Who Wouldn't Want to Take This Class?

You know that person who couldn't tell you if Sauvignon Blanc is a white or red wine, or who orders a glass of "champagne" only to be shocked by the price of Prosecco these days? Yep - that's me. Such wine ignorance is partially due to the fact that I didn't grow up in a wine-drinking household; my parents' preferred alcoholic beverage was a cold Long Island iced tea (along with a side of crab legs at Red Lobster). Mostly though, it's because I'm not a very detailed-oriented person when it comes to what I consume - particularly when those details are listed in French. Speaking of France, I didn't begin to appreciate wine as a drink until I traveled abroad to Paris for three months. My culinary life exploded there in various ways, including in the space of wine.

Thus, I'm primarily taking this class to expand my literacy in the field of wine. It's my drink of choice these days (thanks, business school) and I'd like to learn more about how it's made, who drinks it and why. Understanding wine through the lens of business is an added plus; as the professor mentioned in class, wine is just another product "prism" through which we can think about industries and trends. As a soon-to-be product manager, I also see this as a great opportunity to exercise my product-based problem solving and strategic thinking skills. Finally, I love wine and am excited to drink it during class.

Why I am taking this class - Tommaso Cariati

Growing up in Tuscany wine has always been part of my culture. From “painting” my water with it when I was a kid to stumping on grapes to make it - it’s been an almost daily presence in my life. 

However, like most other Italians, my learning about wine has always been informal. Never from books or courses, but simply from quick overheard comments at dinner. My wine obsessed father almost always orders the house red and his comments never go beyond “good” or “barely drinkable” (but always drinkable…). And whilst it is known broadly which wines are good or bad - from famous Sassicaia Bolgheri or Antinori Chianti to the Luce Super Tuscan and even a couple of the most famous french ones - there is no “technical” knowledge of grape types or production processes like I have found in the US. 

The first time this struck me was on my first trip to the local Bevmo. Never had I seen before wine divided by grape type. Even the most sophisticated wine shops in Italy always arrange wine strong or weak, red or white, cheap or expensive. In such a simplistic way that almost assumes that wine is a daily ritual, like buying bread. Not an extensive process of research, purchasing, experiencing and learning.

I am taking this course because I want to learn more what is behind this amazing part of my culture. I want to learn the ins and outs, the technicalities and details of a part of me that is now a global booming business. Do people everywhere in the world like wine for the same reasons I do? Is it also a daily ritual for them? But also, what makes this huge business go around? And why, frankly, does the house red in Florence taste better than a $50 bottle in Palo Alto?

Why I'm Taking a Wine Industry Class - Amanda

At any celebratory event growing up, my Uncle Ron chose the wine. I vividly remember him teaching my younger brother and me how to properly pour from a bottle, swirl and smell the glass, and finally taste a sip at an age far younger than may have been appropriate. Back then, I thought wine tasted so foul that I could not fathom why someone would willingly choose to drink it. Clearly, my attitudes changed.

Now, at family gatherings, I always ask Uncle Ron to walk me through the tasting notes and explain why he chose a given bottle, in an attempt soak up any of his wine know-how. Maybe if I keep asking him, some of his knowledge will rub off. While I do keep notes of my favorite bottles, but my knowledge is still rudimentary at best. Embarrassingly, I typically find myself choosing wines based on bottle design and price point. I hope to become a more informed consumer of wine this quarter.

My career sights are set on food, in particular, I want to start a food brand. I have strong suspicions that there are many similarities between the food and wine businesses, so I see this course as directly related to that goal. I'm particularly eager to learn more about supply chain and distribution in the wine industry. Furthermore, I am passionate about branding and packaging, which is as crucial in food as it is in wine (as was already evidenced in the Inniskillin case).

Why am I taking this class? - Ashley Wu

From my first job as a Starbucks barista to my last job setting up partnerships between food & beverage companies and the Gates Foundation, I've been interested in the way that nourishment acts as a force for community. Though I am no wine connoisseur, like many others in the class, wine has always been at the table during great memories of bonding between family and friends.

I'm also interested in wine because, as a category, it drives innovations in food technology. For instance, because securing authenticity and certifying provenance matters so much in high-end wine, blockchain-based solutions applied to the food supply chain are often using wine as their first use case. Moreover, wine continues to resist commoditization in the otherwise low-margin food and beverage industry - despite being an extremely fragmented industry with many rogue actors producing sub-optimal quality products.

