So German!
Mar 14, 2019 - SoGerman Team
If you ever have the chance to fly first class with Lufthansa, you will have the opportunity to sample wines from the Hans Wirsching Winery. The Pope and the American President have also been among their many high-profile clients. The Franconian winery has been making wines for 389 years and its vineyard occupies a picturesque area of almost 200 acres. Andrea Wirsching is the 13th generation managing director of the Hans Wirsching Winery. This February, she gave a talk at the Telfer School of Management at the Univerity of Ottawa on how to manage a multigenerational family business. SoGerman had a chance to speak to Andrea Wirsching ahead of her talk at the University of Ottawa.
For Andrea, it was not always clear that she would join the family business. After she graduated from high school, she did not see her future in the family business, she pursued a degree in history instead. It would be twenty years before she joined the family business. In our conversation, she reflects on the rewards and challenges that come with a family wine business! To hear the full English language interview with Andrea Wirsching click on the youtube video above.
In Summary
In the wine business, Andrea says, you have to be flexible and take a chance when an opportunity presents itself. She also says that you need to listen to your gut feeling as things often happen differently than planned. She also shares that balancing the professional and emotional aspects can present quite the challenge. Hierarchies can be hard when your supervisor is your sister or your father.
The Wirsching winery started making kosher wines in 2016. Having close ties to Israel and participating in the German-Israeli partnership program „Twin Wineries”, the Wirsching winery decided to begin making kosher wines for the German market. Producing kosher wine requires discipline – strict rules must be adhered to. A rabbi has to observe the entire winemaking process. The reward: Kosher wines are very rare in Germany, thus the Hans Wirsching Winery is finding new markets at home and abroad, such as the US.
On her trip to Canada, she notes that Canada is known as a world-class producer of ice wines, the abundance of space, the quality of life and the very easy going Canadians as highlights. “I should have come much earlier”, she says.
Listen to your gut feeling as things often come differently than planned.
