Celebrating a busy year; Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery had a breakout in 2014

Published 10:10 am Friday, December 26, 2014

Gary Vogt, who owns Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery with his wife, Vicky, talks about the new expansion to Four Daughters that includes about 9,000 square feet of new space. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Gary Vogt, who owns Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery with his wife, Vicky, talks about the new expansion to Four Daughters that includes about 9,000 square feet of new space. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

When Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery rings in the new year on Dec. 31, owners Vicky and Gary Vogt and their family will uncork the final bit of growth of a busy 2014.

Four Daughters will hold a New Year’s Eve dinner starting at 7 p.m. to celebrate and unveil its new 9,000-square-foot event center. The space has been a long time coming for the Vogts, since Four Daughters hasn’t been able to keep up with the requests to host weddings, parties and events.

“We were so busy,” Gary said. “There was a need for it.”

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The winery celebrated its three-year anniversary earlier this month. Since opening, it’s undergone a whirlwind of growth — especially in 2014 — and it’s now the state’s largest winery in terms of gallons of products. In June 2014, Four Daughters launched Sunflake Wines, a wholesale wine line, and it launched Loon Juice Hard Cider in August.

Bottles of Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery’s Loon Juice comes out of the label-maker.

Bottles of Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery’s Loon Juice comes out of the label-maker.

Work on the expansion started in May. The project, which roughly doubled the size of the winery, added the Barrel Room for events of up to 300 people and the Cocktail Lounge for events of up to 50 people, along with a VIP balcony overlooking the lounge. Events can rent out both rooms and the winery’s main room, all of which connect with large doors.

In the Barrel Room, wine barrels will line one side of the room, and a portable bar will be set up, along with several tables and chairs. They also added more storage space for tables, chairs and more.

All along the east side of the barrel room, several garage doors can be opened up to a patio running along the new addition and overlooking the vineyard.

“They’ll be able to touch the vines from the patio,” Gary said.

After opening, Gary said the family soon realized they had a big need for an event center.

“We were turning down a lot of big weddings and we were turning down a lot of winter weddings, because we couldn’t do them; same thing with corporate events,” Gary said.

Nick Smith boxes bottles of Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery’s Loon Juice.

Nick Smith boxes bottles of Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery’s Loon Juice.

Gary anticipates the event center being busy in the summer.

“We’ve got most of our Saturdays booked next summer already for weddings,” Gary said, noting they’re booking Sundays and Fridays now.

However, he expects it to be busy throughout much of the year, as they host Christmas parties and other events throughout the year.

The added space will also be used to help increase production at the winery.

“Our production area is going to open up again,” Gary said. “We’re so cramped for space right now.”

That’s important, as Four Daughters sent out its first 500 cases of Loon Juice Hard Cider in 22-ounce bottles last week after Loon Juice was released in 5-liter mini kegs. A couple hundred more cases were set to ship this weekend, and the Vogts have plans to debut cans soon too.

“The Loon Juice is taking off unbelievably well,” Gary said.

Vogt promises they’re not done. The winery has plans to expand in the future, likely for more products at some point, but most of the ideas are still in the brainstorming stage.

“The cider’s taking off, so we may need to look at expansion just for the cider,” Vogt said.

The expansion, Sunflake and Loon Juice are all things the Vogts envisioned when opening Four Daughters, just not this soon. Gary credited his staff, especially Executive Chef Erik Klevin and winemaker Justin Osborne, his son-in-law.

“We didn’t think it was going to happen quite this fast,” Gary said. “We have phenomenal chefs, and we have a wonderful winemaking staff.”

Four Daughters is a family business and it’s likely to stay that way.

“We wanted to build something that was not a hobby. I got enough hobbies; I don’t need another hobby,” Gary said. “We wanted something that was going to be something we could turn over to the daughters someday, but it has grown a little faster than we anticipated.”

Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery is hoping to complete it’s 9,000 foot expansion by New Year’s Eve.

Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery is hoping to complete it’s 9,000 foot expansion by New Year’s Eve.

The Vogts expect about 150 to 200 people at the New Year’s Eve event. The meal will feature more than five courses of unique Four Daughters dishes, and the Austin Big Band will also perform.

The event serves to showcase the winery’s expanding kitchen. A second kitchen was added for events, and the Vogts hires a tasting room chef and an event chef, to go with executive chef Erik Kleven, who was one of the Vogts’ first hires.

Four Daughters has expanded from about 12 employees to about 50, and Vogt said they could hire more people this summer.

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of it,” Kleven said. “Hopefully we keep expanding.”

The winery hosts Thursday night dinners throughout the year, and Vogt was proud to say they’ve never served the same meal twice.

“They walk away saying, ‘That was probably one of the best meals I ever had in my life,’” Vogt said. “And it’s just cool to hear people say that.”