Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Charlie Koon breaks down the biggest stories in Clarksville with the people making the Headlines.
I've lived in Clarksville, Montgomery County nearly my entire life, and I've seen a lot of growth and met some amazing people along the way. There's a lot going on in our community. And on this podcast, I hope to shed some light on what's going on in Clarksville. I'm Charlie Coon and this is Clarksville Conversation. Wilson and Abby from Beach Haven Winery, welcome to Clarksville Conversations.
Speaker 1:How y'all doing?
Speaker 2:Doing well. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Man, you know, it it's always good first thing in the morning when somebody comes toting in a bottle of wine. You're thinking, man, are we having mimosas? Are we just what are we doing?
Speaker 2:Well, it's fresh off the line. We wanted to show you what we were doing today.
Speaker 1:Fresh off the line. Well, we're gonna get to what you guys produce and all that here in a minute. But, Willis, can you give us kind of a brief history of Beach Haven Winery?
Speaker 2:I'll try. You know, I was there, but I was 4 years old. Hey. But we, yeah, we established ourselves in 80 1986. Judge Beach had been a pretty avid wine enthusiast, became a home winemaker, really was just kinda fooling around in his own basement.
Speaker 2:My parents got married. My dad moved to Clarksville, kinda developed an interest in what the judge was doing. And a few amateur awards later, decided they were
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Basically go knock on all their friends' doors and try to pull some money, and build Beat and Shaving Vineyards and Winery. And they put the vineyard in the ground, in 86. Same time, they broke broke ground on the building, which you've all seen there off the the side of I-twenty 4. Then by 1990, we'd expanded enough. We were building warehouses.
Speaker 2:And in the mid 2000, we've, we expanded again our footprint just for for storage case goods, raw materials, things like that, and and and additional production space as well. So, then we've we've also built some new office and laboratory space in the recent, couple couple years. And then now we are, you know, right around that 10,000 case, mark, for production. And
Speaker 1:Is that a per year? 10,000
Speaker 2:cases per year? So, that's kind of the that's kind of, there are certain sweet spots in the wine industry, you know, 1010000 in the next, echelon would be 15,000. So, you know, we need you guys to come out and buy more wine.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's no doubt about it. And I've been out there for so many things, whether it's jazz on the lawn or, I know our leadership middle Tennessee has had some events out there. So you guys have been really community minded. Of course, you are in our community, and that's one way you grow locally is to have people out there. What do people what do you find success in being involved in the community?
Speaker 1:What what what kind of things are you involved in?
Speaker 3:So I'm kind of involved in a couple of different things like networking, stuff around, Hill, so I'm always out, kind of talking with other business owners and, you know, just different people in the area. And so by kind of collaborating with other small businesses and different people like that, that, really helps us kind of grow, I feel like, and get our name out there. And people like a small business who's willing to collaborate with other small businesses. For sure. So and the community likes that as well, and consumers like that.
Speaker 3:And so we're we're kind of like, we can't do this on our own. And so we'd like to kind of get with other people as much as we can. But we're involved in things like the, you know, the what is it? The commerce and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Chamber of Commerce. Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Chamber of Commerce. It would
Speaker 1:have been something hours. Development. I know you've been around a lot of that.
Speaker 3:We do Over at the Vineyard, we're definitely family friendly. So we'd like for those events to come out, like a vintage fair and things like that are kind of kind of family friendly. And so we kind of see ourselves as a community welcoming the community out to
Speaker 2:Yeah. Mom mom grew up here. Yeah. And she knows a lot of the movers and shakers in the near east. Louisa.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right. And she loves to, to be on those boards downtown and tourism and and all the things that are are kinda moving and shaking in town, bringing people to town, trying to keep Clarksville in, everybody's mind and and, basically boost boost, visit visits to town.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's there's no question about that. She's she's been involved for years. I've been on some boards with her, and and she she's definitely a mover and shaker and knows how to get people involved. Let's let's talk about the line making process. How do you you know, kinda what are some of the steps and then what I'll I'll call them flavors.
Speaker 1:What flavors do you make and and how do you decide what they're gonna be?
Speaker 2:Well, we have, 30 at least 30 products on the menu right now. A lot a lot of balls to keep in the air. But, essentially, we start with raw materials. So on-site at the winery, we we grow 3 different varieties of of grapes, Seville Blanc, Sunbelt, which is kinda like Concord, and Catawba. And we are trying to make something exciting every time we Yeah.
