We recently connected with Christy Fuller-Flyntz and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christy, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

We named our winery White Tail Run Winery due to the damage from deer the first year we planted our grape vines. That first year (2003) was a rough one due to the deer eating the vines down to the ground. We built an 8′ fence around the vineyard that keeps the deer out. Now the only pests our vineyard dogs (Cabby and Merlot) keep out of the vineyard are turkey and raccoons. The damage from the deer caused our first grape harvest to be 2 years behind schedule. There were a lot of times we asked ourselves why we wanted to do this but we persevered and had our first harvest in 2008.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are a multi-generational vineyard and farm winery. My Dad, Dan Sr., has lived on the property for 45 years and growing up we raised cattle and pigs. Eventually Dad sold the livestock as he could not handle the animals on his own and work full time for the United States Post Office. Once he retired in 2002 he got bored pretty quickly and asked my brother, Dan Jr., and I to help him start the vineyard in 2003. Due to deer damage we did not get our first harvest until 2008 which is when the economy went into a recession which in turn dropped the prices for grapes we were selling to other wineries. That first harvest year was hard because at that point we had five years wrapped up in the vineyard without any money coming in. So that is when we discussed starting our own winery. Dad made our Semi-sweet Seyval wine and entered into an amateur competition in which he won a bronze medal. After the success of that first competition we decided to turn our dream into a reality and started producing our own wines in 2010. Here we are 12 years later making award winning wines from Kansas grown grapes. We currently craft 20 different styles of wine on site from grapes that we grow or purchase from other Kansas vineyards. My brother’s children as well as my daughter spend their summers in the vineyard helping us with the pruning and general upkeep as well as tending their own gardens in which they grow produce to sell at the different farmers’ markets we attend. It is our goal to instill a love of the land in our children as well as educating customers about the Kansas wine industry.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best way for us to get in front of new customers is attending wine festivals and farmers markets. In the beginning we never said no to a wine festival, liquor store tasting, or any other kind of special event. Some people are prejudiced against local wines. I have heard customers say numerous times that Kansas wines are too sweet. We have made changing their minds one of our major goals. The one way to get customers to reconsider is by having them sample our award winning wines and 90% of the time it works.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Our advice is to be real with your customers. Share a little about yourself so your customer base feels like they know you personally. Also, I don’t always post about the winery/vineyard. Sometimes I post videos/pictures of my daughter, niece, and nephews discussing their gardens, other times I will post a funny meme or joke. If the only info you post is about what you are selling I think customers become almost blind to your content. When you mix it up with a personal post or a funny joke customers tend to pay attention to you more than normal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whitetailrunwinery.com
• Instagram: @whitetailrunwinery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitetailrunwinery
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/white-tail-run-winery-edgerton-2?osq=White+Tail+Run+Winery

Image Credits
TBL Photography