How Wente Winery Keeps Great People with Niki Wente

Co-host: Foreign. Welcome to the High Pressure Podcast with

George Roterman: me, George Roterman, and me, Marie Williams, brought to you by Reliably Routerman, bringing

Co-host: you industry news and trends, plus insightful

George Roterman: conversations with industry leaders.

Co-host: Let's get to today's show.

George Roterman: Hello, Nikki.

Co-host: Hi.

George Roterman: Welcome back to the podcast.

Niki Wente: Excited to be here.

George Roterman: It's been three years since you've been on. I'm sure a lot has changed.

Niki Wente: Three years, I think.

George Roterman: I actually don't know. It might have been two years, but it feels like it was a year ago because a lot has gone on, I'm sure. Um, so before we dig into, like, all the amazing things that you do, I want to talk about Wenty Winery, which is your family winery. And let me get this right. So you guys are the longest or the oldest family ran winery in the United States. Right.

Niki Wente: That's been continuously operated. So there's other wineries that are technically older than us, but they had to shut down through prohibition, and we were lucky enough to be given a wine contract during probate, which is just so wild.

George Roterman: You're like, referencing prohibition, like it happened like last year or something. Like, you know, you remember Prohibition. Yeah, exactly. Uh, that's awesome. And yeah, you guys, can you explain the reach of. Of Wenty Winery? Because I. It. It's pretty impressive.

Niki Wente: Yeah. So we're in all 50 states. Um, we are in 77 countries. Um, and yeah, we. So we do a lot of exports this year. Exports have been challenging, but, um, typically we do like 20% of our business, um, through exports and then the rest through domestic.

George Roterman: Oh, my gosh, that's wild. So you're going to be speaking at the upcoming Southwest regional Conferen. Super excited to have you at in Sonoma. Um, and I think, you know, my co chair and I were talking about the fact that, um, wine is really a parallel industry to ours, which I'm sure you don't know much about our industry, but there's a lot of strong, independent family companies and then there's a lot of big majors with a ton of money and, you know, can spend whatever they want to spend. Um, which wine, like the wine industry seems to have something similar there, right?

Niki Wente: Absolutely. Yeah.

George Roterman: So how. How has Wente been able to. And I know you'll be touching on this more during the conference, but how has Wente been able to compete against the big dogs, if you will? Because you're competing against, you know, hiring, retaining people, marketing, selling. Like how. How do you do that?

Niki Wente: Yeah, I think, um, a lot of people come to Wente because we Are very much like a family run business. When you come to Wente, especially leaving corporate, corporate America and coming to Wente, it feels more like you're in a very low stakes environment, very, um, fun environment. Like, we try and make things simple, easy. Like there's not a lot of red tape, not a lot of hoops to jump, um, to get like things pushed through. And I think that's what like has been a selling point for a lot of our people to come to Wente from corporate. And then I think the other thing is that we have a lot of long time employees, so our retention is really good. Like, I think our average tenure is over 10 years. Yeah, a lot of people on my team have been with Wendy for like 30 years, uh, which is crazy. And it's because, like, once they come, there's a lot of upward mobility. Like, we try and keep the people that understand our business within our business.

George Roterman: Oh my gosh.

Niki Wente: And so like, we definitely find that giving people opportunities for growth has helped to retain them in our business. And then also understanding employees because not every employee wants growth. So sometimes people like being an individual contributor and that's what they want to do. And so making sure that you're creating pathways that every employee wants has been something really important to us. Um, we're definitely very people focused, I think, and that's been like the way that we win.

George Roterman: But you, how many employees are at Wente?

Niki Wente: We're at about 250.

George Roterman: So how do you, how do you foster that environment with 250 employees? Does that include like checking in, kind of creating a succession plan? What does that look like?

Niki Wente: Yeah. So it's funny because the wine industry is strange because we have like a little bit of every industry in one business because we have hospitality, we have agriculture, we have production, we have um, like manufacturing, we have uh, marketing, sales, we have uh, finance. So like, each different silo, I think of our business has really strong leadership and those people are constantly checking in, doing individual development plans. Um, and I think because there's not like, I think the biggest crossover between like business units is my sister Ally, who's in charge of marketing and hospitality. But marketing and hospitality really are hand in hand. And so, um, it, it's, it's worked out well for her because she has great leaders in each location too, that can help her. But yeah, having really strong business leaders, I think in each different, like, unique business area has helped us for sure.

