Aging with Wine

I have personal and professional reasons for taking this class. On a personal note, I have always found wine fascinating and elusive. An agricultural product that can be both a luxury good, and a commodity product. I’ve puzzled over the complex characteristics that drive these differences as I experienced them through different relationships in my life. As an undergraduate, I stared dumbfounded at a plastic bag being pulled from a cardboard box, and thought, "Can this actually be wine?" As a new college graduate, I remember the special feeling as my parents unearthed a bottle they had been saving for a special occasion. As a new analyst at my consulting firm, I sat in awe of the mastery with which the Partner on my project effortlessly weighed varietals and vintages to order the perfect bottle for our team dinner. Wine has always been present in some way throughout my life (and in a way has aged with me… or I with it?), and I’m eager to learn more about the way in which this magical product shapes the rest of the world.

On a professional level, my favorite problems to solve are those of complex supply chains, and in recent years I have focused my efforts on the global food & agriculture supply chain to improve production and distribution and minimize waste in order to more effectively feed the world. I’m excited to take a deep look at wine, a specific and complex agricultural product with an even more complex supply chain. I believe there are many parallels to be dawn between wine and other types of food products –regulation, growing patterns, climate-induced constraints, technological innovation, marketing, and many more. I think this class will influence my understanding of the nuances of agricultural supply chains and will improve the work I’m able to do after the GSB.