In 2014, Lisa and Jeremiah Klein established With the Wind Vineyard & Winery and the family business has grown substantially ever since. Since 2014, Lisa Klein and Jeremiah Klein founded With the Wind Vineyard & Winery. The family business has grown significantly. We spoke with the couple about the wine market, their experience with one of the top website builders, Squarespace, and the successes they’ve had since starting out.
We spoke to the couple about their experiences with Squarespace, one of the most popular website builders, and their successes since they started out. After turning their energy toward planting vineyards, fermenting wines, and building facilities to host guests, the Kleins now operate across six and a half acres of active vineyards – equalling nearly 5,000 grapevines! The Kleins have now planted vineyards, made wine, and built facilities to host their guests on six and a quarter acres of active vineyards. That’s nearly 5,000 grapevines.
With a team of over 20 employees, Lisa continues to manage wholesale and on-site sales, while Jeremiah manages the winemaking and vineyard operations. Lisa continues to manage wholesale sales and on-site operations, while Jeremiah oversees winemaking and vineyard operations.
Find out more about With the Wind Vineyard & Winery…
“We chose to create our own website because we needed a way to reach people online.” “We created our own website to reach out to people online.” With the Wind Vineyard and Winery has six and a half acres of vineyards. With the Wind Vineyard and Winery is six and a quarter acres of vineyards.
Joining the Wine Market
“The wine industry is a very cut-throat place, and our brand is unique to most vineyards and wineries.” The wine industry has a lot of competition, and our brand is different from most vineyards and wineries. While we cater to all wine drinking, ranging from sweet to dry, our most popular wines are semi-sweet to sweet. Our most popular wines, while we cater to all wine drinkers, from sweet to dry, are semi-sweet or sweet.
Within the Midwest wine market, we are unique because we produce a line of sparkling wines. We are unique in the Midwest wine market because we produce sparkling wines. These wines have become our most popular across the board! We didn’t have any financial investors when we started the business, but we did hire a single employee at the beginning. Other than a few contractors to execute some of the building processes, everything was built from the ground up financially and physically. We did the majority of the plumbing, wiring, flooring, drywalling, fixtures, and painting.
Running a Family Business
“While there have been some challenges, it’s been great because we are able to be at home parents. Our business is located directly below where we live. Our children have learned to value hard work by participating in every step of our journey. We prioritize family time and getaways to maintain a balance between work and home. Our daughter and son-in-law have returned to the family business, and we are thrilled that it has always been a ‘family venture.’
A Passion for Work
Lisa: “I enjoy achieving my goals and learning new things every day. I also love the fact that I am always overcoming challenges.” One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is the daily interaction with customers and stores. Jeremiah says: “My job is fun because it is so varied and active. There is so much activity and variety between shipping and wine clubs, on-site guests, and events. There are different focuses each month. From wine club, seasonal events, weddings in the summer, and vineyard requirements to the different wines made. Every day is busy, challenging and fun.
Celebrating Customers
We have guests that have been with us for many years and have developed strong professional and personal relationships. We maintain very close personal and professional relationships with nearly every business with which we work! This is one of the core values we hold within our company. Our mission is to bring together people to joyfully celebrate relationships and connection. We are proud to be a part of this and value our loyal customer base.”
Things Are Really Grape: Business Successes
Since our establishment in 2014, our business has always been built by our immediate family. We have experienced growth and were blessed with the ability to expand. We bought another eighty-acre vineyard and now employ over twenty people. With the Wind currently produces about 5,000 cases of wine per year and is on track to reach 10,000 cases in the next few years. With our latest planting, we have almost 5,000 vines.
Overcoming Challenges
Our rural geographical area has been our greatest challenge. Our location in the northeast corner of South Dakota has both strengths and weaknesses. Although it is rural, people are amazed by the peace and natural beauty of our area. We ship our wine all over the United States. We are happy to have the beauty of the area while still being able to access a large customer base through shipping.”
Building a Website with Squarespace
“We created our own website to reach out to people online. After our website developer fell through, we had to find a platform that was easy for a beginner to use. Squarespace’s professionalism was more appealing to us than other platforms like Wix. Squarespace had so many beautiful template options, and we’ve never regretted choosing it. We have corrected those issues and improved our SEO.
Future Plans
We have many goals and plans for the future, including installing a commercial cooking facility for serving food in the winter, doubling production over the next two years, planting an additional eighty acres of vine, distributing to the Midwest and nationally, and preparing for the next generations. We have many goals and are eager to see where we go in the future.
