Wildwood Vineyard: From Restaurant Roots to Wine Retreat – An Interview with Keisha Doak

Exploring Wildwood Vineyard and Events with Keisha Doak

In this episode of Open Forum in the Villages, Florida, host Mike Roth interviews Keisha Doak, co-owner of Wildwood Vineyard and Events. Keisha shares her journey from owning a restaurant to managing a winery with her husband Philip in Wildwood. They discuss the vineyard's location, the types of wines produced, and the unique, playful names of their wine varieties. The episode also covers the variety of events hosted at the vineyard, including weddings and corporate parties, as well as their future plans. Additionally, listeners learn about wine production and the challenges of the wine business. The episode concludes with a brief tip on Alzheimer's from Dr. Craig Curtis and a shoutout to the podcast's supporters.

00:00 Introduction to the Open Forum Podcast
01:41 Meet the Guest: Keisha Doak of Wildwood Vineyard
02:35 Exploring Wildwood Vineyard and Events
04:15 The Winery Experience and Unique Wines
08:53 Event Planning and Special Occasions
10:33 Future Plans and Wine Cruises
12:20 Choosing Wildwood: The Story Behind the Winery
13:11 Contact Information and Scheduling
13:24 Alzheimer's Research Insights
14:35 Introduction to Wildwood Vineyard
14:46 Wine Training and State Approval
15:31 Wine Production and Sales
17:40 Popular Wines and Unique Flavors
20:57 Event Planning and Menu Options
22:46 Operating Hours and Visitor Information
26:34 Conclusion and Show Information

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Transcript

Nancy 0:08

Wildwood Vineyard: From Restaurant Roots to Wine Retreat – An Interview with Keisha DoakWelcome to the Open Forum in the Villages, Florida. In this show, we talk to leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live here in the Villages. To get perspectives of what is happening here in the Villages Florida, we are a listener supported podcast. There will be shout outs for supporters in

Mike Roth 0:25

This is Mike Roth. Listeners, I'm thrilled to share with you this podcast, which is my passion project for you. This podcast brings you knowledge, inspiration, and a lot of things that people need to know about The Villages and the people living here. Be sure to hit the follow button to get the newest episode each week. Creating this podcast is a labor of love. Even though it demands more time, I can easily spare. Now, here's where you come in. You can help us keep the podcast alive and thriving. How? By becoming a supporter. The easy way for you to support us is to visit our podcast webpage OpenForumInTheVillagesFlorida.com, and click on the supporter button at the top of the page. Or the purple supporter box. Even a small donation of three to $10 a month makes a big difference, and you can cancel your subscription at any time. Your support means the world to us. Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on. I hope everyone enjoys today's show. This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. I'm here today with Keisha Doak. She and her husband Philip, are the owners of a new winery in Wildwood called Wildwood Vineyard and Events It's a charming vineyard an event venue. In Wildwood near The Villages. It must be one of those new areas of Wildwood.

Keisha Doak 2:01

It's actually on 462 across from the Girl Scout camp. It's right behind the new Wildwood Police Department.

Mike Roth 2:07

I call that the new areas as opposed to the area around downtown Wildwood.

Keisha Doak 2:12

Yes. Yes Yeah.

Mike Roth 2:13

Okay and can you actually see it from 301?

Keisha Doak 2:16

No, you have to go behind the police department about two miles.

Mike Roth 2:20

Okay. Two miles.

Keisha Doak 2:21

Two miles. Yep. If you go down the road behind the police department, that's 462, you're gonna take a couple curbs and we'll be on the left.

Mike Roth 2:27

Okay. So it's a pretty convenient location.

Keisha Doak 2:30

It is.

Mike Roth 2:30

It's much better than some of the other wineries, around here.

Keisha Doak 2:33

Yeah. It's really close to everything. We're pretty close to The Villages

Mike Roth 2:35

How large a winery is terms of acreage?

