Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Candice Plewik. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Candice, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

As far back as I can remember, I have visualized, and fantasized, about my future success. I distinctly remember playing with my Barbie dolls, imagining I was the main character in the dramatic story I was acting out. When I was Barbie, I was either a famous Hollywood actress, a New York City high fashion model, a big city architect, or just the overall “big boss” of a company.

What is success? To my 6-year-old self, success meant making lots of money, living in a mansion, and having an in-ground swimming pool. It was having cable television with hundreds of channels and having a personal chef. It was dressing in fancy clothes and driving a red sports car. At that age, success was accumulating “stuff.”

I was, and still am, a person filled with wonder, drive, and creativity. It’s no surprise I married my high school sweetheart, Chris. We have been together since 17 years old (we are both age 41 as of 2024), and he is equally as driven and full of dreams. It’s together we take this world by storm.

Until quite recently, I was living a comfortable, conventional life. My husband and I bought a beautiful house, which I was able to obtain due to working a very safe government job with great health benefits. Everything with my career was peachy keen . . . until it wasn’t. Although I had the highest salary of my adult career, had the luxury of disposable income, and was even putting money into retirement, I was miserable with my job. It was changing my personality and everything that made me, me. My creative side was buried deep within myself, I was always angry, and I found myself falling into a depression, which I had never experienced. I knew medication was not the answer. The answer was to make the change I needed – to clear the roadblocks of a wide-open, freedom-filled path.

A few years before I lived through the slow death of my government career, my husband and I were quietly building a business of our own.

In 2016, we moved from the suburbs to a rural, forested property with acreage. When we bought our home, we wanted to try our hand at farming. We knew we were now living on well-regarded Willamette Valley wine country soil. A few years later, we cleared about 17 trees, tilled the land, and planted 1 acre of Pinot Noir wine grapes. As this project was underway, we also wanted to try owning farm animals, so we adopted three baby goats. We named them after the ingredients in S’mores, since we love to go camping: the female goat is named Marshmallow (Melly for short), and the boys are Hershel (like Hershey chocolate) and Graham. Our goats are still living their best lives on our farm and are the icon of our wine brand, 3 Goats Vineyard.

Our original intention was to grow the grapes that winemakers would purchase to make wine. Soon after planting the vines, we discussed if we should at least try making wine with these grapes. So, we aligned ourselves with a mentor with over 2 decades of winemaking experience. After a few years of working harvests, and trying to make small batches of wine, we knew this was the life for us. It was hard, dirty work, and we loved it.

Since making our first wine in 2020, with just 50 cases of Chardonnay we sourced from a local vineyard, we are projected to craft 1,200 cases of wine from the 2024 harvest season. Our Pinot Noir wine grapes are sourced from our very own tiny vineyard, 3 Goats Vineyard. We source all of our other grapes from vineyards throughout Oregon and Washington, then haul those grapes back to the winery where we make the wines.

In 2023, we opened a small tasting room in downtown Forest Grove, Oregon. In 2024, we entered three wine varietals into the Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition, and all three wines placed, with our 2022 Syrah receiving a Silver medal, our 2023 Sauvignon Blanc receiving a Gold medal, and our 2023 Dry Riesling receiving a Double-Gold medal.

One of our biggest accomplishments as a business was creating a wine club, and we are still in awe that people want to join our club. It is fondly called “The Herd,” inspired by our 3 goats.

Our goats are so much more than a mascot to our brand. Our goats represent the hard work that got us here. The goat icon on our wine label represents the dreams we turned into reality, and the risks we took to get to where we are today.

What I have learned since being that little girl playing with her Barbies is that success is not loads of money, or a fancy Mercedes SUV. It’s not being famous or being surrounded by adoring fans. Success is when you set out a dream, and you reach your aim, or purpose, with an arrow that you worked at sharpening, which then cuts through the obstacles on the path that is only meant for YOU to walk down.

This is what I hope you take away from my experiences:

• If you have that entrepreneurial spirit, and the willingness to never give up, you really can succeed in your business.

• Your product, your service, your brand, whatever it is you are selling, is not EVERTHING. That may have been an older business model that once worked, but today, people buy into a CULTURE. Create an undeniable, distinct culture for your brand.

• If you’re willing to be told “no” a hundred times, and still press on, you can do it.

• If you go forward with a true, honest heart, you can do it.

• If you have a vision, and can drown out all that outside “noise,” you can do it.

• And if you’re extra lucky, and have a support system of people, or person who truly believes in you, then you will be on top of the world, while you achieve that success you desire.

One of the best investments you can make in your life is on yourself. If I never took a risk, I would not have a vineyard, a winery, a tasting room, and a future I’m so excited to wake up and plan each day.

