{"id":34535,"date":"2024-11-04T10:33:39","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=34535"},"modified":"2024-11-14T15:59:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T20:59:15","slug":"a-blend-of-art-and-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/a-blend-of-art-and-science\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blend of Art and Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shawn and John Kennington used to play a question game with their children.<\/p>\n

If you could open your own business, what would it be, and why?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you had a million dollars you couldn\u2019t spend on yourself, what would you spend it on, and why?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could take one thing to the moon,<\/span> what would you take, and why?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, they already knew the follow-up when they asked themselves a question: If we opened a winery in South Carolina, what would it be like, and why?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

A sign welcomes people to Kennington Family Winery in Marietta, SC. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kennington Family Winery in Marietta, South Carolina, exists to bring exquisite wines to the Upstate and to create a place where guests linger until they become family.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese two things became our true north,\u201d says Shawn Kennington \u201986. She and her husband, John, wanted a place where people \u201ccould just sit and drink a beautiful glass of wine, breathe in some mountain air and relax a little more deeply.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennington has spent her professional life in the biotech industry and is no stranger to fermentation, sterile conditions and glass containers. With that background, the winery doesn\u2019t feel like such a leap.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWinemaking is this wonderful blend of science and artistry,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been about five years since the Kenningtons began to think about the next phase of their life. She considered everything from consulting to pharmacology. But in the summer of 2019, the couple attended a series of unrelated events at different wineries. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI started looking around, going, \u2018This looks like fun, this looks like something we could do,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

The Kennington Family Winery seal on barrels in the winery. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

FORMATIVE YEARS<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Kennington came to the university as a 16-year-old freshman. \u201cFurman is where I fell in love with science,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She planned to major in chemistry, but organic chemistry her sophomore year almost changed her mind. Professor Don Kubler was \u201cso mean, so hard, I was leaving chemistry and I was going to go into history,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She ranted to her parents; they advised her to talk to Kubler.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only did she make it through organic chemistry, she also didn\u2019t change her major<\/span> and she ended up working for Kubler as a research assistant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very much a formative summer,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When it was time for grad school, she leaned on Kubler\u2019s advice: \u201cWhere you\u2019re happy, you\u2019ll be able to do great science,\u201d he told her. \u201cBut you\u2019ll never do great science if you\u2019re not happy.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It ended up being good advice both academically and personally \u2013 Kennington met her husband John on her first day at the University of Virginia.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Decades later, when looking for land for the winery, they knew they wanted to be close to \u201cKubler Mountain,\u201d the couple\u2019s fond name for the part of South Carolina where the professor had lived.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Kubler did more to shape me as a scientist (than anyone else) and for that I am, and always will be, very, very grateful to him and to Furman,\u201d Kennington says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

A view of the Kennington Family Winery from the gardens. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

CREATING DIRECTION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

After completing her doctoral degree, Kennington worked briefly for a small biotech company in Washington, D.C., then joined Eli Lilly in 1992. (Her husband, who was doing postdoctoral work at the time, joined the company two years later.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s worked for the company in numerous roles related to drug metabolism and drug development. Most of the positions have been in leadership, a word she prefers to \u201cthe dreaded management title.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cManagers oversee tasks and leaders create direction,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s currently senior vice president for research and global regulatory affairs, but she\u2019s also beginning to write her second chapter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020, she and her husband purchased the property that would become the winery. It\u2019s situated between Greenville and Hendersonville, North Carolina, just far enough from either city to encourage people to take their time when they visit.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction began in 2021, and the winery opened in the spring of 2022.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s meant to feel like a little bit of Tuscany, plopped here in the middle of South Carolina,\u201d says Kennington, who loves to take Eli Lilly conference calls on the winery patio on the days it\u2019s closed.<\/span><\/p>\n

EXPLORING IDEAS<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The winery\u2019s first offerings were purchased <\/span>in bulk from a few select winemakers and <\/span>bottled on-site. Since then, team members have begun to work their way backward in the process, creating custom blends and aging them in their own barrels.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done everything but grow the grapes,\u201d Kennington says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Kennington Family Winery in Marietta, S.C., serves multiple varieties of wine. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

That part\u2019s coming, though. They\u2019ve <\/span>planted a small vineyard and plan to add more vines each year.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s constantly exploring and trying things,\u201d <\/span>she says. \u201cSome work well and some not so well. <\/span>You learn from the successes and you learn from the failures. As long as we approach this with curiosity, it\u2019s always good.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a wine club up and running. And <\/span>wine slushies were such a hit that the 1.5-liter machine they bought first was quickly replaced with a commercial-sized one.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennington looks into the future and imagines a gazebo, trails, an archery course. She had the vision to partner with Furman to create a private-label cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc that will be ready for release in the fall of 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a scientist means you\u2019re looking <\/span>for something,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like an explorer, <\/span>in a different way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MOMENTS OF JOY<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Kennington did not come to the job of winery owner with hospitality experience. <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m a chemist,\u201d she says, laughing.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But she has traveled the world for work. <\/span>\u201cI know what good looks like, I know what bad looks like,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She and John have two sons and a daughter. <\/span>One son, their daughter and their son-in-law all work at the winery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody brings ideas to the table and everybody brings vastly different skills,\u201d she says. <\/span>\u201cI am so blessed to watch these folks grow and learn, just watch them become.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She recalls a recent moment when she stood in the shadows and watched her son Phillip, the winery\u2019s general manager, host a wine club dinner, while her son-in-law, Curtis Midkirk, assistant tasting room manager and leader of wine production, talked about the bottles being poured that night. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTears (were) just flowing down my face because I was so doggone proud of them,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only time the gift of this place has made her cry. The evening of the grand opening, a band played, and she watched an elderly couple dance at the back of the lawn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, I\u2019m an old, sappy romantic,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought, \u2018That\u2019s what this is all about. They are in the middle of the lawn, dancing. That is joy. That is peace.\u2019 Every time I see those moments of joy, they stop me in my tracks.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family winery uses science background to produce works of fermented art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":34501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3055,3056,1963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2024","category-features-fall-2024","category-furman-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34535"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35266,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34535\/revisions\/35266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}