Keisha Doak 2:38

We're on 10 acres. So we also have a bar that's indoor air conditioned. We have a tasting room. We do a lot of weddings. So we have an area under a beautiful tree for weddings. It's pretty cool.

Mike Roth 2:49

Okay, but that's not an air conditioned event room?

Keisha Doak 2:52

No. Most of our events are outside. We have a stage and a lot of stuff outside, but we do have an indoor that's air conditioning for micro weddings or just to come in and try wine and hang out on the weekends.

Mike Roth 3:02

Oh, okay. That's pretty good. Yeah. What month of the year do you harvest wine?

Keisha Doak 3:07

Usually it's three times a year.

Mike Roth 3:09

Three times a year.

Keisha Doak 3:09

January. April and August.

Mike Roth 3:13

Now I understand you and your husband were in the restaurant business before you bought the

Keisha Doak 3:17

We were. We owned Flight Line Cafe at the Winter Haven Airport.

Mike Roth 3:20

Okay, from not being around there, didn't even know that Winter Haven had at airport,

Keisha Doak 3:24

Alot people don't, believe it or not, it's a municipal airport. A lot of private flying, money.

Mike Roth 3:28

Okay. Okay. And why do you buy a winery?

Keisha Doak 3:32

So after years of being in the restaurant industry, I actually retired. And two months in this opportunity became available and I thought, why not add the crazy stress of a restaurant, throw in some bugs and, 10 acres and make it a beautiful venue space. So if my husband had was here, he would say she got bored. But we actually, we went and looked at the space. We had a lot of opportunity. We saw some great opportunity there, and then we just decided this would be the place for us. It allows us to blend all the things we love, wedding, venue, space, wine, and anything that brings good friends and family together.

Mike Roth 4:12

Okay. That sounds like a good idea. Yeah. Can you describe for our listeners what winery guests are going to experience when they visit the Wildwood Vineyard and Event Center?

Keisha Doak 4:25

Everyone says when they come in that it's a vibe. It's just so wonderful and peaceful and loving. Guests are greeted with sweeping views of the trees. If they come down, any of the side roads, whether you're coming for a wedding, if you're wine tasting or just escaping your inbox, it makes you feel like you're going to a retreat. We've had guests say, do I have to leave? And even though we don't encourage squatting, we take that as a compliment.

Mike Roth 4:51

Okay. Have you ever had any car shows out? of the venue?

Keisha Doak 4:54

We haven't. We've actually talked about it a couple times. And we've had a guest who have rented the space, do a car show twice, but we haven't put one on ourselves.

Mike Roth 5:03

Which car shows were there?

Keisha Doak 5:04

He did a private event with his specific vehicles of his friends. It wasn't like anything crazy. Yeah. It wasn't like a big name.

Mike Roth 5:13

Okay. Occasionally I've been known to. to do An old German and all European car show.

Keisha Doak 5:18

I bet that would be nice.

Mike Roth 5:19

We're looking at space up in Bellevue in about a week.

Keisha Doak 5:23

We have space available.

Mike Roth 5:24

How many acres? And how many can you park cars on?

Keisha Doak 5:28

About six of them.

Mike Roth 5:29

About six acres So that means You can get about how many cars there?

Keisha Doak 5:33

A lot.

Mike Roth 5:33

A lot? means.

Keisha Doak 5:34

So in it's three different fields and in the first field that we usually use for parking, you could probably put about 50 cars. So I'm gonna guess over a hundred total.

Mike Roth 5:44

Okay. That's a nice size place then. And that, that, I assume those fields have grass on it or something.

Keisha Doak 5:48

All grrass

Mike Roth 5:49

Something closely resembling. glass. Yes. Grass. Now you've owned the winery since when

Keisha Doak 5:55

We bought the winery in 2022.

