: Yeah, I don't think there's anyone, and I think that's part of, you know, Elle, when she came aboard, you know, she had to put her dues in, you know, prior to coming to the company and, and demonstrate that she had the chops to do what she's doing now. And, and that's, you know, we wanted to [00:41:00] set, set her up for success, not failure, and, and God forbid that you have to try to prove yourself to the employees in the organization just because you're a family member.

That's not, that's not a good situation to put anybody in and definitely something that we don't want to put our daughter in. So, you know, when she came aboard, I mean, she already had garnered some respect just from the standpoint of what she did prior to coming back to, to our company, which helped, helped a lot.

But y- you're right. I mean, everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, and that everyone's held accountable to the highest standard, whether you're, you have Miner on your last name or you're, you're someone else within the organization. I think truly, I think everyone feels-- Like I said, we're, we are a family operation, and those 11 employees feel like they're family, and we, and we, we really try to emphasize that, for sure.

Natalie Kling: I wanna ask you guys about this next stage of [00:42:00] life, because you're very much still in the trenches of the day-to-day, and I know you're sort of starting to look towards the next chapter. And in a world where capitalism depends on consistent scaling, consistent growth, how do you philosophically navigate what will be enough for us to retire on?

What will be enough for... Is there a stage where the company exceeds a certain, uh, you know, growth that then you have to start to feel like maybe I have to compromise on some of these values or these, you know, partnerships or relationships that I don't wanna do that. So just philosophically, I'm curious on how you look at growth and what, where you feel comfortable enough to say, "We're gonna step away," and how do you, how do you philosophically navigate that?[00:43:00] 

Sean Minor: I, I, I think we're probably trying to really understand that better now. You know, both Nicole and I turned 60 this year. We've been a founder-centric organization for 20 years, and at some time, probably should've been a little bit earlier, founders have to kinda get out of the way and bring in people that are smarter and better than they are.

And I, I don't know if we necessarily have timed that properly. The difference, I think, being COVID was such a disruptive moment, especially in our business, because with majority of our business going through restaurants, we had three or four months there we had very little sales. And so, you know, it, it, it put us in a different mindset, and all of a sudden we're back probably further into the day-to-day than, than we had been in a while, quite frankly.

I think we were slowly but surely working our way out of some of the day-to-day [00:44:00] ideas. But it really, I think we realized that there wasn't anyone in the organization that was gonna provide that I don't know, correct, but maybe proper direction with the changes we had to make because it's just a different business now.

It's a different industry. I mean, everyone's heard about the woes of the wine industry the last few years, and it's harder to sell a case of wine nowadays. So, you know, I think part of your question is the idea that, one, and this is not anything that any of our employees don't, haven't heard me say, you know, there's people in the organization that have taken us to this point that are very, very good during the time we were at then.

But now the times are different, right? So you start evaluating, okay, who do I need to bring us in, to bring into the organization that can take us to the next level now because the industry is completely different. The dynamics have changed, and, and it might not [00:45:00] be the people sitting here, Nicole and I, that really understand how to navigate through that.

I think we stay true to what our values are and our mission and our vision, but how we do that tactically is very different than how we did it six, seven years ago. So right now, I think we're trying to determine where is that kind of off-ramp that we can move back out of a lot of the day-to-day aspects of the, of the business, and we're trying to work through that currently.

So I, I don't know if that's fully... Ask me in a couple years, maybe that'll become clearer. 

Nicole Minor: We keep saying we've got more in us, but- Yeah ... the reality is, yes, we are getting older, and we do lead by example. So if we're not the ones showing the energy and the ability to, I hate that word pivot, but I-- the ability to be agile and innovative, if we [00:46:00] get to a point where we cannot be innovated and agile, then someone else needs to take the wheel.

Natalie Kling: I think what you're saying is really interesting because it's not growth as a straight line, diagonal line up. It's growth with suddenly, all of a sudden new variables within an industry that the industry's never seen before. Yeah. Or maybe that's not true, totally. I don't know. You tell me. No, 

Sean Minor: no, I, it- But 

Natalie Kling: seems like- True

kind of unprecedented. 

