Sparked by a wine kit

It all started when Connie Kondrat’s husband, Will Johnston, bought a wine kit five years ago. The pair started making wine in their home in Old Hickory.

“We both love going to wineries,” Kondrat said. “We think that wineries are really neat places, so we decided that when we got ready to retire, it would be great if we had our own winery.”

When the Kondrats moved to Lebanon approximately two years ago, they found the building nestled between East Main Street and Park Avenue. At the time, it was a big orange building with a T painted on it.

“We were about five years early to retire, but we thought, ‘This would make a great winery,’ ” Kondrat said. “For the past year, we’ve been rehabbing it since it was built in 1933. Being that old, there were a lot of things that needed to be done to it. We’re trying to make it like a Tuscany speakeasy.”

Kondrat’s husband is the one who makes the wine, while she designs the labels for their 10 different vintages. In order to have a mix of sweet and dry wines, Working Man Winery — which is located at 402 East Main St. — buys its materials from different vineyards.

“If you want a certain type of wine, like a dry wine, you cannot grow those grapes in Nashville,” Kondrat said. “Those are only grown in Washington state, New York and the colder climates. In the warmer climates like Tennessee and Georgia, you can only grow the sweet grapes, so then, you’d only be making sweet wine. What we do is we buy the juices from the people who grow the grapes. It’s more of an urban winery.”

Working Man Winery has already hosted a couple of private events, but it is waiting for final approval to open to the public. In the meantime, people can visit the antique store that the Kondrat’s run next door (Cloud 9 Antiques & Such), which came with the building that the winery is located inside.

“We’re going to have live music, a tasting room, and then, when the weather breaks, we’re going to work on the outside so everyone can sit outside and have a drink,” Kondrat said.