Mike Roth 5:59

2022. And. When did you start selling your own wine there?

Keisha Doak 6:04

2024. It took about two years for us to perfect the process.

Mike Roth 6:08

And what kind of grapes are you actually growing on

Keisha Doak 6:11

We grow muscadine grapes on property, but we also bring in some grapes because some of the wine that we produce would not be great with muscadine grapes. And we found that people around here don't love muscadine grapes. So we have 13 varietals now and only two of them use our muscadine grapes. So the rest of the grapes come in from outside all the world.

Mike Roth 6:31

How do they ship grapes in from France or Italy?

Keisha Doak 6:34

Dry freeze.

Mike Roth 6:34

So they come in cold.

Keisha Doak 6:36

They come in dry freeze overnight. It's very expensive. People are like, oh, your wines aren't cheap. Bringing grapes in aren't cheap.

Mike Roth 6:43

What are the two wines that, are produced here and grown here?

Keisha Doak 6:47

The red blend, which is called the Devil Drinks Red.

Mike Roth 6:51

That's an interesting name. The devil.

Keisha Doak 6:53

All of our wines have very risque labels and very fun names.

Mike Roth 6:57

Can you give us some examples?

Keisha Doak 6:59

So our white cranberry is called Kiss Me Down Under Our cabernet is called Life is a Cabernet. We have Berry Seductive is our Mulberry Moscato. Just peach is our peach wine.

Mike Roth 7:13

You are reminding me of a winery that I toured in the Great Lakes region of New York one year coming back. I lived in Ohio, so we drove across the Great Lakes region of New York and we rented a, a limo for the day with a driver. And it said, and we said, take us to as many wineries as we can cover in a day.

Keisha Doak 7:33

Wow. I bet that was fun.

Mike Roth 7:34

Oh, that was fun. Not having to drive, getting to, to drink as many samples as you like. And we went to this one and the wine was terrible.

Keisha Doak 7:42

Oh no.

Mike Roth 7:43

But I told my wife, I have to buy a couple of bottles of this. Because the labels were so fantastic. The names and the graphics on the labels. Yes. I said, We gotta, keep, we gotta keep these.

Keisha Doak 7:55

So our two newest ones are a Chardonnay called Erotic Temptations and a vanilla bourbon. That's called

Mike Roth 8:03

wait. Vanilla Bourbon.

Keisha Doak 8:05

Vanilla Bourbon Wine. And that is called.

Mike Roth 8:08

So vanilla bourbon wine. Does that have any real bourbon in it?

Keisha Doak 8:13

It does. Nightly desires is our vanilla bourbon.

Mike Roth 8:17

Nightly desires. Wow. Now I could see. a lot of us villagers buying wine. For the name and the label.

Keisha Doak 8:25

We do sell a lot of wine for the name and the labels. People do like our wine, believe it or not. So what we have found a lot of our guests do is they'll drink the wine and then put fairy lights in them and display 'em on their mantle.

Mike Roth 8:36

Oh, okay. That's pretty cool.

Keisha Doak 8:38

We have one guest who has purchased every one of our bottles, and he displays them in his house. And when guests come over, he tells them, don't touch my ladies.

Mike Roth 8:46

Are the bottles empty in his house.

Keisha Doak 8:48

No No they're full. He had bought one to display and one to drink.

Mike Roth 8:51

Okay. That's pretty cool. Now you do event planning?

Keisha Doak 8:55

We do a lot of weddings, corporate events and private parties. Think of us as part wedding planner, part fairy godmother, part therapist, because yes, we've had more than a few pre-wedding meltdowns. We dive into the couple's vision and we try to create what they really want. It's their event, not mine. So I give them the options and I let them choose. We love it when the guest is involved, but we also do all inclusives. We just give them what they want and then we take over. We're not like a cookie cutter company. We get your, opinion, we get what you want, and then we put the package together. It's not Hey, you come in and you get this or this. You get to choose and then we take over.

Mike Roth 9:34

Okay. So. You serve food there for the weddings?

