I would like to take a few minutes to draw comparisons between the two approaches to growing we witnessed with Grgich Hills and Fruition Sciences and different approaches taken by sports teams in cultivating talent.
Grgich Hills adopts the biodynamic farming approach, which considers actions with regards to the well-being of the land to the point of near-"hocus-pocus". They believe the growing of grapes is an art that requires the perfect setting under the guidance of a near-omniscient curator, Ivo in this case. This reminds me of the New England Patriots. The team's strategy is, essentially, to acquire young talent through the rookie draft and develop those players to contribute to the system that Coach Belichick employs. Since taking over the franchise in 2000, he has led the team on a historic run of success, with his only losing season coming in that very first year. He's won 4 super bowls over that stretch. Whether his success has been due to the players or his development of them, to his coaching or strategies to expose his opponents weaknesses, or simply to the culture of winning he has instilled in the locker room, something unbelievable has been happening in Foxborough. Whatever he does works, and the product coming out of their locker room is perceived as top-class whether they win, lose or draw on any given Sunday. Players and staff who come on board are expected to buy-in to this cult-like community, which seems crazy to those on the outside. This is similar to the biodynamic farming in that what looks like magic on the outside, is actually a product of hard work and intense attention to detail. Whether it is the grapes, the soil, the people, or the packaging, the product coming out of Grgich Hills seems like a winner before the cork pops out too.
The other side of this is the analytical approach taken by Fruition Sciences. We need look no further than across the bay for the best sports parallel to this, with Billy Bean and his famous run with the 2002 Oakland A's. For those who don't know the story (popularized by the book and movie adaptation featuring Brad Pitt, Moneyball), Billy Bean managed Oakland's baseball team that had just lost its 3 best players from the year before and had a budget that was nearly 1/3 of any other competitive team. Billy was able to pull together what appeared to be a rag-tag group of has-beens and never-weres to make the playoffs and win a stretch of 20-games straight. His analytical approach calculated exactly what stats his team would need to win the requisite number of games to make the playoffs, and it worked. His strategy has since been adopted in some way by nearly every team in Major League Baseball. This is how I view Fruition Sciences. They are enabling growers to use information to optimize the quality of the grapes. This approach is cheaper and will ultimately be much more achievable for anyone to adopt. Unlike the Patriots approach that needs just the right culture led by just the right guy.
I think there is room for both of these styles, but they will likely each find their respective niche. While biodynamic farming can yield a top-quality product, it requires the perfect setting and staff to pull it off. Top tier, prestigious wineries will be willing to invest in this time-consuming process to keep up their image, and they will pay the Ivo's of the world the necessary salaries to make it work. There are only so many Ivo's out there, though. The rest will have to settle for the analytics and Fruition sciences approach. This will be something anyone can access, and aspects of it could definitely make their way into all farming techniques. While relying on the moon to know when to place your cornucopia of poop might sound romantic, chemical signals saying when that manure can move the quality might not be a bad idea.
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