Why I'm taking this class

Wine didn't make its way into my life until my dad began drinking Napa Cabs during my high school years.  I remember picking up the bottle and reading the label's description: "hints of pencil lead, cedar, and tobacco..."  All of those things were elements I was taught not to ingest from the age of three and yet here was an expensive bottle of alcohol proudly boasting an infant's taboo buffet.  I poured a small amount into a glass and tried it.  I wasn't sure what I tasted but I did know it seemed nothing like the description.  Is that all just marketing nonsense? I wondered.

Fast forward to my early professional years, and I had slowly begun drinking wine alongside my coworkers and friends.  I still never picked up any of the taste or aroma descriptors but was able to distinguish that a Pinot tasted different from a Cab or a Syrah and which ones I liked most.  I had discovered a penchant for extremely expensive wines, particularly those with smoother tannins, but found this to be a problem for my limited budget.  My exposure to more budget friendly wines had multiple mediocre experiences that made me wonder if it was possible to get an enjoyable wine below $50.

Then, a few years ago, I saw the Somm documentary on Netflix.  My jaw dropped as three Master Sommelier candidates blind tasted a set of wines and used the exact same descriptions that I had always assumed was marketing mumbo-jumbo.  It seemed that there was indeed an almost underground world that existed in wine if you knew how to look for it.  The rich history and broad expanses of the industry impressed me, and I realized I wanted to know more.  As I began to learn more about the wine world, I realized that there was a shockingly minimal amount of ingredients involved: grapes, yeast, and wood (sometimes).  Yet people were capable of creating bottles that consumers would be willing to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for, and all of it came down to process and business execution.

Even as I acknowledged the slim likelihood I ever find my way into the wine industry, I knew I wanted to this this course to peer behind the curtain and understand more. 

Why I am taking this class

I grew up in Belgium as the granddaughter of a beer brewer who also had a passion for French wines. Much to his chagrin, neither my mother nor her brother shared his enthusiasm. So as I grew older it became his personal mission to ensure that this would at least be fixed in the second generation. Many of his lessons became fond memories. I remember how appalled he was when he saw me drink a Corona with lime, how he taught me to swirl, smell and taste different wines at our weekly dinners, how he opened a 15 year old bottle of Bordeaux to instill an appreciation for aged wines, and how adamant he was about the importance of using the correct shape of glass when tasting any well-crafted beverage.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate how wine can bring a certain elegance to situations. Any team or client dinner during my time in consulting wasn't complete without a long discussion about people's wine preferences, and, while I had acquired the tools to enjoy wine, I realized I was woefully unaware of how tastes and flavors differ across grapes and regions. As part of this class, I am hoping to gain this knowledge and learn how to better communicate about the wines I like.

Another important aspect of the class, is the ability to be able to see a holistic view of all parts of a business. Given my own entrepreneurial aspirations, it will be incredibly valuable to cover everything from the product, to regulations, to economics, to marketing etc. through the lens of a single industry. And if there was one industry to pick, wine would definitely make it to the top of my list.

My Journey with Wine

Unlike some other classmates, wine was rarely present in my family's house. With little exposure growing up, I didn't learn to appreciate the beverage until later in life (after progressing past the boxed and steeply discounted varieties).

After college, I increasingly found myself surrounded by people passionate about wine. My boss in New York was an avid collector from France, who considered the bits of wisdom he would share with me fair exchange for the late nights I spent in the office on his behalf (sometimes this was upgraded to a bottle from the ~1,000 bottle cellar he managed to fit into a Tribeca apartment). After moving to the Bay Area, my San Francisco roommate committed himself to building an amateur collection in our apartment. Through these interactions, I began to pick up the basics of varietals, regions, etc. (enough at least to convince my college friends I knew what I was doing).

While I thought I had made progress, when asked to help assess a potential investment in a global wine brand in my previous job I was quickly overwhelmed trying to understand supply / demand dynamics, the value chain, branding, and distribution. I learned through this experience how much I still had to learn about not only wine as a beverage, but also the dynamics and economics of the broader industry.

I look forward to exploring these topics over coming weeks over delicious wine.