Keisha Doak 9:37

We do. We cater the weddings, we do entertainment photography. We can do all part or none depending on what the guest wants.

Mike Roth 9:44

So you said you had a stage, put the band on the stage?

Keisha Doak 9:47

We do. We did a really cool wedding May of last year. They had a three piece band. It was a May the fourth be with you Star Wars wedding. So they got the Dun with the three piece band down the aisle and then they had live entertainment on the stage after. It was pretty fun.

Mike Roth 10:00

Okay. Sounds like it's a great deal. What days of the week is the winery open to the public so they can come and try or buy your wine?

Keisha Doak 10:07

We're open Friday from three to 6:00 PM and Saturday from one to 6:00 PM and we also do private tours, so if there's a date that works better, you give me a call and we'll make it work.

Mike Roth 10:17

Oh, so. Have you ever had any of the car clubs come out there for a private tour?

Keisha Doak 10:22

We have not, but they're welcome to give me a call and we'll make it happen.

Mike Roth 10:25

Those of you who are Mercedes-Benz Club owners.

Keisha Doak 10:27

Those are the ones we want to come in.

Mike Roth 10:29

Okay. That sounds like an October, November Mercedes tour. Now do you have any future plans or growth plans that you have in mind?

Keisha Doak 10:38

We're not building a castle, launching our own reality show. Not yet. Look out, Mike. We might come after you. Just kidding. We do have plans to grow the vineyard, make more of our own wines and do seasonal events. Our annual cruise is coming back last year we went to Japan this year. We're going to Europe next year. Who knows? If anyone has any ideas out there, let us know.

Mike Roth 10:58

So let me stop on the cruise idea for a minute. So you were actually signing people up at the winery to go on a wine cruise?

Keisha Doak 11:07

Absolutely. We had so many guests ask us about where to go on their honeymoon, that we officially launched our travel website this year. So we do everything from honeymoons to cruises, to all inclusives for the wedding or for anyone who's interested in traveling.

Mike Roth 11:21

So how many cases of wine do you have to send on a cruise with you?

Keisha Doak 11:24

They're only allowed two bottles per person, but we'll give them each two bottles.

Mike Roth 11:28

Okay. And which cruise line do you use?

Keisha Doak 11:31

We are able to book any of 'em. The biggest one right now is Norwegian. 'cause they give us the best deals followed by Royal and MSC but we can book any cruise line that someone is interested in.

Mike Roth 11:41

I happen to like Celebrity, Princess, and I am gonna be actually traveling on Norwegian for the first time in October.

Keisha Doak 11:47

Oh, you're gonna love it. I love Norwegian. We've been on, we're actually getting ready to go one Europe in August, and then we're doing a New Year's cruise, and from December 20th to January 4th,

Mike Roth 11:56

We booked on the smaller ship. That's gonna go from Barcelona to Miami. We decided,

Keisha Doak 12:03

so you're doing a trans

Mike Roth 12:04

transatlantic? Yes. So that I don't have to fly again. I have to fly to get to Barcelona. Yes. But

Keisha Doak 12:11

you don't have to fly home.

Mike Roth 12:12

That's right. And the cost was about the same.

Keisha Doak 12:14

Yeah. Because they wanna get the boat back.

Mike Roth 12:17

Whatever. That's a good idea. to get, keep the boat back. Why did you pick wildwood to buy a winery in as opposed to someplace else?

Keisha Doak 12:25

We originally had the restaurant in Winter Haven, but we lived in Apopka. So we traveled we came and looked at it after our realtor called us and we just fell in love with the area. We fell in love with the property and I just saw so much potential that we just made an offer and it got approved. We made an offer before it even got on the market.

Mike Roth 12:45

That's a great way to buy it.

Keisha Doak 12:46

It is. And we got a great deal.

Mike Roth 12:48

Okay. And do you still live in Apopka?

