Drops of God sits in an unusual but compelling space: part family drama, part intellectual puzzle, and part love letter to wine. I’m not a TV critic, but as someone familiar with wine education and tasting frameworks, this series stood out for how confidently it leans into its subject matter without dumbing it down.

The central premise is undeniably far-fetched. A globe-spanning inheritance battle resolved through blind tasting challenges is not how estates are settled in the real world. Yet this is precisely what keeps the series gripping. The stakes are high, the rules are clear, and each episode advances the contest in a way that feels more like an engineering problem than a melodrama: constraints, trade-offs, and human fallibility under pressure.

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Where the show really succeeds is character development. What begins as a straightforward rivalry slowly reveals layered backstories, cultural tensions, and unresolved personal histories. Characters evolve as new information is revealed, and motivations that initially feel abrasive or opaque begin to make sense. This slow unpeeling is handled with restraint and rewards attention.

From a wine perspective, Drops of God is refreshingly credible. The tasting language, sensory memory, and discipline required to blind taste at a high level will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has studied for a WSET or similar qualification. The show treats tasting as a learned skill, built through repetition, calibration, and emotional recall, rather than some mystical talent.

Visually, the series is superb. The cinematography is polished and deliberate, with vineyards, cellars, and cityscapes shot in a way that reinforces wine’s association with time, place, and craftsmanship. There is a consistent sense of luxury.

Series 1 sets a high bar. If Series 2 (starts 21 January) builds on this foundation rather than escalating gimmicks, Drops of God could become a benchmark for how niche expertise can drive genuinely compelling television.

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As the viticulture industry grapples with the challenges of sustainable farming and pest management, innovative technologies are emerging to offer new solutions. One such breakthrough comes from the Vergelegen Wine Estate in South Africa, where drones are being used to deploy parasitic wasps to combat mealybug infestations and the devastating leafroll virus they spread. This fusion of advanced drone technology with biological pest control not only represents a leap forward in vineyard management but also sets a precedent for environmentally friendly practices in winemaking.

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The Menace of Mealybugs and Leafroll Virus

Mealybugs are small, sap-sucking insects that pose a significant threat to vineyards worldwide. They are notorious vectors of the grapevine leafroll-associated virus (GLRaV), which causes leafroll disease. This disease leads to reduced grape yield, delayed ripening, and diminished fruit quality, ultimately impacting wine production and profitability.

Traditional methods of controlling mealybugs often rely on chemical pesticides. However, these chemicals can harm beneficial insects, lead to pesticide resistance, and have negative environmental impacts. Moreover, consumers and regulatory bodies are increasingly pushing for reduced chemical usage in agriculture, making sustainable alternatives more attractive.

Drones: Precision Delivery Systems in Viticulture

Enter drone technology—a game-changer in precision agriculture. Drones have been increasingly utilized in vineyards for tasks such as aerial imaging, monitoring crop health, and even spraying applications. At Vergelegen, drones have taken on a new role: delivering tiny, parasitic wasps directly to the problem areas within the vineyard.

The drones used are equipped with GPS navigation and programmed flight paths that allow for precise distribution of the wasps. They can cover large areas quickly and efficiently, reducing labor costs and the time required compared to manual release methods.

Advantages of Drone Deployment

• Precision Targeting: Drones can navigate the vineyard with pinpoint accuracy, ensuring that wasps are released exactly where they are needed.

• Efficiency: A drone can cover up to 25 hectares in a single flight, significantly more than a person could manage on foot.

• Reduced Labor Costs: Automation of the release process reduces the need for manual labor, which can be both costly and time-consuming.

• Minimal Vineyard Disruption: The use of drones minimizes physical interference with the vines, reducing the risk of damage.

Parasitic Wasps: Nature's Pest Control Agents

The parasitic wasps, specifically species like Anagyrus pseudococci, are natural enemies of mealybugs. They lay their eggs inside the mealybugs, and the hatching larvae consume their hosts from the inside out, effectively reducing the mealybug population.

Benefits of Biological Control

• Environmentally Friendly: Using natural predators eliminates the need for chemical pesticides, promoting a healthier ecosystem.

• Selective Targeting: Parasitic wasps specifically target mealybugs, leaving beneficial insects unharmed.

• Sustainability: Biological control agents can establish themselves in the environment, providing long-term pest management solutions.