Consider this a nudge from me to take the risk on that dream you’ve been fantasizing about. The first step is the hardest of all. You got this.

Sincerely,
Candice Plewik
Owner, 3 Goats Vineyard

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Candice Plewik. I was born and raised in Sacramento, California. My mother is originally from a small town outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and my father was from Angeles City, Philippines (he is now deceased). The story of how my parents came to California could be a movie. If it were not for my parents taking a risk, my siblings and I would not be here today. Perhaps that is where I get my grit, entrepreneurial spirit, and sense of “dreaming big.”

A major part of me, is my husband. He is my best friend and the love of my life – we have been together since high school. Creating a business together was not something I worried about, as we are equally driven and make calculated decisions each step of the way. It also helps when you find someone who shares the same passion and vision for the future.

In 2016, my husband and I purchased acreage in the hills of Gaston, Oregon. It was not so much the home on the property that drew us in, but the view, the land, and the country setting, which differed from our many years of city life.

We knew we wanted to try our hand at farming but were unsure of what kind of crop to grow. We knew our region of Oregon is what is known as the gateway to wine country, so we had our soil tested in a lab, and the results indicated we were living on prime soil for planting wine grapes. We cleared an acre of the forest on our property, and my husband planted Pinot Noir grapes by hand.

As this project was underway, we were given the opportunity to adopt three baby Nigerian Dwarf goats. Knowing how much we adored goats, as we could relate to their natural goofy and playful personality, we jumped at the opportunity to embrace this new farm life head-on and raised these goats as we were becoming one with our land.

If our grapes would take root successfully and grow, our original plan was to just sell the grapes to local winemakers. Wondering what it really took to make wine, we aligned ourselves with a local winemaker who had over two decades of winemaking and immersed ourselves in a world of hands-on experience.

It was at his winery we volunteered for years to learn the process. He showed us how to make wine every step of the way, from sourcing grapes, to coordinating the delivery to the winery, to sorting the fruit before it is destemmed, to understanding the steps in the fermentation process, to pressing the grapes for juice to be racked for the aging process, to understanding the differences in making red versus white wines, to bottling and distribution. What we took away is 95% of winemaking is cleaning. There is no glamor in winemaking – it is dirty, it is labor-intensive, the days are very long, and you will clean like you have never cleaned before. Because we are gluttons for punishment, we were sold immediately on this life!

When we created our brand, 3 Goats Vineyard, we wanted a name that had meaning. Our 3 goats, named Marshmallow, Graham, and Hershel (inspired by S’mores), represent our hard work which got us where we are today. These goats, who are now 7 years old, represent our journey into farming, entrepreneurship, winemaking, and taking big risks. They also represent joy, love, and being connected to our land.

In 2020, we made our first wine – 50 cases of Chardonnay. We slowly grew our wine library, and not having an avenue to sell the wine, we embraced social media. We did not have social media accounts of our own, so it was trial by fire starting an Instagram account to advertise 3 Goats Vineyard. We slowly grew a following, and people were sending us orders via Instagram Direct Messages, emails, and text messages. We spent a few years driving all over, hand delivering bottles of wine to customers. It was not efficient nor cost effective, but it did get our name out there. By 2022, we had sold wine at a few pop-up events and were often getting asked by customers if we had a wine tasting room.

In the Fall of 2023, we opened our tiny tasting room in downtown Forest Grove, Oregon. The community has since embraced us, and we get many customers who are tourists, some from Oregon, some from out-of-state. It is surreal that we have become a stop in some folks’ wine tasting tours.

As our brand grew from direct-to-consumer, to having a brick-and-mortar, we wanted to create a place that was special. Our tasting room is a cozy 420 square feet, and it is full of warmth, heart, and fun.

This storefront has carried our brand into the next level of exposure. It is our vessel which represents our culture we see for our brand. We are more than just wine – we strive to share a lifestyle.

First, our motto is “approachable luxury.” We make wine that is very drinkable soon after bottling and does not need to be aged to enjoy. We make wine from grapes that are not traditionally grown in our region, which is why we source grapes from vineyards throughout the Pacific Northwest to bring variety to our valley. Our wines are clean, filtered, temperature-controlled, and can certainly age in bottle because of this winemaking style.

We created an atmosphere in our tasting room that feels luxurious, but we, as the owners, wear jeans and sneakers. Our culture is not pretentious. It is not an exclusive environment; it is a welcoming environment for all. We also implemented a uniquely formatted wine club that is so unlike most winery clubs that it is taking the wine scene by storm – we have even been approached by other businesses to ask if they could use our model.

