To be honest, I would have gone to the event for the wine tasting alone.

I would especially have gone in order to talk with the people who were pouring the wine.

Altogether, it would have vied for the top of my list of favorite events of 2019 – for the wine, yes, but especially for the people.

The fact that there was data involved, and data + wine in particular, was icing on the cake.

Let me explain.

Enolytics had been asked to keynote the opening reception for the Executive Committee of the Evanta Chief Data Officer summit, held on Tuesday evening this week in San Francisco. This was an honor for us and it capped off a very exciting year of the company’s evolution.

Which is exactly why we wanted to share the stage with some of the people who have made 2019 so dynamic. We invited several clients and colleagues to join the program, to pour their wines and also to speak about various data projects they had initiated for their own businesses and organizations.

They showed up, let me tell you, with a stellar line up of wines. Here, too, was each of the data projects they referenced:

• John Vuong of High Treason wine bar in San Francisco spoke about trends at that restaurant when it comes to wine. “Date Data” is what Mark Davidson called it, as he joined John at that table to pour two Australian wines – 2014 Art Series Chardonnay from Leeuwin Estate and 2016 Hickinbotham Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon.

• Michael Longerbeam, Manager of the DTC program at Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg, referenced our work together on basket analysis and price elasticity as an example of predictive analysis. Michael poured their 2018 Sauvignon Blanc and 2017 Old Vine Zinfandel.

• Shelley Hyder, Western Region Chain Manager for González-Byass USA, spoke about our work with them that applied machine learning technology applied to social media in order to derive insights about organic wines. She poured their 2018 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc and 2016 Ace Kicker Red.

• Stephanie Peachey, Vice President of the Luxury Portfolio at Fetzer Vineyards, spoke about our work together identifying “the right” consumer and differentiating high frequency versus occasional wine drinkers at various price points. She poured the 2016 Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2016 “The McNab” Single Vineyard.

• Andriana Duckworth, Member Relations and Sponsorship Manager for the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance, spoke about their Vinous vineyard mapping project (done in partnership with Antonio Galloni and Alessandro Masnaghetti). She poured the NV Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blancs and the 2018 Gail Wines “Morning Sun Ranch” Barbera from Sonoma Mountain.

• Alessandro Lunardi, Director of North America for Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia, referenced our project together that analyzed consumer data in order to define their competitive set, particularly in target markets that are over- and under-performing against the average. He poured their newest 2017 release.

We were the only “wine people” in a room full of technologists, whose day-to-day work lies completely outside the world of wine, in roles ranging from financial services to venture capital to analytics and AI for manufacturers.

We all met on the common ground of wine + data. Judging from the buzz in the room during the tasting – in a beautiful room on the 45th floor overlooking Union Square, no less – there was no shortage of conversation or interest in the skillset of data analysis being applied to the world of wine.

Please let me know if you’d like to hear more about these projects, and any of the analyses. They’re very much at the core of what we do, and we’re looking forward to continued development in the year to come.

Thank you, as always, for reading –
Cathy