Integrating Technology and Biology: A Sustainable Approach

The combination of drone technology and biological pest control represents a holistic approach to sustainable viticulture. By leveraging drones for the precise deployment of parasitic wasps, vineyards can effectively manage pests while minimizing environmental impact.

Case Study: Vergelegen Wine Estate

Vergelegen's adoption of this technology has yielded impressive results. According to their viticulturists, there has been a significant reduction in mealybug populations and a noticeable decline in leafroll virus incidence.

Reference: CNN Article on Vergelegen's Drone Wasps Initiative

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The Technology Framework

Implementing such a system requires a combination of hardware and software tailored to vineyard conditions.

Drone Specifications

• Payload Capacity: Must be sufficient to carry thousands of tiny wasps.

• Flight Stability: Essential for accurate release.

• Autonomous Navigation: GPS and obstacle avoidance systems to navigate complex vineyard terrains.

Software Integration

• Mapping Software: To create precise flight paths over the vineyard blocks.

• Release Mechanisms: Timed or sensor-triggered release systems to deploy wasps at designated locations.

• Data Logging: Recording flight paths and release points for monitoring and analysis.

Overcoming Challenges

While the integration of drones and biological control is promising, there are challenges to consider:

• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring that drone operations meet aviation regulations, which can vary by country.

• Initial Investment: The cost of drones and associated technology can be high, though it may be offset by long-term savings.

• Technical Expertise: Requires training or hiring personnel skilled in drone operation and maintenance.

The Future of Pest Management in Viticulture

The success at Vergelegen demonstrates the potential for wider adoption of this technology in vineyards around the world. As drone technology becomes more accessible and affordable, and as environmental concerns drive the search for sustainable practices, integrating drones with biological control agents could become a standard in viticulture.

Broader Implications

• Data Collection: Drones equipped with sensors can collect data on vine health, soil conditions, and pest populations, allowing for even more targeted interventions.

• Automation: The use of drones is a step toward greater automation in vineyard management, which can improve efficiency and reduce human error.

• Global Adoption: Vineyards in regions like California, Australia, and Europe are beginning to explore similar technologies, indicating a global trend.

The intersection of advanced drone technology and biological pest control offers an exciting avenue for sustainable viticulture. By adopting such innovative solutions, wine professionals can enhance vineyard health, reduce environmental impact, and improve the quality of their grapes and wines.

As the industry continues to evolve, embracing these technological advancements will be crucial for meeting the demands of modern agriculture and consumer expectations. The success story of Vergelegen Wine Estate serves as an inspiring example and a call to action for vineyards worldwide to explore and invest in such sustainable technologies.

As wine lovers, we are no strangers to the diverse world of wine-making. The techniques used to create the perfect blend of flavours and aromas can be traced back thousands of years, and while wine production has evolved significantly, the fundamental process remains relatively unchanged. However, a novel concept known as precision fermentation is emerging and promises to bring a paradigm shift to the wine industry.

Let’s explore the concept of precision fermentation and its potential applications in wine production.

So what is Precision Fermentation?

It’s is a cutting-edge biotechnological process that allows for the creation of specific compounds or ingredients with high accuracy and control. It involves the use of microorganisms, such as yeast or bacteria, to produce targeted molecules by breaking down and converting substrates into desired products. This technology is mainly driven by advancements in synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and bioprocessing techniques. It has been of particular excitement in the dairy food industry where it has the potential to enable the mass production of dairy-free milk products with almost exactly the same characteristics as the real thing, and it’s already being used to create the meaty taste and texture in meat-free food products. The technology has been moving down the cost curve significantly where in 2000 in cost $1million per kg it now costs less than $100 and is predicted to be just $10 by 2025.

How might precision fermentation apply to the Wine Industry?

1. Customised Flavour Profiles:

One of the most promising aspects of precision fermentation is its potential to create wines with customised flavour profiles. By modifying the microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) responsible for fermentation, winemakers can control the production of various aroma compounds and flavours. This means that they can develop unique and innovative wines that cater to specific consumer preferences or market trends.

2. Consistent Quality:

Precision fermentation allows winemakers to achieve greater consistency in their products. Traditional fermentation processes can be unpredictable, with factors such as temperature, pH, and the presence of wild yeasts affecting the outcome. However, by using engineered microorganisms and closely monitoring the fermentation process, winemakers can ensure that each batch of wine is produced with the desired characteristics.