Speaker 2:Every time we come up with a product. So we're really focusing on sparkling wine with those 3, varieties. So we'll do a dry champagne style with the the Saval and a fruity, sparkling with the sunbelt and the Catawba can do it all. It it goes into the blends. It goes into its own particular product.
Speaker 2:But then, you know, Moscato is a very popular word. Yeah. Chardonnay, Cabernet, all those varieties that people really recognize. And so when we source those raw materials, be it from, you know, Bill Sanderson's Vineyard, White Squirrel in West Tennessee, he grows Syrah, but we we tend to bring in dry red fruit or dry fruit for dry red wine from West Coast, juices out of New York. Essentially, though, we pick a product and we try to make the best end result we can.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. And and Clarksville is full of wine connoisseurs. Absolutely. There's no question.
Speaker 1:You can see wine bars popping up all over the place, and we'll get to you guys being downtown. But do you have, what's your best sellers?
Speaker 2:Well, we are in the sweet tea belt Yeah. The nation. So we we really do sell a lot of sweet wine, and that's great. You
Speaker 1:know? Yeah.
Speaker 2:We enjoy those products, and, we want the people that come to the door to enjoy the things that we offer. So, Golden Rose, sweet Concord. It's our number 1 product. Peach and blackberry, hot on its heels, the the muscadines that we talked about. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I I know a lot of people seem to like the the fruity flavors.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Luckily, we're kind of in an area where I see Clarksville is a little bit of a melting pot. We have the military here and, you know, a university and stuff like that, and people that are working in Nashville live in Clarksville. And so I see that we have a lot of, we have a very large palate that we're trying to appease to here. So, yeah, the sweet wines are our bestsellers.
Speaker 3:Those are the ones that are really, you know, kinda keeping the doors open. That's the ones that are really moving. But, we do have a market for, drier wines and people who who kinda want a drier product. So that's where those Yeah. You know, Chardonnay, Cab, things like that are gonna come into play.
Speaker 3:And they may not move as fast as the Golden Rose, the peach, and the blackberry, those fruitier flavors. But the area, in general, I think we have we have a very large palate here. And so we we kind of have something for everybody, which is something I think, you know, sets us apart a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I've I've been out to and let's talk about your your locations here in town. I've been out to the, the winery itself to some a wine tasting and then to some, private events and, stuff like that. Talk to us about what people can do or how they can set up a wine tasting or how they can visit the winery and then your location downtown.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So at the Vineyard, so now we have 2 locations, obviously. So we have downtown, and then we've been kind of referring to our main location as The Vineyard. So over at the Vineyard is where we do our wine tastings. So those are just walk in based.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:People can walk in. They can walk right up to the bar and do a wine tasting. We do also have like vineyard and production tours.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that includes a tour of the property and then also a tasting and that we do request that people call us ahead of time, just for the best kind of experience. It's it's, you know, we're really busy on the weekends, and that's typically when people wanna come out. So we do ask that people call ahead of time and let us know how many people they're bringing. But then we also do wine flights. We also sell by the glass and by the bottle.
Speaker 3:So we have a very large picnic area that people can get a wine flight, get a glass of wine. We also do wine slushies. Those are, you know, a big thing. So people can go and enjoy our picnic area, while also, you know, just sharing a glass of wine with some friends. And then we are about to get into our kind of summer season where we're gonna have live music and we have trucks.
Speaker 3:So that's another additive for the Vineyard. So this time of year, that's really gonna kind of amp up. But then as far as our downtown area, we don't do like the wine tastings. The space is a little bit smaller. It's more of a laid back kind of experience.
Speaker 3:So you can come in and, get you a wine flight, a glass of wine, or a bottle. We also have the wine slushies down there. We have mimosas and, some other kind of specialty drinks that we do there. And then we do live music every Friday Saturday night. So it's a little bit more of a laid back, just going and relaxing and
Speaker 2:sharing
Speaker 3:a glass with a friend. But that's all walk in kind of based. No reservation.
Speaker 1:So what what what drives you to open a a location in downtown Clarksville?
Speaker 3:Wilson, do you wanna I don't know. You can start and then.
