Sylvania Area Chamber of Commerce Welcoming Committee members and Sylvania Town Crier Mike Lieber were on hand July 29 with business owners Vera Wiskochil and her son-in-law Jonathan Pilles to celebrate the official opening of their custom winery, Vine2Wine, in the Panera Plaza, 7105 Central Ave.
“This is a great location for our business,” Wiskochil noted. “When Jonathan and I decided to buy this business, I knew I wanted it to be in Sylvania Township,” she said. Wiskochil negotiated the lease for the space with Terry DeClerq of Miller Diversified Commercial Realty, who represents the retail center owner.
“I discovered Vine2Wine six years ago when my accountant invited me to visit the shop outside of Detroit. Once I tried the wine I became a regular customer. In fact, my daughter Brooke and her husband, Jonathan, also became regular customers as well,” she said.
“Not only is the wine very good, it has fewer preservatives and sulfites and it is very affordable. I am a Realtor and have always given wine as a closing gift to my clients and I was delighted to discover Vine2Wine. It was quite a blow when we learned the owner was going to retire last year. Jonathan shared my dismay and after some thought suggested we buy the business,” Wiskochil remembered.
“Vera is an excellent business woman and I am a chemical engineer. She has business and marketing experience and I can make things. We decided this could work well. I spent six months in training learning how to make wine and about the business with the former owner,” Pilles explained.
According to Pilles, patrons can order a batch of their favorite wine after sampling any number of the 27 available wines. From there, Pilles orders the correct juice, grape skins, and supplies for that batch from the appropriate vineyard and supplier, which he combines in the mixing room. Six to eight weeks later, the order is ready and the patron is invited to be part of the bottling process.
“This is the exciting part of wine making,” Pilles stated. Patrons can invite family and or friends to have the hands-on experience of bottling, corking and labeling their 30 bottles of wine. “This is an opportunity to enjoy family and friends, have a fun time, drink some good wine and enjoy whatever snacks or food you wish to bring, while bottling your batch of wine.”
“Customers may also split a batch of the same kind of wine with another,” Pilles said. “We offer our standard labels as part of the batch price but we can also customize labels for an additional charge.”
Hours for wine tasting are Tuesday through Friday from 11 am to 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. In addition, private wine tasting parties are available along with special wedding packages.