Six months ago, we announced the launch of Enolytics.

Our goal is to bring the power of big data to the wine industry by pulling together multiple sources of data across multiple platforms, with an eye on discerning insights about wine consumer behavior and sentiment in particular.

Lots has happened since then.

We've done a lot of explaining what that means. We've done a lot of webexes and demonstrations of our data model. We've fielded a lot of questions, and hopefully quelled some skepticism along the way.

Most of all, we've listened.

That, more than anything, has helped to settle the dust of this early stage of our Enolytics startup.

Two things have become clear.

Wineries and wine companies have their own data that needs to be visualized and mined in order to make smarter, more strategic business decisions moving forward. This is internal, "closed loop" work that our data team is uniquely skilled to do.

Those companies also want to tap into data collected by our third party partners, in order to test their ideas against business intelligence about wine consumer behavior that is newly available to them. This is "external" work, where companies see their brand's position within the global context.

Those two avenues guide the direction of Enolytics' work.

It isn't necessarily the direction we thought we'd be headed when we launched six months ago. But that's the nature of startups: adaptability to the needs.

Here's a metaphor we use in our demos that seems to register:

Let's say you're driving to the airport. You could go the way you always go, the way that's familiar and routine. You know it like the back of your hand, but what you don't know is that there's been an accident that day and traffic is backed up. You miss your flight.

You could instead use a resource like Google Maps which monitors road conditions and, though it isn't the way you've always gone, it will offer an alternate route that will probably get you to the airport on time.

You could also use another (data-driven) resource like Waze which monitors road conditions, the location of police, potential obstacles and other delays. Your route will be optimized, your decision will be informed, and your chances of success will be heightened.

Enolytics can edge more wine companies closer to the Waze model. The data exists that will heighten your chances of success. It's a question of whether you'll opt in.

How can we help? Would you like to schedule a demo? Do you have specific questions? Is there a particular data source you'd like to access?

Let me know. I'm over here, listening.

Thank you, as always, for reading --