George Roterman: I love that. And then as far as getting into, um, gaining market share against like big players, what does that look like for one T?

Niki Wente: Yeah, I think that's the hardest piece. Um, because the market share is really driven by a consumer, but the consumer is not the gatekeeper. So in wine, we have distributors who are the gatekeeper. And so that distributor is going to sell your wine to the owner of a shop or the grocery store chain or whatever it might be. And if that distributor is not doing a good job at presenting your material, if they have so many things in their book that they don't even think to present your material, then you're not standing out. So I think what has helped us is having something that's unique about our product. Most wines in our price range are not Central, uh, coast, they're California wines. Um, so we've narrowed it down to being a, uh, smaller, higher quality area in the state. So that's helps with the gatekeeper because the gatekeeper is the most important piece. And that's between. The gatekeeper really for us is both the distributor and the owner of the store.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: Or restaurant.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, and if we can differentiate ourselves in some way that makes us unique, um, that's going to be the entry point. Because all you need for them to do is taste your product. And once they taste it, they'll taste the quality.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, but if they have 10 wines in front of them, what's going to make them choose ours? And once it's on a wine list or in the grocery store, the chances it gets pulled are pretty good as long as you have a good placement within the store.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, but it's really just like, how do you get in the store?

George Roterman: Yes, absolutely.

Niki Wente: And so you just have to have like something unique and special.

George Roterman: Yeah. Which is. Is great. I also. So, um, a big discussion we've been having with, you know, customers and vendors and all the above is like, Wenty is such a, um, good quality wine. And I know, well, you guys do have wine that's super expensive, but which is so worth it. Like it's wor drop. But, um, you also have wine that's like at a really great price point. Yeah. It's still not the, like absolute cheapest. So how, uh, I guess when you're partnering with vendors to help you produce your wine, are you looking for the cheapest option or are you looking for like the same type of quality to then does that make sense how I'm

Niki Wente: asking for like, buying grapes.

George Roterman: Yeah. Or like buying grapes or. I'm not really sure. All the, like, it might be machines that you're buying or like you know, all those vendors that you're buying from to like produce the grapes. Uh, the wine.

Niki Wente: Yeah.

George Roterman: What does that look like? Are you guys looking for someone that's matching the same value of you, of Wenty or what does that.

Niki Wente: Yeah. So like from a grape standpoint, we, most of our wines are estate grown, so that's lucky. But then when we do go out and buy grapes, we are looking for a certain quality standard. And if it doesn't reach the quality standard, the it affects the purchase price or we won't purchase it in the future.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, and then with like equipment it's the same thing. So we have standards for each different tier of wine that we produce. If it's going to be, you know, machine m picked, handpicked or machine picked with the select processing that like kicks out other fruit.

George Roterman: Oh, wow.

Niki Wente: And we have like the same sort of thing in the winery where you either use like our large lot equipment or small lot equipment and it changes the cost per gallon because it's either higher touch or lower touch, basically. So everything is really tailored to the target price point of the wine.

George Roterman: Got it.

Niki Wente: Um, which is all about quality.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: But I think it really does start from the grapes because if you have bad grapes, you can't make a good wine.

George Roterman: Oh, for sure.

Niki Wente: So you have to start with if you want to deliver something that's above the price point in terms of quality, like where people think like, wow, that over delivered.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: You have to start with the best grapes and then you can start taking away things as you go through the process of winemaking because you're like, oh, we don't need to invest that much more because it's going into the lowest tier program. Uh, or whatever it is, it still will be a wonderful wine because you started out with these amazing grapes.

George Roterman: Yeah, that's such a. Yeah, I think, think, I mean, thinking in a metaphorical way of business, you know, like I know at Ratterman it's like we, even if it's just like our two dollars product that we're selling versus our, you know, eighty thousand dollar product we're selling, where everyone's going to have like the same basis of highest level of customer service to buy from. And I feel like Wenty does a really good job of that. Ah. You know, like you guys are like, we're going to go with our, our fundamentals are going to be the highest level of what they can be and then the trickle down effect is always just going to be great. You know, like that it's Just always going to be a good standard.

Niki Wente: So. Yeah.

George Roterman: Um, but when you are partnering, and I know this is, like, a little different than specifically what you're going to be talking about at, uh, the Southwest Regional, but when you are partnering with vendors, are you guys, like, let's say you're buying new tractors or. Yeah, I don't know, all the machines that you wine, but that's your expertise. But are you. Are you, like, just looking for the cheapest option or is it something else there that you're looking for in a vendor?

