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66 WINES&VINES October 2016 I t's not an unfamiliar story: A couple raises four daughters while farming corn and soybeans, and during free time they visit wine regions in Italy and California. They get bitten by the "let's start a winery" bug, plant some vines and open the doors to a small winery. That story describes how Gary and Vicky Vogt, owners of Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery in Spring Valley, Minn., entered the wine busi- ness, but it doesn't really tell the full story or give a clue as to what happened next: In five years, the winery went from being just opened to the largest winery in Minnesota. Vicky Vogt had been looking for a business opportunity that would draw her four girls, now grown, back home to south- eastern Minnesota. She knew that none of her daughters or sons-in-law wanted to grow corn or soybeans as she and her husband had done for about 25 years, but it occurred to her that they might be interested in growing grapes and opening a winery, as the entire family enjoyed wine. She and her hus- band attended a wine conference to learn more about the in- dustry, she did a lot of research and then wrote a 40-page business plan. During 2010, the family began to put that plan into effect, and two daughters, their husbands and children became part of the new venture. Daughter No. 1, Shawn, an attorney, and her husband, Patrick Sween, an aeronautical engineer, moved their family east from California so that Sween could be the vineyard manager. He took courses through the University of Minnesota's VESTA program to learn the skills needed to grow grapes, while Shawn Vogt Sween set up her law practice in nearby Grand Meadow with the winery as one of her clients. Daughter No. 3, Kristin Osborne, and her husband, Justin Os- borne, also joined the winery's team. Kristin Osborne, who had run her own public relations agency, became the marketing director, and Justin Osborne, formerly a construction manager, also took courses through the VESTA program to learn the winemaking skills he would need as the family's winemaker. The winery, a combination tasting room/wine-production facility with about 9,000 square feet, was built in 2010-11. Vogt worked with architect John Kirk, owner of John W. Kirk Design in Minneapolis, Minn., to come up with a plan for the winery that allowed for additions when the winery needed more space in the future. The winery design is distinctly modern, even futuristic. The roof is stainless steel; the walls in the tasting room are composed of two main materials: a horizontal metal siding and a vertical cedar wood, with the goal of creating a somewhat industrial-style space but with the wood providing a feeling of warmth. Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery Five-year-old winery and cidery now the largest in Minnesota By Linda Jones McKee TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT The Vogts had expansion in mind when drafting plans for Four Daughters' winery and hospitality spaces.