Speaker 2:You know, I really I do like I like downtown. Yeah. I I grew up with with friends that live near downtown. We would go ride our bikes and just explore. Now that I'm an adult, I don't I feel like I spend 90% of my time between exits 8 and 8 and 4.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. But I I I do like downtown, and I wanna get downtown and help downtown expand. And, to be honest, this location, we'd been looking just soft looking around, and this location really just fell into our hand, but right across the street from the Roxy, we're on Franklin Street on the corner at 101. You know, I spent a lot of time in my, early years at the deli right next door Yes.
Speaker 2:Which I hope somebody can revamp that space. But Yeah. With what's going on downtown with the arena and the new hotel and just the the growth that we hope will come to downtown Clarksville, revamp it, and we wanna be part of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I I think what's what's happening downtown, a lot of people may not know it. But I I work down there as well, and the foot traffic has ex I mean, it's increased exponentially over the last 6 months to a year. You can just if you go down there almost any night of the week, there are people milling around all over the place.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We've, so, I mean, we obviously opened the downtown area and or downtown space in September. And so we kind of went into a weird season.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It was kind of starting to get colder and things like that. So we're really excited to see spring and summer, and kind of the foot traffic down there. But right now, we're just open on Friday, Saturday Sundays. We just kind of kept it as know, that's where we see the most traffic is on the weekends. Weekdays is typically, you know, a little bit slower.
Speaker 3:So we're really excited to see kind of what spring and summer brings as far as foot traffic. But, we're just happy to be down there. And, you know, we're really thankful for the spot that we got there on the corner. It's a great little space. I mean, it's big enough for what we kinda wanted it to be, but we definitely see downtown building up.
Speaker 3:And a lot of those buildings down there that are running down or can't keep people in them are you're starting to see business Yeah. Actually being able to survive. And, you know, the parking is about to get a lot better down there with that parking garage coming up. And so I think, our downtown area is really gonna, you know, expand in the next couple years, and we kinda wanted to get in there on the front end
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And, you know, establish ourselves down there and just kind of create a different you know, a a second footprint here in Clarksville. I mean, we already, you know, love the community. And so just by creating a later night space, for our customers to also enjoy was kind of a big thing for us because we closed a little bit earlier over at the main vineyard. So having that second space is, you know, kinda extends our hours.
Speaker 1:And and I know you you talked about downtown being, you know, you walk in, you can, you know, listen to your music and have some drinks or whatever. But do you do you rent out either or both of those places for private events or corporate events?
Speaker 3:We do. So, typically, we don't rent our spaces out on the weekends just because we're doing our own thing on the weekends. We have our own live music, going on, and that's just kind of like our increased traffic. But downtown, specifically, that space, I'm happy to rent it out Monday through Thursday,
Speaker 1:anything you want. I gotcha. I gotcha.
Speaker 3:Because we're not open down there those days. And so we've done a couple different events for people, you know, meetings or different things like that where they just wanna do, like, a weeknight.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But then I'm I'm also renting the space out on Sunday mornings for bridal showers, baby showers, things like that. You know, kind of a brunch style, kind of shower, or tea that people wanna do. So there's, like, a 2 hour block. We open up at noon, down there, on Sundays. And so, you know, from 10 to noon, that's a perfect little time for a little 2 hour kind of event.
Speaker 3:So we we have rented to some a couple people for that. Out at the main winery, we don't typically rent out our indoor space just because we are a production facility. You, you know, are in use of a lot of our indoor space, especially during the week. And then we utilize those indoor spaces that we do have available for customers, for the people that are just kind of coming in and doing tasting. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But we do rent out the picnic area. So that is something that people are welcome to do. Again, weekends are really hard, if you're wanting a weekend event just because that's when we're having our own live music. That's when we have increased travelers and traffic coming through and tourists. And so we do a lot of, like, what people call a a hail and farewell.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And we do a lot of those. Those are typically on a Tuesday or Thursday night, and so that doesn't really, you know, impede into any of our events. And so definitely weekday nights, people can rent out our picnic area. They just have to give us a call, and we'll give them the details and kinda how it works.
Speaker 1:Well, what's cool about it is if if people have not been to a winery or have been to some, every one of them is a unique experience. Mhmm. So instead of just, you know, being in an indoor room, you could be outside and kinda get the vibe of seeing the grapevines and, you know, all the all the things you've guys got working out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think that's something that we, you know, we have a lot more outdoor space than we do indoor space. And so, you know, during those nice days in the summer months and stuff like that, that's when it's the best time to come out and see us. But, you know, one thing that we really pride ourselves on is just creating a good experience Yeah. For any travelers coming through.