3. Enhanced Sustainability:

The wine industry, like many agricultural industries, has long been criticised for its environmental impact, with issues such as water usage, the use of pesticides, and carbon emissions (although mainly from making and transporting heavy glass bottles) being major concerns. Precision fermentation can contribute to a more sustainable wine production process by reducing the need for certain inputs, such as chemicals, and minimising waste generation.

4. Production of Non-Alcoholic Wines:

The demand for non-alcoholic drinks is on the rise (increasing 20% year on year[2]), and precision fermentation can help cater to this market segment. By controlling the production of ethanol during fermentation, winemakers can create non-alcoholic wines that retain the desired flavours and aromas of traditional wines. This innovation can expand the wine industry's reach to consumers who may have dietary, religious, or health-related reasons for avoiding alcohol.

So in summary, precision fermentation is an exciting development that has the potential to revolutionise the wine industry. By offering the potential for customised flavour profiles, consistent quality, enhanced sustainability, and the production of non-alcoholic wines, this technology has the potential to change the way we think about wine-making. As the industry continues to innovate and adopt these advancements, wine drinkers can look forward to a more diverse, sustainable, and inclusive world of wine. There’s a long way to go before we see wines on our shelves that have been made in this way but we should be seeing some of the larger mass-production wineries starting to experiment over the next few years, if they aren’t already.

References

[1] https://www.sweep.net/blog/the-revolution-will-be-fermented

[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/non-alcoholic-sales-1.6722288

The Internet of Things, IoT, Connected Vineyard, Industry 4.0, Smart Farming, Precision Agriculture.

It’s likely that these are terms you’ve seen and heard for some time, but how do you actually implement these concepts successfully?

What we’re fundamentally talking about here with the Internet of Things (IoT) is making use of connected sensors to allow us to make better informed and data-driven decisions on what do in the vineyard and winery, and to learn from that data.

It also allows us to see what’s happening in places that you typically can’t see easily and measure things that are typically hard to measure.

On first sight it all seems pretty easy but the reality can be quite different.

Here’s some questions you need to be asking, of yourself, partners, and suppliers, before even thinking about implementing any of this technology in your vineyard or winery.

Data

Data is everything.

This is by far the most critical factor that can make an IoT investment a success or a failure. We need to know what data to collect, from where, how often, and importantly why we’re collecting that data.

Many IoT projects fail because they simply try to collect as much data as possible from as many places as possible, without really thinking about why. Similarly many fail because they simply collect data that they were already collecting they now just automate the collection, they’re not really adding anything new to their decision making.

We have to understand what data we need, and where it’s going to come from but we also have to understand how often we need that data. Does it need to be real-time, is once per day enough, do we only need it at certain points in the process?

Finally on collecting data we need to know how precise and how accurate it needs to be. If we’re measuring temperature, for example, does it need to be to 0.01℃ or is to 0.1℃ ok? What if the sensor has an error of +/- 0.1℃? Is that acceptable?

Now that we’ve got a load of data we have to know how we are going to analyse it.

Does it need to feed in to some mathematical equations, some winery management software, are we trying to do some learning on previous data and need some data science tools? How are we going to visualise the data, do we need to create some dashboards with charts and various statuses? What software are we going to use do that? What we need to understand here is what we’re going to with the data once it’s collected.

Key question: What questions am I trying to answer with my data?

Connectivity

Connectivity for IoT is not quite as simple as plugging in a Wi-Fi router at home.

There’s a huge range of options to suit differing requirements.

Your requirements, and some constraints such as budget and location will determine which of the huge range of connectivity options are best for you.

For example there’s relatively cheap options such as LoRaWAN which is a standard specifically designed for battery powered sensors with low data requirements and spread over a long range, hence, it’s in the LPWAN (Low Power, Wide Area Network) category.

Something like this will give great coverage, potentially over Kilometres, but speeds are in the low Kbps so you’re definitely not going to be getting video feeds from this, but a field of temperature sensors would work just fine. Someone with good tech skills could likely set this up themselves on a small scale and there’s even existing community-run public networks you can use to test ideas before going in deeper.

On the other end of the scale are options such as Private 5G Networks. There’s been significant interest in using 5G for IoT networks with factories, ports and even farms (yes, smart Cows are a now a thing) testing and building them.