Keisha Doak 12:51

No, we live on property now. I still have the house in Apopka, but we live on property now.

Mike Roth 12:55

Okay. So there when you bought the winery, there was a house on the winery? Yes. Okay. That's pretty cool.

Keisha Doak 13:00

It is. It's nice to be on prop. That's why I said if anyone wants to come during the week, gimme a call. If I'm around, I'll make it happen.

Mike Roth 13:07

Okay. That sounds like a good thing. So if they actually wanted to do that, how do they get in touch with you?

Keisha Doak 13:11

They could just give us a call 3 5 2 7 6 4 9900, or they could go to our website, Wildwood Vineyard and events.com and they can schedule an appointment there. Those usually require 24 hour lead time though.

Mike Roth 13:24

Now let's take a short break and listen to an Alzheimer's tip from Dr. Craig Curtis.

Dr. Craig Curtis 13:30

Amyloid is the spark, and tau is the fire. We have this spark barking for 20 years without symptoms. Once the spark causes the fire, the breakdown of tau inside the cell, we start to see symptoms. We are actively researching ways to stop tau as well. Is it possible to regrow new brain cells to replace the ones the tower was killed? That's a hot topic. Scientists for the most part, do not believe that we can regenerate any brain cells. There have been a few research papers published in the last four or five years that hint that there might be some brain cell regeneration specifically in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. Which ironically is where Alzheimer's disease starts, but it's really hard to prove that in humans.

Warren 14:18

With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, craigcurtismd.com, or call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 to attend a free seminar.

Mike Roth 14:35

We're back with Keisha Doak. She and her husband Philip, are the owners of a new winery in Wildwood called Wildwood Vineyard and Events. Have either your husband or yourself been through any wine training?

Keisha Doak 14:50

No. Believe it or not, we've been to a lot of wineries and we absolutely love wine, but we've never been through any specific wine training, so that's why it took so long as well for us to start making wine. We actually had a guest come in and was talking to us about how he used to make wine He came in, a couple times, showed my husband everything he needed to know, and then we took it from there.

Mike Roth 15:12

Did you need state approval to operate?

Keisha Doak 15:14

Oh yeah. We need to be cleared by so many different things. The Department of Agriculture the tobacco and alcohol. Believe it or not, I have to do a federal background check, both my husband and I and anyone that works at the vineyard. It's a lot of steps to Approved to make wine.

Mike Roth 15:30

Now. Can you ship the wine?

Keisha Doak 15:33

We do not ship the wine. That's a whole nother process. Florida is so hot that if we ship the wine, it would have to be overnight and it would cost so much to ship wine overnight that it's not worth the process to do it.

Mike Roth 15:45

Okay. And you sell the wine by the bottle at the

Keisha Doak 15:49

We do. You can do by the glass, by the bottle, or by the case. We also do sampling where you can do, for a dollar or two you can sample all the wines.

Mike Roth 15:57

So how many. Different wines do you have in stock at any one point in time?

Keisha Doak 16:01

So we currently make 13 varietals of our own, but we also have 22 commercial wines as well. And we have beer. Yeah. So for the husband that wants to go with his wife but doesn't drink wine, we have plenty of beer to try.

Mike Roth 16:14

Are you, ever thinking of expanding into making your own beer?

Keisha Doak 16:17

My husband would like to, but we wanna perfect certain amount of wines before we get to that.

Mike Roth 16:22

Yeah there's a. Home Brew Beer Club here in The Villages.

Keisha Doak 16:26

Yes. Yes. I've heard of 'em.

Mike Roth 16:28

Yeah. We had the leader of that club on the show. a of Nice. About a year ago.

Keisha Doak 16:33

Yeah. We need to get him to come show us how to make beer.

Mike Roth 16:36

I'm sure he would love to. He's always looking for way I understand it. They're always looking for brewers to brew their recipes. And. The wines that you make there at 13, those are your own recipes? for the wine.