Niki Wente: Oh, that's a good question. It sort of depends. Um, we usually aren't looking for the cheapest option when it comes to, like, our equipment or materials that are going into the wine. Um, like, let's say barrels.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Like, you have to have a very specific barrel program. And, like, if you change the barrel program, consumers will notice, really, which is crazy. Especially on wines like Riva Ranch Chardonnay. Like, it's a classic wine that people like, um, that has barrel. And if you take away some of the barrels or invest in different barrels that are a little bit less expensive. We get phone calls. Like, we get, like, people writing.

George Roterman: They know.

Niki Wente: They know we don't change the recipe. Even if we don't change the recipe, they call and they're like, something's different this year. Why is this vintage different than last vintage? Um, which. It's crazy. Um, but we're really more so, like, when I'm looking at new tractors, which we've been looking for a couple of years because we don't love the tractors we currently have.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, we're looking for something that's going to do the job the best, so that I have the least amount of downtime for equipment. Um, and that's usually not the cheapest option.

George Roterman: Oh, for sure. That's what's going to save you money on the back end, but not on the front end.

Niki Wente: Right.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: And so we have, like, a pretty. I feel like our capital, um. Ah, capital approval process is probably one of our most corporate things.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Because we want to look at it for, like, its entire lifespan. What are going to be the repair and maintenance costs over time? Um, and that's sort of what we do for both the vineyards and wineries. Um, but when we look at, like, additives from, like, a supplier that we're buying, like, yeast or, you know, things that you put into wine or like, fungicide, we're also looking for something that's going to do the best job, not necessarily the cheapest option. So it's. Winemaking is honestly super expensive. It's crazy.

George Roterman: I know you're saying all these things. I'm just like, okay, another dollar. Another dollar.

Niki Wente: Yeah.

George Roterman: That's wild.

Niki Wente: Yeah.

George Roterman: And just, like, so much time to, um. To make it.

Niki Wente: Yeah.

George Roterman: Which is a beautiful craft.

Co-host: Yeah.

George Roterman: So I guess if you had advice to vendors that are helping to supply someone that, you know, like our industry, we supply all the parts for, then the end user, like. Like a winery or manufacturing, uh, plant or whatever it is to operate. What would be your advice to vendors working with a company that's looking for high quality of how they can best help that company?

Niki Wente: Yeah. Um, well, I think it kind of goes back to, like, if they're looking for high quality, then they probably aren't looking for your cheapest option.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: So I think that, like, figuring out what exactly that company is looking for, and maybe they have tiers like we do, where you're like, okay, for morning fog, we probably don't need to put it in the most expensive barrels.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: But we probably don't want to put it in the cheapest barrel, so we got to find somewhere in the middle. Um, with. With wine specifically, like, we will show, like, we'll bring vendors in and be like, this is what we're going for.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: This is what we want it to taste like. Or, like, I'll bring, like, our pesticide company out, and I'll be like, hey, this is unacceptable. Like, the way this looks, like we need it to be cleaner or we need it to have better vigor. Like, what fertilizer would you offer for me? Or what fungicide or, you know. Yeah. Um, the more time we spend with our vendors, I think the more they understand our business.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: And it really just goes down to understanding the business. And, um, so, like, having. I. I know sales reps probably sometimes feel stressed that they're, like, being annoying, but, like, the more time you spend, like, learning about the business, the better you will be able to serve them.

George Roterman: Totally. I feel like it should not start at the, hey, I need this product from you. It should be starting way beyond that to understand what are the goals of the company. Where are they trying to get to in the next year, two years, three years, five years? What have been their challenges? They like what they don't like, all the above. So I think you just painted that in a perfect way. Um, are you. Is one to using AI currently? And if so, are you able to talk about how.

Niki Wente: Um, we are using AI for a lot of analytics right now? We have A lot of restrictions on AI.

George Roterman: Yeah, I get that.

Niki Wente: And then we're also working with like a few different companies that are trying to build out AI solutions for vineyards specifically, um, around like crop estimation or you know, virus detection, like those sorts of things. Ah, mostly like AI imagery so that it has the machine learning that can interpret that. Yeah.

George Roterman: Oh, that's awesome. And you guys are using robotics, right? Like, weren't you you're the first winery to be using the robotic tractor something.

