NEWBERRY — Taste some wine and make a friend. That’s the philosophy behind Proverbs 31 Winery, located at 553 Hillbrook Lane in Newberry.
Owners Peggy and Martin Cwiakala are excited to begin sharing their unique flavors of wine with the community.
The Cwiakalas were living in New Jersey when they moved into a subdivision in the Irmo area.
While they liked the area, Peggy said she got the idea for a winery, but in that area, they would have had to buy commercial property at $50,000 an acre and there were not really any settings where they could also live on site.
“We looked at about 100 properties, some haunted, some incredibly expensive,” Cwiakala said. “Then I found this place.”
Cwiakala said she and her husband agreed to the property in Newberry instantly so they bought it.
The property had to be purchased Cwiakala said before the building can be built that allowed them to apply for the federal permit for the winery.
Newberry allowed them to take the property as R2 property and as a crop-brewing winery so they currently have honeysuckle and flowers that they play with for their flavors.
The name for the winery, Cwiakala said just came to her. Unhappy with the night hours at her previous job, Cwiakala said while she worked for a perfectly nice college and loved her students, she could not get taken off the night shift and wanted to spend more time at home with her husband.
“My husband gave me a Bible I was reading it in the car and turned to Proverbs 31,” Cwiakala said. “The verse read, she considers a field and she buys it, and with her earnings she builds a vineyard. I thought, there you go, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Around the Christmas holiday in 2011, Cwiakala said she announced to her family that she was going to start a winery to which her husband replied, “OK, you go right ahead.”
Cwiakala said it wasn’t long before they were crafting recipes and playing with fruit.
Both Cwiakala and her husband are full-time teachers, but enjoy having the winery in their free time. Peggy works at Newberry Elementary School as a librarian and Martin in Chapin at the Center for Advanced Technical Studies.
Experimental flavors
The Cwiakala’s did not come from wine people, they said, but rather 20 years of never drinking alcohol.
Peggy said she had previous family history of alcohol problems and therefore elected not to drink. After coming down with cancer, the Cwiakala’s discovered that red wine would help aid in that fight allowing the medicine she was taking to be less dramatic.
“I started drinking red wine with a purpose,” Peggy said.
After researching and looking up countries, origins and other information, Peggy said she had a PowerPoint that she could almost teach from about wines.
The two started experimenting with “Mr. Beer” kits as they were cheaper than wine kits. From the first batch of wine they made, Martin said they were hooked on making wine and the price was not such an issue anymore.
Cwiakala said they have made many unique wines including sweet potato.
“That one is not out there and will hopefully be unique to us,” he said. “We’ll be doing a 120 liter batch which will take about 200 pounds of sweet potatoes.”
Wines made from strawberries from Lever Farm’s can be found at Proverbs 31 winery in the form of strawberry and strawberry chocolate wine, which they hope to have ready by Valentine’s Day.
Another unique flavor the two have made is blueberry lavender, with the blueberries coming from a farm in South Carolina.
Although the Cwiakala’s have made many flower wines, they said they have found that they are so labor intensive, they will have to be a small specialty item sold just several times a year.
Peggy said they create such small batches and then take some as samples, when those are gone, customers may have to wait another month or two for things to process that are being played with to create more wine.
Proverb 31 Winery will be open on the third or fourth Saturday of every month, Cwiakala said from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Coming by appointment is preferred and can be done by calling 803-403-5442 or online at proverbs31winery.com.
Prices average at about $15 per bottle for larger bottles as well as smaller, specialty bottles of wine. Peggy said she wanted the community to be patient with them as they were just starting, but also that they wanted each customer to leave there feeling as if they had made two new friends in her and her husband.