Keisha Doak 16:48

They are. of them are our own recipes.

Mike Roth 16:50

So you have a, a paper and computer version of the recipes?

Keisha Doak 16:55

Yeah, everything is on paper and in the computer just in case.

Mike Roth 17:00

Okay. And how do you age your wine? Barrels.

Keisha Doak 17:03

We triple filter everything and then they sit in steel barrels still. It's time to bottle them.

Mike Roth 17:06

Is that stainless steel barrels? And Are those are refrigerated?

Keisha Doak 17:10

They are in a cooled room. Not refrigerated, but they're in a cooled room.

Mike Roth 17:13

Temperature controlled room.

Keisha Doak 17:14

With the muscadine grapes. They taste great when you pick 'em, but in the wine it's not, A lot of people here don't like 'em. They're super sweet. We do have quite a few sweet wines, but not everyone wants sweet in their wine.

Mike Roth 17:26

Yeah. Sometimes I like sweet, sometimes I like dry. You sell a non-alcoholic version of the wine? like grape juice?

Keisha Doak 17:32

We do not have an non-alcoholic version of the wine. We have juices and we have non-alcoholic beer, but we don't have a non-alcoholic wine.

Mike Roth 17:40

What's your most popular flavor of wine or vintage?

Keisha Doak 17:43

Our most popular one is Kiss Me Down Under. It's a white cranberry. It's a semi-sweet, so it's just sweet enough for the sweet drinkers, but just dry enough for the dry drinkers, followed by our chocolate coffee port. People love our chocolate coffee port. Our vanilla bourbon is also coming right up in the ranks. You know that one is the newest one that we've had for just a few months and it's quite popular.

Mike Roth 18:05

Let's talk a minute about the coffee Chocolate coffee. So is there actually chocolate in it?

Keisha Doak 18:12

There is. There's chocolate and coffee in it.

Mike Roth 18:14

And coffee.

Keisha Doak 18:15

And it's phenomenal. 90% of the people that come in and say, I don't drink coffee. I don't like chocolate, I don't like sweet wines. They try it and they're like, wow, this really works. And they fall in love and buy a bottle. You'd be, I'm surprised at how many people come in and purchase a bottle after saying they didn't think they would like it.

Mike Roth 18:31

Right now, approximately how much would a bottle of wine, like that?

Keisha Doak 18:34

So the coffee port is $35. It's definitely a higher alcohol volume and it takes a lot more work to make,

Mike Roth 18:42

Higher alcohol content means?

Keisha Doak 18:44

18%.

Mike Roth 18:45

18%. What are the alcohol content of most of the other wines?

Keisha Doak 18:49

On average, between 12 and 13%.

Mike Roth 18:51

Between 12 and 13? Yes. But That one is 18%. Wow.

Keisha Doak 18:55

Yes. So anyone that drinks Port knows, they usually come in smaller bottles. They're sweeter. You drink less of it. It's like a dessert wine. We sell ours in our regular bottle.

Mike Roth 19:05

Okay. So there's a lot of it in there.

Keisha Doak 19:07

It is. It's made to share.

Mike Roth 19:08

Okay. That sounds like a good wine to take on a cruise with me.

Keisha Doak 19:12

Yes, absolutely.

Mike Roth 19:14

I love the names too. I hope our listeners like it too. Yeah.

Keisha Doak 19:17

We get a lot of people in, believe it or not, that absolutely love the bottles, love the names, purchase it for the pictures, and they're surprised that my husband makes the wine and I create the labels. 'cause they look at the labels and they're like, you create the labels. I'm like, yeah, I have a very productive mind.

Mike Roth 19:31

Okay, so you have the. Machinery or did you buy the machinery with the winery?

Keisha Doak 19:36

A lot of it came, we've purchased some that we've needed to make it happen, but some of it came with the winery. They were already producing wine before they closed, and they had closed about a year before we took it over. So some of the, stuff was obsolete, so we had to purchase some newer stuff, but for the most part, a lot of it was there.

