Wine Technology Blog @ WineWeb.com

A group of us went up to a local winery the weekend before last to help harvest grapes. As I was picking Baco Noir grapes, I was thinking about all the steps needed to turn the grapes into a good wine, then all the steps needed to actually turn the wine into revenue for the business. Let's see, a relatively unknown grape, produced by a winery off the beaten path, with limited resources during harvest time -- is this situation that different from many of the 6,000 plus wineries all across this country? Probably not.

So, how could technology help with some of these steps? If the winery had a mailing list of customers and interested persons (obviously built up over time), that could be used to get people into the vineyard and winery to provide additional manpower during harvest. I'm guessing that there would be a lot of interest in being part of the winemaking process. Combine that with an effective website, blog and an online ordering function, and the winery can explain how/why their wines are good, generate interest, and provide a way to get the wine. Would that solve all the winery's issues? No, but it could fill some holes in the current business model.

Overall an enjoyable day, and further confirmation that what we do here is important.