As the name suggests they use the same 5G technology that your mobile phone uses but are built for private users. So for example, you could build a Private 5G Network that covers your vineyard and winery, it would be completely owned and controlled by yourself and only your devices could connect to it, unlike a Public 5G Network that the general public use. These networks are more expensive to build but have outstanding features such as wide coverage, high speeds and mobility (i.e. devices can easily move around with connectivity interruptions). Building a Private 5G Network requires specialist skills and equipment meaning you’d need to hire a specialist company to help you.

Understanding your requirements around all of these aspects will help you in deciding which connectivity method(s) is best for your situation now and in the future.

We need to be thinking about: coverage, speed, budget for set-up and running, spectrum availability, and what we want to connect.

Key question: What are my connectivity requirements?

Security

Security is something that people often forget or simply don’t care about, but it’s one of the more important aspects to consider.

The data being moved across IoT networks could be critical to your business and so making sure its secure is also critical.

There’s two main areas to think about on data security: data in transit, and data at rest. Data in transit being the data while it’s being moved between servers and sensors and very likely off in to the internet in to some cloud-based software. While data at rest is the data that is stored in servers and used by software once it’s been transmitted.

We should therefore be thinking about security in every aspect of our IoT deployment, from sensors on the ground or in the winery through to the cloud-based software we use to visualise the data.

When we think about Security we should be thinking about risk.

What is the risk of data being stolen? How likely is this to happen and what are the consequences if it is?

What is the risk of data being manipulated? How likely is this to happen and what are the consequences if it is?

For example, if someone wanted to damage your business they could breach your IoT network and simply change some of the data to give incorrect readings. What impact would this have?

It may be minimal but may be more severe if, say, your irrigation was automated and you ended up over watering your vines because the data kept saying that soil moisture was too low. While the likelihood is low the impact may be severe.

There’s a wide range of security threats to consider in this same vein, from Denial of Service through to Ransomware.

By understanding these risks we can understand our own risk appetites and implement solutions that satisfy that risk appetite. This avoids us having little to no security but also avoids us going over the top and splurging our entire budget on military-grade security which is unnecessary.

Key question: What level of security do I need for my data?

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BONUS: Automation

With a well functioning IoT system we get lots of data and can make more data-driven decisions which can transform a business.

Following this comes an opportunity to automate. High quality data allows us to make high quality decisions, but does it need to be us humans making those decisions on a day-to-day basis, possibly not.

By thinking about what in our vineyard and winery could be automated if high quality data was available we can focus our human efforts on more creative and valuable tasks that computers can’t do.

Bonus key question: What can be automated if high quality data is available?

In summary, there’s a lot to consider before implementing an IoT network in your business. This shouldn’t put you off though. Spend a bit of time thinking and documenting answers to these key questions and you’ll be far further ahead than many.

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I'm sure we've all had the fantasy of leaving our day jobs behind and moving to a lush countryside to start a winemaking business. Well soon we'll be able to live out that fantasy, although virtually.

Hundred Days is a new game soon to be released by the Italy-based developers Broken Arm Games. It's is a simulator style game with a slight puzzle element, allowing players to build and scale a winemaking business from scratch.

The game consists of 4 main elements: the vines, warehouse, winery and the playing board & cards. The player is presented with certain cards in each round and must fit these on to the board in order for that card to execute. So, for example, the player is presented with 3 cards which have various sizes and shapes and represent various steps in the winemaking process. These need to be executed in the right order and at the right time. As the business grows you need to manage more of these at the same time. You start with a limited size board and can purchase more squares on the board and so allowing you to fit more cards on it at one time. It's not the easiest to explain in text so I would highly recommend playing the demo a couple of times or watching the trailer to get a feel for the gameplay.

There's a lot of features in the game and it allows you to control the winemaking process right from growing grapes to selling the wine. It's a game where there's always something to do and think about. Players can:

• Cultivate different types of vine and choose grape varieties depending on the soil characteristics

• Manage work in the vineyard such as pruning and harvesting

• Apply treatments to the vines depending on the type of disease

• Check the state of ripeness of the grapes and decide when to harvest

• Follow the winemaking processes and develop the characteristics of the wines

• Select the yeasts and bacteria used during fermentation

• Age the wines in different ways and for different lengths of time

• Customise bottles by choosing their shape, colour, cork type or screw cap

• Create a sales network and adapt the characteristics of the wine to the type of customer

• Manage marketing and social activities to increase the reputation of the company.