Niki Wente: It's the ah, electric autonomous tractor. It's not the first robotic, like autonomous tractor on the market, but it is the first electric autonomous. Um, and we do use them. Um, there's definitely challenges with firsts, but I think that's another thing that's great about being like a family owned business is that you tend to have more bandwidth to do these kind, small projects, like side projects with like another company that wants to demo a piece of equipment.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: Uh, I don't have a whole lot of people that I have to get sign offs from to like say, hey, I want to trial these electric tractors. Um, and so. But like, if it was a bigger corporation, it might be harder, right?

George Roterman: Yeah, totally. So for when you look at Wente, where do you hope to see Wente in five years? Ten years?

Niki Wente: Yeah. Well, so the wine industry is going through like a ton of changes.

George Roterman: Okay.

Niki Wente: Um, right now you're. We are seeing like a uptick in light whites. So we're kind of reinvigorating our focus on light white wines, like soft blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot, Grigio. Yeah, those kinds of wines. And then, um, hopefully as people get more comfortable with white wines, they'll start drinking some more reds and we can continue to promote some of our red wines. Yeah.

George Roterman: I love good glass wine and I, and it's funny, all of my girlfriends have switched from like reds to like whites recently. So that makes a lot of sense.

Niki Wente: Yeah, it's what's happening. Like everyone's switching to whites.

George Roterman: Yeah. So thinking about this in terms of our industry, like we have, you know, um, instead of like reds and whites and, and I don't know if you say blushes, but yeah, to see how educated I am on wine. But whatever. Um, our industry has like CO2, helium, argon, um, all of those, those hydrogen. Right. And so, and based on the way like policies are in office, it can really like change. Like, like for instance, the, the um, last group in office, they were very about hydrogen and like they did a lot of credits for hydrogen and tax breaks for hydrogen and all the above.

Niki Wente: So people leaned into that. Yes.

George Roterman: And so that was booming. And then, um, this office is, like, taking those away, so that's kind of slowing down. And then other items are, like, picking up. But I guess my question to you is, it seems like, you know, I asked that answer or that question off the cuff, and you immediately had an answer to it of, like, what the vision is for Wente. And you guys have put a lot of thought into where you want to go, and you're seeing what's working, what's not working. What's your advice to, ah, other people operating their business? To under. To. To keep track of that and to have a clear vision.

Niki Wente: Yeah, that's. That's such a, um, especially. Well, I'm not sure how hard it is to, like, change products in your industry, but for us, it's pretty hard. But especially if you're growing your own grapes, because it takes years for it to come into production.

Co-host: Yeah.

George Roterman: Oh, good point.

Niki Wente: Like, three years if I were to plant something until I get any crop at all.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: Um, so, like, switching from reds to whites is, like, almost impossible.

George Roterman: Yes.

Niki Wente: So we have always been a business that has, um, had a strong, uh, opinion about diversity of what we have planted. So not all of our eggs in one basket, which has been able to help us in terms of, like, the fluctuations in what people are drinking.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, have enough eggs in each basket that you can, like, kind of feed into a trend, but not too many where that's, like, all you're doing. And all of a sudden people hate cab and now you.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Um, so I like. It's like, ah, trying to be everything for everyone is like sudden death in a business.

George Roterman: Totally.

Niki Wente: But it's sort of also is a savior in some ways, like, just have be. But not being everything to everyone, but being a little, like, something for everyone. Um, but I also think that it's important to focus on your strength. Yeah. And, like, we do Morning fog Chardonnay. Well, like, people around the world know morning fog Chardonnay.

George Roterman: Yes.

Niki Wente: Like, my sister and I were invited to someone's wedding in Canada because their family loves morning fog.

George Roterman: Get out of here.

Niki Wente: I'm dead. Ser. It's like, morning fog.

George Roterman: That is so good.

Niki Wente: They love it.

George Roterman: I mean, I believe that, like, my grandma, that's all she drinks every time she comes to our house. Like, she's like, I got the morning fog. And it's, like, hilarious. And then Jake's family's completely hooked on it now, and they're from New England So it just. Yeah, I can totally see that.

Niki Wente: Yeah. So I'm like, okay, we know morning fog is a strength.

George Roterman: Yeah. We're gonna lean in.

Niki Wente: Yeah. Lean into your strengths, for sure. Like, don't give up. Like, people that there has been, like, the anything but chardonnay train. We didn't give up on morning.

George Roterman: Yeah, good.

Niki Wente: Like, we just. Just know your strength, but then, like, be able to diversify enough. Be able to offer enough other things so that if, as trends change, you have at least a toe in the door.

