How do you prepare a successor to lead a family winery?

To prepare a successor to lead a family winery, give them years, not months, in front of the people who carry the brand: the winemaker and vineyard team, the distributors and the guests in the tasting room. The founder is often the face and the name on the label. The successor’s task is to become a credible voice for the wine without pretending to be the founder.

General advice on preparing a child to take over is covered in how to prepare your child to take over the family business. This article is about what is different in a winery.

Why is a winery different from other family businesses?

Because the product is personal and slow. In many family wineries, the founder planted the first vines, chose the style and has told the story at every dinner, trade tasting and wine club event for decades. Buyers and critics may associate the wine with one person’s palate and judgement.

Time works differently too. A decision made in the vineyard can shape the wine for years, and some wines are released long after the grapes were picked. A successor who is judged on one harvest is being judged on a fraction of the work. Founders and successors both need to remember that, and so does the team.

What does it mean when the founder is the name on the label?

It means the brand and the person are tied together, sometimes literally. That has advantages: a ready-made story, loyal customers, a reputation that opens doors. It also creates a comparison in every room.

A successor can handle this in two ways. They can try to become a copy of the founder, which rarely convinces anyone. Or they can tell the founding story honestly and then add their own chapter: what they are keeping, what they are changing and why. Our article on the founder’s legacy without the shadow covers this in more detail.

• Learn the story properly. Dates, decisions, the vintages that mattered and why. Guests and buyers notice when it is recited rather than known.
• Earn a view on the wine. The successor does not need to be the winemaker, but they need an opinion they can defend in a tasting.
• Say what you will protect. Long-standing customers want to hear first what will not change.

How do distributors fit in?

In most of the United States, wine reaches shops and restaurants through what is usually called the three-tier system: producers, wholesalers or distributors, and retailers. Maryland’s Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis Commission describes it plainly: each tier has a distinct role and must operate separately, with manufacturers supplying licensed wholesalers and retailers buying from them. The details vary a great deal from state to state, including what a winery may sell directly, so check the rules in each state you sell into with your own counsel.

For a successor, the practical point is that distributors are a relationship, not just a channel. A distributor carries many brands, and their sales team chooses, every week, which ones to talk about. Founders often hold those relationships personally: they know the owner, they ride along with sales reps, they show up at trade events.

• Travel with the founder to key markets. Ride-alongs, distributor meetings, trade tastings. The introduction matters most while the founder is still active.
• Own the conversation about priorities. Distributors want to know which wines the winery is backing and why. The successor should be the one who answers.
• Learn the numbers distributors care about. Depletions, pricing, programmes and support. Credibility here comes from fluency, not charm.

The broader pattern is covered in winning over stakeholders loyal to the founder.

Do permits care about a change in ownership?

Yes, and this is worth knowing early. At the federal level, wineries operate under a basic permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. TTB’s guidance on change in proprietorship or control says that changes in stock or LLC membership ownership, and possibly major changes in officers or directors, can amount to a change in control, and that the basic permit automatically terminates unless an application is filed within 30 days of the change.

State licences have their own rules. None of this is a reason to delay a handover, but the timing of share transfers should be planned with the winery’s lawyer, not discovered afterwards.

How does a successor lead the cellar and the vineyard?

Winemakers and vineyard managers are skilled specialists, and many have worked beside the founder for years. They may see the successor as someone who grew up around the winery rather than someone who knows wine.

The successor earns standing here by respecting the craft and being clear about what they decide and what they leave to the experts. They should be present at harvest, at blending and at the moments where the style of the wine is set, asking good questions and learning the reasoning. Decisions about the business, such as pricing, investment, markets and people, are theirs to lead. Decisions about the wine itself are usually shared, and saying so openly avoids confusion.

What about the tasting room and guests?

For many family wineries, the tasting room, wine club and events are an important part of the business, and the place where most guests meet the family. The founder may be a familiar presence there, greeting regulars by name.

This is also one of the best places for a successor to build standing. Guests respond to someone who can tell the story well, answer questions about the wine and make them feel welcome. Staff notice how the successor treats a difficult guest on a busy Saturday. Leading hospitality staff, who are often seasonal and younger, is a different skill from leading the cellar, and both are needed.

What should the founder do?

• Introduce the successor as the person who decides. Not as the son or daughter who will one day take over.
• Hand over named decisions. Pricing, distributor priorities, hospitality, hiring. Say which, and when. Our article on handing over decisions, not just the title explains why.
• Stay in the story, not in every room. The founder can remain part of the brand while letting the successor speak for the business.
• Be patient with the vintages. Judge the successor on decisions and how they make them, not on one difficult year.

In short

• In a family winery, the founder is often the face of the brand. The successor needs their own credible voice, not an imitation.
• Distributors are relationships the successor must earn personally, with the founder’s introduction while it still counts.
• Ownership changes can affect federal and state permits, so plan the timing with the winery’s lawyer.
• The cellar, the vineyard and the tasting room each test the successor differently.
• Long vintages call for patience: judge the successor’s decisions, not a single harvest.

Preparing a successor to speak for the wine and the business, from the distributor meeting to the tasting room, is the work of the Second Chair™ method.