The game is built on Unity which gives it great looking graphics and good performance. It also makes the game really easy for the developers to port on to a broad range of platforms such as Xbox and Playstation in the future. It will be released on 13th May, initially on PC and Mac via Steam, and on Google Stadia, with consoles coming later.

Having just played the demo I think this is a really fun and interesting game. It does teach you about the wine making process but the education feels secondary which is nice, otherwise it might feel like being back in school. It allows you to play around and add your own touch with every decision you make having a genuine impact. It provides a good mix between the simulation and puzzle genres with it definitely be more of a simulator than a puzzle game which I think is spot on.

I'm looking forward to the release and will no doubt be spending my weekends and evenings building my virtual wine empire.

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Well technology may have come to the rescue with the worlds first smart wine aerator, the Aveine.

The Aveine is a neat device that fits on top your wine bottle and aerates the wine instantly as it passes through when being served. It connects wirelessly to your phone where the Aveine app allows you to scan the wine label to ensure that the absolute best amount of aeration takes place when you serve the wine. It also takes in to account the temperature in the room at the time. The wine is aerated instantly, meaning you no longer need to wait hours for it to breath in a decanter.

The Aveine uses ambient air so there's no need to repeatedly purchase any gas canisters to keep using it, and it only aerates the wine that's poured with the rest of the bottles remaining untouched. Aeration can be set for anything from 1 hour to 24 hours so even the youngest Bordeaux's can be drunk instantly.

One of the interesting times this device can be used is to taste wines at varying levels of the aeration, for example, if you're a wine school or doing some tastings you can show the effects of aeration on the wine, instantly.

The device, which won a CES 2019 innovation award, is made from brushed aluminium and has a very simple touch screen interface, connecting to your phone via bluetooth and charging using the supplied USB docking station.

At €400 it's certainly not the cheapest gadget you can buy but for those with large wine collections or in the fine dining trade it's not extortionate, and it comes with a 5 year warranty which is reassuring.

It's available to buy now directly from Aveine, with a cheaper model on the way in July.

One of those that has stood out for me has been The Wine List. A few things drew me to them, not just their excellent marketing, modern look and feel, and flexible subscription options but more so their unique offering in that they provide subscribers with a 12-part wine course. In addition to learning about the wines in your box that month you also get to learn about how to taste, the fermentation process, how terroir and weather impact wines, and a whole range of other topics. The aim being that at the end of 12 months you're more confident in your wine knowledge, without having to spend time going through formal courses like the WSET.

The Wine List has had a great 2020 with now over 1,300 active subscribers up from just 100 about a year ago at the end of 2019. They've grown Monthly Recurring Revenues (MRR) to an average of £45k over the last six months with £71k in November and have shipped over 20,000 bottles of wine.

On the back of that success and growth the founder, Josh Lachkovic and his team, chose to raise growth funds through the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. With a target of £375,000 in order to build and grow a new online learning platform with videos, quizzes and a community, shoring up their back-office operations and customer service, and getting their own warehouse and fulfillment centre set up. All helping to increase margins and give greater opportunity for growth.

They have now smashed that target and successfully been funded at over £505,000 from 442 investors. Around £320,000 of that came from their lead investor, Haatch, who are an Angel Investor with some successful technology start-ups in their portfolio.

The Wine List has shown the industry what can be done with a good digital strategy and a bit of investment in effort and cash.

If you want to try out The Wine List use this link and the code TEACHME30 at checkout to get 30% off your first box.

While some links may be affiliate all content is 100% independent.

The Copper Crew was set up earlier in 2020 (what a year to start a new business) by three friends Oli, Theo and Sam. Oli and Theo have ginger hair, hence the name Copper Crew.

They currently offer three wines, all made by Sam in South Africa (Sam also runs the brilliant Minimalist Wines). First up is a Rosé which would go down a treat at a summer picnic, it's very reminiscent of a Provence Rosé. Next is a wonderfully crisp Chenin Blanc, perfect for a relaxing afternoon in the sunshine, it's zesty and very easy to drink. Finally there's a fruity Merlot which is their newest wine. It's great to drink on a cold Autumn evening, although I wish I had poured it in to a glass to give it some air before drinking.