Sean Minor: Yeah. Yeah, very much so. I, I, like I said, I've been in this business 38 years, and I've never seen it like this. So this is new frontier. We've had our peaks and valleys. The economy has provided some downturn, but it's never been like this. This is like a, a real consumer shift, demographic shift.

There's a lot of industries that are feeling it. The baby boomers have been such the juggernaut of our existence. They're aging out, they're changing some of the things that they're doing. They have, you know, they're not drinking as much wine. There's [00:47:00] more health con- I mean, all these things just play into it.

We see the younger generation adapting to wine and taking on wine faster than any other generation before, before them. But they have a lot of alternatives to consume, RTDs, cannabis. You know, they're health-conscious. They're not as socially engaging outside in restaurants as, as previous. I mean, there's all these things that are just coming about where you're trying to figure out, "Where the hell do we fit in?"

And there's a lot of historical wineries that are really trying to figure that out, and unfortunately, there's gonna be s- a lot that aren't going to survive it. And so, going back to your real question, I wanna try to get out of the day-to-day as quickly as I can. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. Well, good for you. I, I, I feel like I have this vision of you guys on your property and just, you know, so much of your messaging around your brand [00:48:00] is gathering, right?

So, I imagine there's, with your family and just the way that you guys hold relationships, sh- I'm sure there's a lot of joy for that. And the kind of growth that I think we're forced into in almost any industry can just obliterate all that time. And then the very thing that you started this company, which, you know, based on relationship and gathering and love, and suddenly where do you even find the time to do that in a way that feels holistic and is, and grounded and, you know, consistent enough?

So it- 

Nicole Minor: Which is funny because- It's a curious 

Natalie Kling: thing ... 

Nicole Minor: if we keep holding that as our priorities, which they always have been, I mean, sometimes we'll say, "Gosh," you know, we'll go-- Let's say we go on vacation for a week. Like, "We had a great week while we were gone," which cracks us up 'cause we're [00:49:00] thinking, okay, because we're very comfortable and calm, and we know we've put in the work, and it does work.

We're evolving all the time, and it, it, the business keeps growing. Is it growing like the entrepreneurial spirit we had 15 years ago? Maybe not. But that's another thing that, as human beings entering our 60s, does it need to? Does it-- How much does it need to grow? How fast does it need to grow? Are we comfortable at this point?

Those are all questions we talk about all the time. But I think the, the gathering and the connection part of it is who we are, and if we stay true to that, we know it's going to grow. It's just on, on God's time and timeline. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. Yeah. And yes, that's great. 

Nicole Minor: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: Okay. I want to ask you, uh, both, looking at where you are today, [00:50:00] what has building this business meant to you?

Sean Minor: Hmm. I think the sense of purpose and, and being able to look back. You know, you don't do a lot of looking back and, and kind of patting yourself on the back. I, I don't think that's our personality, but I think seeing that as the, I think somewhat of the economic impact that we've had in terms of how it, it kind of pulls in all the sub-vendors we work with, the supply.

I mean, that part we're, we're pr- I think we're pretty, pretty proud of, and that, that is, I think at, at the end of the day makes us feel pretty, pretty good. 

Nicole Minor: Yeah. You know, the sleepless nights that you have as a business owner, they're, they're real. You do have the responsibility of your employees. You have the responsibility of all the people you interact with, your designers, your label people, your marketing [00:51:00] people, your-- I mean, it go- the list is so big.

But our value system, I think, always has been very strong, and p- we get that from our parents. We have both, both of us have both parents alive, and we're really fortunate, and they're extremely supportive emotionally. And I think that having that makes us feel that we did our job in life. You know? We're, we're responsible for other people.

They were responsible bringing us into it. We're responsible for a lot of people and what they do every day, and I think that's the success in it. And it shows our children what it means to work really hard, and I think if you were to ask any of them, they would say, "My parents work really hard." 

Natalie Kling: This is the-- a question we ask all of our guests.

We borrow it from Guy Raz. It is, do you think that the success of your company is due more [00:52:00] to hard work or luck? 

Sean Minor: Hmm. Combination. I mean, you can't have hard work without some luck, right? Yeah. I think there were a lot of things that, you know, I think there were a lot of things that lined up really well for us at certain times of the, the growth of the organization.

