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32 WINES&VINES February 2017 Viewpoint A s we at Foursight Wines wrap up our first decade as wine business owners, I've been thinking quite a lot about the lessons I've learned over the years. What would I distill and pass along from our first 10? In that spirit, here is a (slightly salty) list of the top 10 things I've learned from a decade of running our own wine business. This could also be entitled: "The best advice I have for someone starting their own brand." 1. Get a good lawyer. Get an even better accountant. Love your label designer. Adore your customers. Know many others will just be there to blow smoke up your…or sell you something. 2. You'll probably get a little fat. Wine is not calorie-free, and neither is all the amazing food—and amazing friends who cook—that come along with it. But it's okay; you're in good company. 3. You will wear three to 10 hats each and every day. Being in the wine business for yourself requires at least some knowledge of many things, from botany to meteorology, to chemistry, to accounting, to finance, to customer service, to food service. I could go on. If you enjoy never quite knowing what you'll be up to each and every day, this may be the job for you. 4. Drink less of your own wine and more of others. Too many winery owners only drink their own product. Because, well, it's there, and you can justify it because it's your product, and because you like it (let's hope). But understanding what others are doing is paramount. Tastes change, styles change, and "cellar palate"— where only your own wine tastes right—is a real thing. 5. Don't. Ever. Stop. Running your own business is pushing the rock up the hill. Especially in the beginning. Just because there are little plateaus that get easier, and because you keep get- ting stronger and more adept at push- ing, it doesn't mean there's ever a time you should let go. Because that rock will, eventually, roll back down- hill. Owning your own business is deeply rewarding, but you have to push every day, until you sell or quit. The thing I've heard the most from entrepreneurs in a variety of busi- nesses over the years: You get out what you put in. When you stop is when the trouble starts, so be relent- less instead. 6. Do not underestimate the amount of time you'll spend doing paperwork. The wine business is romantic, yes. Glitzy, sometimes. Down-and-dirty, often. But it's also one of the most highly regulated industries in the United States. Your county, your state and your federal govern- ment all want their piece and those records that go along with it. And so will all the other states where your product finds a home. And then there's inventory, payroll, bills, label approvals, supply ordering and on and on. 7. Know that tax law is not on your side as a wine business. Wineries are gen- erally required to use the accrual method of accounting. This means that, even though you incur the costs of manufacturing your product as they happen, you can't write those costs off until you sell the product— often a year or more down the road. 8. Schedule your time off. Bake it into the cake, as my husband says. Be- n KRISTY CHARLES Top 10 Things I've Learned as a Winery Owner JOHN CLAYTON Too many winery owners only drink their own product…but understand- ing what others are doing is paramount.