Mike Roth 19:52

Do you give any discounts on wine if you buy a case?

Keisha Doak 19:55

We do. You can get you get 10% off if you buy a case.

Mike Roth 19:58

Oh, that's not bad. Now, if someone buys a case, would you carry it out to the car? for him? Absolute.

Keisha Doak 20:03

Abso my husband would carry it out to the

Mike Roth 20:05

oh,

Keisha Doak 20:05

That's what men are for.

Mike Roth 20:06

Okay. When you driving in off the road to your winery? Are people traveling on a paved road or is it a gravel road?

Keisha Doak 20:14

So they're on a main road. 462 is a main paved road. Once they pull in, they're driving into grass.

Mike Roth 20:20

So the driveway Inn is on grass.

Keisha Doak 20:23

And then we also have one handicapped parking in the front where people can get dropped off and then obviously park the vehicle in case anyone else needs access to not be able to walk across the field.

Mike Roth 20:33

Oh, I see. So if someone has difficulty with walking, they pull up to the front of the winery? The disabled person gets out and then they have to move the car to the, parking area. Yes. Now, when you're driving down the road in front, do you have a big sign?

Keisha Doak 20:51

We do. We have a couple big flags that say beer and wine, and we also have a sign up front with our name and ours and everything on it.

Mike Roth 20:57

So if a club wanted to go out to the winery, take a tour of the winery, have a wine tasting, and a lunch serve. Can you do arrange that? How do you do that?

Keisha Doak 21:07

They just need to let us know in advance. We would create a menu and a price. It would be prepaid and then we would set it up for the date and time of their liking and then we make it happen.

Mike Roth 21:17

Tell me about how you picked the menu? Do you actually create the meals there or you have them catered in?

Keisha Doak 21:22

No, we make everything there.

Mike Roth 21:24

We do. Okay. Yes. So what would, what kind of items would you have on your food menu? for a luncheon?

Keisha Doak 21:29

We can do anything. I've actually been a chef for over 30 years. We own our restaurant. We have

Mike Roth 21:33

I forgot that

Keisha Doak 21:33

We have a kitchen, but we can, A lot of our most popular is we do a lot of barbecue. We do a lot of Latin, Mexican tacos, Italian pasta bars. It really just depends. We, but we can pretty much do anything. So I sit down with the guest, the main guest. We create a menu based on what he thinks his people like.

Mike Roth 21:52

What would the average cost per guest be?

Keisha Doak 21:54

It would really just depend on what their pick anywhere from 20 to $55. If you pick filet mignon, obviously it's gonna be more than a pasta bar. So it really just depends on what you choose.

Mike Roth 22:05

So if you wanted to create a a buffet where people could choose where you had a vegetarian dish. you Had a barbecue dish salad what would something like that cost I would say

Keisha Doak 22:17

anywhere between 20 and 30. It depends on the meat they picked for the barbecue. If they want one or two meats, how many sides, it really just all depends on what they want. Anywhere between 20 and $30. It's not like crazy.

Mike Roth 22:28

So that would be planned with you. They'd have to come out to your place to go over the menu options.

Keisha Doak 22:32

Yeah. So they come out, we sit down, look at everything, see if they have vegetarians, how many vegetarians, if they have any gluten or any other allergies. 'cause we do try to work around that. We can't please everyone. But if it's something simple, we try to accommodate.

Mike Roth 22:46

Now in terms of planning an event at your winery, do you operate seven days a week? For events?

Keisha Doak 22:52

So we don't do Sundays or Mondays. Because even though we're commercial, we're in a residential area, part of what we're not allowed to do is open Sundays or Mondays, which is crazy. I know. But any other day we're here for you.