Speaker 3:So even when the weather is bad, we try and really accommodate, you know, and and set up tables inside, some standing pub tables and things like that. We'll bring our live music inside. You know, if it rains, we can kind of, you know, pivot.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because we just wanna create a good experience for everybody and our customer service is kind of one of our number one things. I mean, great wine, I think, is is is number 1. Number 2 is customer service. Yeah. But, you know, we just want our customers to enjoy the place and feel like it's, you know, somewhere they can go regularly and feel at home, I guess.
Speaker 1:Alright, Abby. So what's your what's your favorite wine that you guys produce?
Speaker 3:That's gonna have to be Sparkling Jazz. That is Wilson's over there.
Speaker 1:Wilson's shaking his head. Figured so much.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a it's a kind of a staff favorite, I would say. But it is a sparkling, Gewurztraminer. Wilson can tell you a little bit more about it, but it's just a it's it's kind of a good daily drinker.
Speaker 3:You know, it's it's a it's, you know, champagne is something you typically drink when you wanna celebrate something. Jazz is something you can drink, celebrate just every day.
Speaker 1:Alright. Alright. Wilson's obviously got a different favorite.
Speaker 2:No. I don't. No. No. That's not true.
Speaker 2:So I I really do prefer the sparkling, the bubbly stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Like Abby said, you know, you can always celebrate with a a a glass of champagne, but on Sunday afternoon, I wanna fire the grill up, throw a strip on the on there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, I really do like our cabs and our Syrah or
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Merlot. You know? I think a lot of our wines really do complement food very well, and I try it's something I try to explore.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But, you know, they're all my children, so I can't Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I tell you, I've been to I've been out there a few times. And my favorite is that mixed slushie. And I don't know what's in it, but I know it's 2 different things. So what's in the slushie?
Speaker 3:So we change our slushie around a little bit. Uh-oh.
Speaker 1:So now I don't know what I like.
Speaker 3:I like the You don't know what you like. You don't know what you like. So every now and then, we'll, do
Speaker 2:kind of like a sangria style thing
Speaker 3:where we mix a couple of wines in there. So maybe that's what you had. But a lot of times, we use our Golden Rose. That's the Sunbelt and Concord
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Wine. They have us in sweet red. So we use that one a lot of the times. Our peach is a really good one. People really enjoy the peach slushie.
Speaker 3:Blackberry every now and then, we'll we'll throw in blackberry. It's pretty good, but, you know, we don't always do the blackberry. But something that we have just recently, kind of discovered is a frozen mimosa. Mimosa. There you go.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We were, you know, we're thinking about this summer getting, some of the local donut trucks and stuff to come out and work kind of on Saturday mornings. And so I was like, well, what can we do mimosa wise? It's kind of a fun thing. And I was like, well, we already did slushies, so let's do a frozen mimosa.
Speaker 3:So, we've kind of been playing around with, like, a Moscato slushie or a peach slushie and then throwing a little orange juice on there.
Speaker 2:It's delicious.
Speaker 3:It is really good.
Speaker 1:You're talking. He's smiling. Everybody's happy.
Speaker 3:Well, we've been having to sample we've had to sample it, you know,
Speaker 1:out there. We've had to.
Speaker 3:We've had to.
Speaker 1:We've had to sample it all day long.
Speaker 3:It's really unfortunate, but we've had to test it out. And I think we're all pretty happy with the with the product that came out of it. But our slushies are definitely a big thing in the spring and summer. And so, you know, it's never always the same thing. We're kind of switching it around a lot of time Yeah.
Speaker 3:Depending on, you know, kind of what we're feeling that day. Whoever mixes the slushy gets to choose the the flavor we're doing.
Speaker 1:That's funny. But Well, well, listen. I I appreciate y'all coming. And and really the important part is not not only your business, but your connection to the community and your willingness to help the community grow. And I know Louise has been a big big part of that and your entire family.
Speaker 1:So thank you all for coming and and kinda sharing your story, and and hopefully people will get out and check out Beach Haven winery.
Speaker 2:Cheers. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3:Yeah. All right. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you.