Tastes Like A Barnyard: Putting the Gabriel-Glas to Good Use

The wine industry is truly fascinating, for many reasons. Here are a few:

1. The Consumer: Riddled with half truths, whole lies, and a bunch of misconceptions, the industry provides an interesting consumer case study. Connoisseurs will tell you that your taste preferences could understandably lead you to appreciate a "Two-Buck-Chuck". Yet, a wannabe-connoisseur will display their best French accent and tell you that s/he 'prefers' the $150 bottle of wine. And, yet another type of consumer wants/needs to be told what they prefer based on reviews of the connoisseurs. What are consumers actually buying? Prestige? Appearance of high class? Taste? An experience?...

2. A Language to Itself: Not many industries that produce goods which are marketed to all income levels have such a diverse and robust, and even sometimes confusing, language for which the average consumer is (arguably) confused by. Experts sometimes recommend wines by describing the flavor in perhaps unflattering ways; for example, though perhaps tasty, I have a hard time warming up to a wine characterized with one or more of the following descriptions: tar, leather, barnyard, chewy, brawny, and petrol. I wonder if President Obama entertains his guests with a wine that tastes like a barnyard?

3. Challenging Marketing / Fierce Competition: As the old saying goes, if you want to make a million dollars in the wine industry, start with two million dollars. I asked Peter Mondavi Jr. to describe the most challenging aspect of owning a winery. He responded, "selling it (i.e. wine)." For the average winery, the key to success is finding a way to differentiate your product in a saturated market. This is no small task given the widespread lack of consumer knowledge for a product that has been produced for thousands of years. Seems tough to educate the masses.

So why am I taking the class? It's a fascinating and complex industry which makes for a great Capstone Course.