Mike Roth 23:04

Okay. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday through Sat Friday, Saturday. Yeah. Okay. And again, why don't you tell our listeners what days that they can. Just drop by because you're open to, to sample some of your wines.

Keisha Doak 23:15

So we're open Fridays three to six. Saturdays one to six, but if we have a special event, like a wedding will be closed. All of our close times are on our website. A lot of holidays we don't get very busy, so we just close to spend time with our families. It is a small family owned business, so it's not like we have a thousand employees. Most holidays we're closed.

Mike Roth 23:35

So you have 10 acres of land. How many employees do you have?

Keisha Doak 23:38

Currently, we have four. When we have events, we bring other people in.

Mike Roth 23:42

And you have your own crushing machines there for the

Keisha Doak 23:43

Yeah, we have everything.

Mike Roth 23:45

Do you allow people to come in and see the wine being harvested?

Keisha Doak 23:48

No, we do, because it's such a small place that we do it in the back. It's just easier to keep it us, to keep it clean and everything.

Mike Roth 23:56

Again in case someone wants to call before they came out, what number should they use?

Keisha Doak 24:00

3 5 2 7 6 4 9 9 0 0. We have a beautiful space. It's air conditioned indoors, so we're open throughout the summer.

Mike Roth 24:10

How many people can you fit in the indoor space?

Keisha Doak 24:12

We have fit up to 66. That's a little tight. We like to keep it under 50.

Mike Roth 24:17

And have you taken any special precautions for rainwater on a rainy day?

Keisha Doak 24:22

We do have a company that'll bring out tents. They're pretty good on last minute, unless it's like crazy wedding season. But usually we know in advance we keep a real close eye on weather, especially since we're predominantly an outdoor venue. So we do keep a close eye on weather leading up to the event. That was the reason we had 66 inside. She had 66 people it called for rain.

Mike Roth 24:43

Okay. And The parking area doesn't go underwater?

Keisha Doak 24:46

No, not at all. We don't flood anywhere on property, luckily. That we've had three years of tracking. Luckily we've never flooded.

Mike Roth 24:53

How do you irrigate the grape crops? This year, when it was so dry?

Keisha Doak 24:57

We have irrigation, yes.

Mike Roth 24:59

And where do you get the water for it?

Keisha Doak 25:01

We have a well.

Mike Roth 25:02

And so you are, so you're not using Wildwood City Water?

Keisha Doak 25:07

We're not hooked up to City Water for any part of the property. Yeah, I'm sure. The, so they're building all these new properties, right? When you turn behind the police department, they're building like 3,500 homes. And I'm sure they'll have city water. We have a wifi box specifically designated for the tasting room and the winery.

Mike Roth 25:25

Oh, okay. That's great. What what if someone wants to come in for on a Friday or a Saturday for a tasting? How does that work?

Keisha Doak 25:32

They just come in during our hours of operation. They come in. They, we're playing music always in the background. They have a seat and we kinda just hang out with them, talk to 'em about our wines, give them the different samples, and they'll pay based on what they try. We also have flights where they could try four, three ounce pores. That way they don't feel like, 'cause the samples are a lot smaller. And they can try four wines and then they can get a glass based on what they're like. We have a lot of couples that'll come in and they'll each get four different ones and then they try each others, and then they get the glass of whichever they're like. We also just this past weekend, did a private dinner for an anniversary. Couple came in, they had a beautiful steak dinner, they had the place to themselves and they were super happy.

Mike Roth 26:13

You said you have a commercial kitchen there too. I What is the single of your 13 different types of wines That you produce there? What is the single best selling wine?

Keisha Doak 26:23

I would say there's two. Definitely our chocolate coffee port I would say would be number one. And then it's a tie between our mulberry moscato and our white cranberry.

Mike Roth 26:33

Great. Keisha I want to thank you for being on the show today.

Keisha Doak 26:37

Thank you for having me. This has been wonderful.

Mike Roth 26:40

Good.

Nancy 26:40

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