Our shop is not stuffy or intimidating, which is often the reputation of the wine scene. Our customers are an array of the population: blue-collar workers, first-time wine drinkers, wealthy couples, and tourists from all over. What really sets us apart is the age demographic of our average consumer. Most wine consumers in the United States are over the age of 50. At 3 Goats Vineyard, the average consumer is in their 30s. We are so proud of this fact, as we feel we are introducing the younger generations to the art of this beverage and strive to make it fun and educational.

When you consume a bottle of 3 Goats wine, whether it be at home, in our tasting room, or with a gathering of friends, you are a part of a culture of positivity, of believing in big dreams, and treating yourself to the good things in life, because you deserve it.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When I first started my business’s social media accounts, I studied what others in my industry were already doing. Think about these questions when building your social media presence: What kind of content are others posting? How often are they posting? What level of detail is being put into the caption of the post? Do everyone’s posts look the same, or are there any “outsiders” in your industry who dare to post content that is outside of the box? When these industry models you are researching post content, how many “likes” and interactions are they getting with their followers?

Everyone who has a business social media account is either managing it themselves or are fortunate enough to hire someone to manage it. My business, 3 Goats Vineyard, is currently a two-person operation doing everything – it is myself and my husband. I assure you, my business’s social media is not perfect, but we are steadily growing in followers, and most important of all, these followers interact with us. A good portion of the followers are customers. The other portion are industry partners in some capacity or are businesses or brands we look up to and admire.

We are at a time where most everyone, worldwide, has a smart phone, and at any given time throughout the day, a person is on social media. It is essential that your brand has a social media presence. We would not have gotten to the point in our business today if it was not for social media. It is free, and it could quite possibly be one of the most valuable tools you can use for your business.

When I first started our social media presence, it was a slow growth. I came into it with the mindset of “slow and steady” and it was not a race to grow the business or be “popular” immediately. If you want your business to have longevity and to be taken seriously, I believe you should post content only if it is for a campaign to advertise something specifically, or to tell the story of what is going on behind-the-scenes of your brand.

For my business, which is winemaking, farming a vineyard, and running a tasting room, I am either posting about the events we are attending where we pour wine, or advertising a fun event we are hosting at our tasting room, or advertising the new release of a wine, or posting about how our goats are doing. In between actual posts, we post Instagram Stories, which are highly popular right now, as they feed into the modern instant gratification culture of today’s society where the attention span is much shorter than it used to be. Our “stories” are much more casual and less polished. They show us working during harvest, getting dirty during winemaking, show people drinking our wine and having fun at our tasting room, or display the newest wine tasting flight for the month. It is quite literally “instant gratification” content.

Most importantly, do not focus on how perfect your social media aesthetic presents itself. Gone are the days people want to see perfect lives, perfectly wrinkle-free faces, and staged photos. Allow yourself to be truly authentic – post the imperfections, the candid photos, the moments that show genuine human interactions. We are in a new era of authenticity and storytelling. When people buy our wine, they genuinely like the wine but they are buying in to the story of the brand. People want to connect more than ever.

I recommend not posting on social media just for the sake of posting. Posts should have intention and meaning, otherwise, your brand can easily drown in a sea of endless social media “noise.”

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Authenticity. As described in the previous question’s answer, social media today is about telling a story and being your actual self. It is quite refreshing to be a business in the era of people embracing imperfection, rawness, and vulnerability.

As I built my brand’s social media presence, I took advice from a well-regarded graphic designer and painter, who challenged me to streamline my social media’s overall aesthetic. Part of brand identity is creating a consistent look and feel representative of how you want your brand to be interpreted by the human experience. Do you want to be seen as modern and fun? Consider posting content that has bright colors with people laughing and being carefree. Do you want a timeless product? Consider posting content that has muted colors and shows a feeling of quiet elegance accompanied by more traditional captions. Know who your market is, but don’t forget to inject your personality into your brand, because that is what makes you, YOU. It is a balancing act and know that this process will take time to perfect. I am still learning every day and I still have many other brands I will always look up to.

Since day one, my husband and I have never changed who we are. What you see on our website, on social media, at our tasting room, and at meetings with business partners is exactly who we are. As a small business owner, I have come to accept I AM the brand. When you are starting your small business, you will have to get comfortable with the fact you will be your own brand ambassador, so get ready to talk about your product like it is your life force!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.3goats.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3goatsvineyard
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3GoatsVineyard
• Other: Google Reviews: https://g.page/r/CULPRakbpq77EAE/review

Image Credits

3 Goats Vineyard, Nick Trombetta (@bambamitaliano)