Smith Business to Watch For:
Far Eastern Shore Winery
Tien-Seng Chiu EMBA ’10 and his wife Tara had been fermenting wine for years,
giving their home brew as gifts to family and friends. At their wedding, they
served their own wine to bring a personal touch and save money.
“I had guests at the wedding coming up to me and saying, ‘I don’t even like
wine and I like your wine,’ Tien-Seng Chiu said. “I thought they were being nice
at first, but when friends of friends came calling for our wine, I knew we had a
good thing going.”
But state law states that households may only make 200 gallons of wine per
year, so they had to make a decision: Abandon the wine business, or expand to
meet the growing demand. The Chius applied for a license, and Far Eastern Shore
Winery was born.
Rather than produce typical wines such as Rieslings, merlots and cabernets,
Far Eastern Shore Winery pairs grapes with other fruits such as white
cranberries, peaches, apricots, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries or
pomegranates.
“We did it because there’s a zillion and half Chardonnays already — it’s
really hard to compete against California,” Chiu said. “They do it really well.”
Instead of growing grapes, Chiu purchases juices to make his wines, which
allows the couple to run their business from their Easton, Md., home. Far
Eastern Shore Winery is selling wine in 103 locations across Maryland and
participates in about 25 wine festivals. While it isn’t selling online quite
yet, the Chius hope to expand to that market in the near future.
With each day bringing new challenges for Chiu, the
engineer-turned-entrepreneur says he’s glad to have participated in Smith’s EMBA
program.
“It gave me a really good introduction into a lot of the things I use
day-to-day in my business,” he said. “The whole program was great. I really I
liked the mastery sessions and the executive coaching.”
His wine recommendation: The Autumn Swan Blanc: Made with white cranberry
juice and a Pinot Gris base, this wine is good with Thanksgiving dinner and
pumpkin pie.
By Jessica Smith