George Roterman: Right.

Niki Wente: Um, and I don't know if that's all that applicable.

George Roterman: It's actually very. And. And you're right. In every industry probably isn't. But in our industry, it kind of is. In the same way, like, it takes you three years to grow grapes. It takes us three. Or customers three, four, five years to set up certain, like, um, fill plants for gases or, uh, air separation units or whatever it may be, and then things can switch in a second, so.

Niki Wente: Right.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Every four years, it's home.

George Roterman: But every four years, you don't know what you're gonna get. But keeps us all on our toes.

Niki Wente: Oh, man, that's really stressful.

George Roterman: Yeah, it can be. Um, but I agree. Lean and lean into your strengths, and that's what kind of sets you apart, and it builds the authenticity of your brand because.

Niki Wente: Right.

George Roterman: You're not faking anything. Like, that's what you're about.

Niki Wente: Right. Like, people will know you for your strength. So just keep showing up for that strength. And don't, like, don't, uh, pull way, because people might not be leaning in at that moment to that strength.

George Roterman: Yeah, absolutely. This was super fun. I'm so excited for you to talk at the Southwest Regional. Do you want to kind of sum up what you. You want to talk about at the Southwest?

Niki Wente: Yeah, we were gonna talk a little bit more about, like, how to position yourself, ah, as a family business or like, what. What we have, what makes us win.

George Roterman: Yeah.

Niki Wente: Yeah. Total strategy around how we win, how we keep people, how we can position our product. Um, and then I think that was it.

Co-host: Right.

George Roterman: I think that's it. Um, we. And there'll be, like, a Q and A at the end as well. Um, and you spoke at one of Raderman's events a few years ago, and I still have people come up to me that are like, that was so good. Or that watch the recording. And they're like, that was so good. And you talked about succession planning and how you really empower the people that work for you. And I. I think it's fantastic. So I'm excited to have you back.

Niki Wente: Yay. I'm excited to come. It'll be a fun time in your

George Roterman: old stomping grounds of Sonoma.

Niki Wente: Yes. So.

George Roterman: And actually, I do want to say that that's something that our industry does since there's so many family companies. Your family company. Also, um, part of the deal was you needed to go work somewhere else.

Niki Wente: Yes.

George Roterman: And then come back.

Niki Wente: Yeah. And I worked in Napa and Sonoma, and I lived in the city of Sonoma, right down the street from the Sonoma Mission Inn, where the conference will be.

George Roterman: Yes. Let's plug it some more.

Niki Wente: Yes. Um, go to the conference.

George Roterman: Exactly. Well, I hope you get some sleep today. And thank you for coming in with no sleep. Like, two hours of sleep.

Niki Wente: Who needs sleep? We're.

George Roterman: My mom brings to this. All right, well, thank you, Nikki. Thank you. Oh, also, before we go, Nikki and her sister have an amazing podcast. Do you want to plug that really fast?

Niki Wente: Yeah. Yeah. So my sister and I do a podcast about books and wine. It's called the Wine Sisters Book Club. And, um, it's honestly us just like, chatting for 30 minutes and then us talking about a book for, like 15 minutes that we read monthly. Um, and it's been fun. And we'll continue doing it next year, but probably it'll look maybe a little different when we, I don't know, know that we did 12 books, like a book a month. This year we might do less books and more like surprise episodes.

George Roterman: Yeah, that's fine.

Niki Wente: Um, so we'll see.

George Roterman: Okay.

Niki Wente: Um, but the Wine Sisters. Come join us.

George Roterman: Yeah. Wine Sisters on everywhere. You listen to a podcast? I, ah, guess.

Niki Wente: Yes.

George Roterman: Um, and it's super fun. And then you can just, like, throw it on while you're having your glass of wine, because we need to get that back up. In America.

Niki Wente: Everyone drinks.

George Roterman: Wine consumption needs to skyrocket next year.

Niki Wente: Honestly, any alcohol? Hey, that leisure. Not at leisure. Um, moderation.

George Roterman: Moderation.

Niki Wente: Moderation. Moderate.

George Roterman: Yeah, you want to micromanage that one, not do what Nikki does with her. Okay. Well, thank you, Nikki.

Niki Wente: Thank you.

Co-host: Thanks for watching. Stay up to date with the latest news in the gas and welding industry by clicking on the subscribe button and

George Roterman: check out one of our other videos to learn more. Find out more about reliably radman@rmi order.com.