With the Loss of Boomers' Largesse, Can Better Tech Save Wineries from Flat Sales?

Can using digital systems for operations and marketing lift wine sales at the high end? That was the topic underlying at least one session of Wine Business magazine's Wine Information Technology Symposium held last week in Napa.

Some of the Direct to Consumer track breakout session panelists - Ridge Vineyards, Boisset Collection (Raymond and DeLoach Vineyards) and HALL Wines - were from wineries that grow a portion of their grapes organically or Biodynamically.

With the advent of IT to collect winery data, more and more wineries are hiring analysts to try to apply data findings in an effort to increase efficiency and make more informed decisions about winery strategy and planning.

Panelists on the Data Smart panel from L to R: Dana Vivier (Far Niente),
John Musto (Ridge Vineyards), and Leslie Berglund (WISE Academy)

The afternoon session "Data-Smart Selling & Management Decisions: Using Data to Move the Needle" was moderated by Leslie Berglund, co-founder and chair of WISE Academy, a leadership education and consulting company based in Napa.

"After years of steady growth, we see now that growth in the wine industry is leveling off. There's no more double digit growth in bottles about the $20 price point," said Dana Vivier, vice president of strategic planning of Far Niente, a Napa luxury wine producer whose Cabernet Sauvignon wines sell for $170-$235. "Direct to consumer is the one bright spot, according to Rob McMillan [of Silicon Valley Bank]....In these times, the industry has to fight to maintain its share of wallet," she said.

Private equity fund investment in wineries is another driver for increasing use of data, Vivier added.  "New private equity partners have forced us to look more closely at data," she said.

More and more wineries are now adding data analysts to their staffs and many have had to import talent from other industries and bring in new employees from outside of wine country, experts said.

"Cultures at wineries are changing based on access to real data," said Berglund. "Data feedback can be a positive and aspirational tool that motivates employees."

"In an environment were DTC metrics are available, business intelligence can really come into play," she added. Examples include letting tasting room staff know their daily and cumulative sales stats.

John Musto, formerly an analyst with Francis Ford Coppola, joined Ridge three months ago as a sales analyst. "To quote Danny Meyers, we're collecting data to connect the dots moving forward," he said. "We want to be ahead of customers, rather than reacting to where they're headed."

Bereglund noted that Ridge was the first winery to offer a wine club, back in 1977.

Berglund says most wineries are in the early days of figuring out what to do with the data they've collected.

While Ridge is in the process of beginning to understand the data, Musto said, data is being shared across teams to help improve.

"We can now see and share (internally) all the touch points of a consumer (using Salesforce's CRM) with our winery," Musto said. Tasting room staff can see the customer history of the customers coming for scheduled visits at the winery, he added, which he said the staff finds useful.

The conference was divided into three tracks - one for data, one for IT and one for DTC.

Presentations and recordings from many of the sessions can be found on the conference web site.