But then again, you know, when you visualize something like that working, those things just, you just have faith that they're gonna fall in place, I think somewhat. So, I don't know if that's luck or if that's just the universe responding in some, some way that you've, you've put out there. 

Nicole Minor: That's a hard one.

It's a hard one because, I mean, I know that we say, "Oh, ar- aren't we lucky?" But it's not really a word I think of all the time. I say, "Oh my gosh, we're blessed. We're healthy. We have incredible kids." But [00:53:00] without sounding vain, we worked really hard on it. We worked hard on raising our kids, and, you know, we worked hard on building the business.

And yes, good things have come to us, for sure. And if it's called luck, then maybe it's called luck. But I don't know, I think it's kind of a relationship with the world, and what you put into it, you kind of get back a little bit. 

Natalie Kling: Mm. 

Nicole Minor: I 

Natalie Kling: don't know. Which actually is a perfect way to end, because when I had asked you at one point, Nicole, "What's your idea of success?"

And you just touched on it, Shawn. The ecosystem you've created, and that is all relationship based. It's all about what you've hoped for, put out in the world, and, and nurtured. And I think that's, for me and, and, and learning about you guys and, and, and reflecting on your company, I mean, that's what sticks out to me for sure, is that way back in the '80s on those [00:54:00] little beach cruisers, you guys, the two of you, had something that has infused this...

Everything that you've built, everything that you built. And it's blossomed so beautifully, and now you're such a great example to, I think the kids, but also to other family businesses. The way that you, you know, talk about seeing it from kind of an agriculture perspective of 10 years out, thinking in decades, not, you know, three-year increments, which is so true, right?

So thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. Is there anything else you'd like to say about your company or where you are or where you hope to be? 

Sean Minor: No, just check us out online and find us near your, uh, wherever you live. 

Natalie Kling: Nice marketing, Shawn. 

Nicole Minor: Bring Shawn Minor to your next party. Buy 

Sean Minor: wine. Drink wine. 

Natalie Kling: I love it.

Perfect. 

Nicole Minor: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. Perfect. Yeah, where can we find you, Nicole? [00:55:00] 

Nicole Minor: Meaning me personally? Website. Website. Oh, gosh. 

Natalie Kling: The, the Shawn, uh, Shawn Minor 

Nicole Minor: Wines. Shawn Minor Wines. Well, the easiest way is to go to the website, and there's a where to find. You can put your zip code in, and it'll t- tell you what stores or restaurants it's in in your area.

But of course, if you ever wanna communicate with us, I answer all of our social media direct messages myself, because I think it's important that it's from me. And so if you ever have a question or just wanna know more about us, find me there, and it's Shawn Minor Wines. 

Natalie Kling: Amazing. And you have a wine club, right?

Nicole Minor: We do have a wine club. 

Natalie Kling: That's- 

Nicole Minor: Yes. Let's- 

Natalie Kling: That I've, I've heard through the grapevines pretty 

Nicole Minor: cool It's great. It's three times a year. You get six bottles, and we also do, for our wine club members, because we do not have your traditional open public tasting room, we do events here at the vineyard. And so they're invited events for our wine club members, and then of course, if [00:56:00] you sign up for our newsletter that goes out once a month, we let people know where we are across the United States, because we're constantly doing tastings in various states.

Natalie Kling: Amazing. 

Nicole Minor: Thank you. 

Natalie Kling: Thank you guys so much. 

Nicole Minor: Thank you.

Natalie Kling: Thank you. Thank you for listening to A Seat at the Table, Trials and Triumphs of Family Business. If you like what you heard today, please be sure to subscribe, post a positive review, and share with another family business owner. For more information about the Capital Region Family Business Center, visit capfamilybiz.org.

That's capfamilybus.org. You can also follow us on Facebook at Capital Region Family Business Center and on Instagram at capfambiz, B-I-Z. If you know of other family businesses that have a story to share, please contact the Family Business Center at [00:57:00] info@capfamilybiz.org. That's B-U-S. We're grateful for the support from River City Bank to make this program possible, and special thanks to Guy Raz from How I Built This for a wonderful closing question that's become one of our favorites.