How to Ease into Data: A Few Suggestions for Us “Non-Data” People in Wine

Last week I wrote about how to start a wine data project of your own and the idea – I thought – would be to break down the process, step by step, so that it didn’t seem quite so overwhelming.

I hope very much that the post accomplished that. Judging by the responses I heard, however, readers were actually less interested in the nuts-and-bolts of the process than they were in the “bookend steps” of buy in at the beginning and the ongoing training once the project was up and running.

In other words, wine people don’t need (or want very much) to know about the mechanics of data. They just want it to work, they want it to be user-friendly, and they want to know that they won’t be out there on their own at any stage in the process.

I hear that. Boy, do I hear that.

I’m the first to say that I am not, myself, a “data person.” I’m a communicator, and I focus on relationships. The most primary relationships of Enolytics as a business are with our team – the people, that is, who do know very much about the mechanics of data, who make it work, who ensure it’s user-friendly, and who have our back so that none of us are out there on our own at any stage in the process.

They’re behind-the-scenes and, frankly, they like it there.

They’ve also got us – the non-data people of wine – covered.

Which also leaves us to focus on those “bookend steps” I mentioned earlier: the buy in at the beginning, and the ongoing training once the data project is up and running.

Each of you has a different reality at your wine businesses when it comes to those steps in the process, and I believe that I can help. I’m a wine person most of all, and I speak your language.

This week, however, I did want to share a few ideas with you about easing into data, in the sense of seeing it as something relevant to what you think about and what you do every day.

I’m not trying to convert you here. Data science is an entire profession and an entire world of its own and boy, do I respect the power of it and the work of the people who bring it to life.

The point is not to get you to do what they do. The point is to place a few bricks on the bridge between them and “us,” and bring our worlds closer together. It helps to swim in the waters a bit, and start to get comfortable in that space in between.

Here are three of my favorite, recent resources for doing that.

Is Data the New Wine?

This article made the rounds this past week, and it’s a curious take from a London-based platform on seven ways that data is like wine. Those include timing the harvest (both of data and wine), and the fact that where it comes from is really important. Please have a look at the post. My thanks, also, to my colleague and friend Robin Shreeves for bringing this article to my attention.

Dear Data

Two friends, Giorgia Lupi (an Italian living in New York) and Stefanie Posavec (an American living in London), exchanged hand-drawn postcards every week for a year. This book, Dear Data, chronicles that journey. The postcards map the details of the two artists’ lives, based on their collection of “data” according to the week’s theme. From phone addictions, to complaints, to physical contact, it’s a relatable and fun illustration that’s also an entry point on how data is collected, and also how it’s brought to life.

American Association of Wine Economists

Not many of us are data scientists. Even fewer of us, perhaps, are economists or academics. But I love how this group of people reaches out to facilitate the dialogue between themselves and the world of wine. The most recent working paper to catch my attention? This piece on the margins of fair trade wines from South Africa, as measured in the US market.

Do we normally think about wine this way?

Nope.

But that’s pretty much the point.

As wine people we aren’t used to thinking about wine or understanding wine this way. But if there’s one thing we know about the challenges currently facing our industry, it’s that we need a new approach to meeting them.

That’s why we’re here.

To think differently. To demonstrate different approaches. To help your business perform better, though data.

I look forward, as always, to your thoughts in response, and thank you for reading.