This continues a new category of posts: Guest columns where friends and readers share how technology is reshaping their hobby – basket weaving, rugby – whatever.
This time it is John Dean, former CIO at Steelcase. I have enjoyed a few reds with him in various places around the world, and here he writes about his love of wine.
“First, let me share my perspective on wine. I see wine as something you should enjoy almost every day. I do have standards but the standards don't require me to choose the wine carefully based on complicated scores or by spending a great deal of money. I don't want to over analyze wine. I won't try to choose exactly which berry flavor is present. I don't want to describe it, I simply want to enjoy it. To me, a victory is to find a very good wine at a cheap price. The simple rules of nose, first taste, and finish are the ones that matter. I have learned, like most everyone else, the price of the wine is not always a good measure of those attributes.
My wife and I are charter members of the GWCP (Good Wine Cheap Price) group. A closed group of 5 couples dedicated to finding wine matches exactly what the name of the group implies. I have enjoyed many wines at many price points, but I have found that the discomfort caused by price shock included with say a $100 bottle of wine doesn't make up for the difference in nose, first taste, and finish. And the other point is the expensive bottle of wine isn't an every day bottle of wine.
So, what do I think about wine and technology? I like technology that helps create very good wines at a cheap price and then tells me about it. I have been told by the wine makers that I respect that the wine is made in the field. They claim that all they do is tweak what was created by simply doing a great job of treating an excellent crop well. It then becomes a game of an efficient supply chain to get the product to the consumer. To give you an idea of the broad number of technologies that are available for this supply chain go to this website .
So here is my list of technologies that meet the GWCP objective...
Producing the Grape. Any technology that can help the wine maker grow great grapes at a lower cost. For example, there are wi-fi sensors that check soil moisture, air temperature, and humidity. Logic would say that this should help the grower increase volumes in areas perfect for growing grapes and add more marginal areas to the grape producing pool. There are also very specialized irrigation systems coupled with these sensors to also increase yield. My math says that more yield means lower prices.
Producing the Wine. There are two main organisms in the making of wine. The grape and the yeast. The wonders of genetic engineering of both have enhanced the quality of both which in turn aids the fermentation process. My math again says that this means that there will be more quality grapes producing more wine translating into lower prices.
Packaging the wine. There is so much automation and enhancements in technology to get the wine from the "barrel" to the bottle or box and the types of "cork" that I could write for a long time on the topic. With a growing focus on “green” the packaging will evolve even faster. The quality of the box wines continues to get better. I know, the romantic types that like to hear the sound of the cork, won't appreciate this, but the cost of packaging and distribution of the box wines is lower than for bottles. It is the wine drinkers that influence the packaging of choice. I guess I will have to get more GWCP members.
Distribution. I can only say that the combination of access to the Internet and the ability to buy direct is a big deal at least in terms of efficiency to get the wines that I can't get where I live. I count on the major retailers to drive the efficiencies in the supply chain for the everyday wine. I am counting on their business systems to move the information and product through the supply chain. It is easy to find a GWCP certified wine for under $10.
Selecting the wine. I won't dwell on the actual buying of the wine. The opportunities for buying wine have remained the same. We know where the stores are. We know where the web-sites are. I will focus on the impact of technology on selecting wines. Web 2.0 has moved us into a new world of providing information needed to select a wine that meets your simple rules. It isn't just a significant improvement in the content and collaboration of those who enjoy wine, but it also includes how you can get access to the information through a broad array of devices. On the content front there are sites like Wine 2.0 focused on the next generation of wine drinkers. There are social sites for different levels of wine drinkers base on how analytical you want to be (my perspective). corkd.com is a site that is closer to my level of commitment to assessing wine. I don't want to dwell on choosing the fruit or flower. I still need to find the site that simply rates the nose, first taste, finish and price to find those GWCP certified wines.
For those that really need the help at the store to select a wine, many of these new technologies will push and or allow you to pull wine rating content to iPhones, Blackberrys, and even more basic cell phones. I guess these are great solutions for the infrequent buyers. It would be better if the technology would match my GWCP simple rules with the inventory of wine at the store to list the best values by price from low to high.
Wine is a very personal thing. Every individual has their own rules, from simple to complex. The good news is that technology is helping to produce and distribute more quality wines at an affordable price. The one thing that I don't ever want to change is the variety and the constantly changing character of individual wines we get through the things that we can never control... the different growing conditions year over year and the people that make the wine.
Enjoy what you like knowing that technology continues to make it better and cheaper.”
Photo Credit: Ideal Moments
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