Both the Rosé and Chenin recently won Bronze at the Drinks Business Blind Tasting.

All of their wines are Vegan friendly and certified sustainable which of course matches with the dietary and ethics considerations of a lot of younger drinkers that these wines are mostly aimed at.

I love the packaging, it's vibrant and fun. It will certainly help them stand out on a supermarket and wine shop shelves.

At £12.50 for a box of 3 which is equivalent to a 750ml bottle they're not the cheapest. For a lot of consumers spending £12.50 on a bottle of wine would probably be seen as a weekend treat rather than an ad-hoc purchase for a picnic in the park. With £12.50 you could get a 12 pack of Brewdog IPA beer. Now I know that's not quite comparing Apples with Apples (or Grapes with Grapes) but consumers looking for a few drinks in the park of a summers evening will be making this comparison.

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The Copper Crew wines to anyone, whether a wine connoisseur or an average consumer. With three great South African wines in modern and vibrant packaging I think Oli, Theo and Sam are on to a winner.

Across nearly every measure still wine sales in the UK have been declining or at least stagnant with volumes falling by 2% over 2016-17 and predicted to fall by 11% over the next 5 years [1]. This is despite overall alcohol consumption increasing by around 7% [2], beer sales increasing by 2.6% in 2018 [3] and spirits expected to grow by over 5% over the next few years [4]. Even the saving grace of the wine industry in the UK, Prosecco, has stagnated with sales peaking in 2016/17 [5].

For many in the wine industry and those like me who are reasonably large consumers this might come as a shock. We know that there’s huge variety out there and some amazing wines coming out of almost every region. For the general consumer though this isn’t always the case. When you think about it wine is not very accessible at all.

For the general consumer wine is confusing, boring, inconvenient, expensive, bad for the environment and generally not an easy market to enter. The average monthly wine consumer is 50 years old and has an income around 25% above the national average [6]. If you as a young Millennial or Gen Z wanted to start exploring wine it’s not a particularly attractive or trendy market to get in to. Unlike perhaps craft beer which has grown phenomenally over the last 10 years thanks to its trendy image and accessibility. Just compare the demographics and atmosphere in your local craft beer bar compared to your local wine bar. 

Image: Mother Kelly’s Craft Beer bar in London

This is all something that canned wine can help to overcome, and what I want to start discussing through this post.

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Marketing

Walk down the beer or spirit aisle in the supermarket and you’ll be awash with different colours, brands, sizes, shapes, and old vs new. Walk down the next aisle, the wine aisle, and you’ll be awash with plain white labels, perhaps a picture of a chateaux, and names you’ve never heard of. Unless you have a pretty deep knowledge of wine it’s almost impossible to distinguish bottles with most consumers using price as their only guide. How many consumers know their Italian DOCGs vs DOCs vs IGTs?

Image: The wine aisle vs the beer aisle

Wine needs a serious overhaul of its marketing and appeal to a broader and younger audience. On supermarket shelves the only way to stand out is through packaging and cans give marketers a brilliant estate to attract the eye of the shopper. Research by Nielsen shows that best in class packaging can lead to over 40% increase in sales while 64% of consumers try a new wine product simply because the packaging catches their eye.

The 360 degree full length labelling on cans gives a huge opportunity for producers to stand out. More interesting, colourful and creative packaging also has secondary effects for marketing with consumers much more likely to share images of these products on Instagram. Today’s products need to be #Instagramable.

Image: Hun Wines are #Instagramable

Convenience

Take a stroll in your local park on a sunny afternoon and you’ll see an abundance of cans and beer bottles, you’ll probably not see so many wine bottles though. Traditional 750ml wine bottles are inconvenient. They may not be suitable for some places such as pools and beaches where glass is dangerous and banned. They’re heavy to carry and you need additional items to open and consume - bottle openers and wine glasses. The consumer also has to finish the whole bottle in a relatively short period of time to maintain freshness and temperature, nobody wants to drink a warm Sauvignon Blanc after all.

Cans get around of a lot of these challenges. You don’t need to worry about remembering your cork screw, cans can be taken almost anywhere without risk of breakage, they’re much lighter than bottles and give consumers a perfect serving size without needing to worry about freshness. Most cans tend to be 200-250ml, around 1-1.5 traditional servings.

Closely linked to convenience and portability is occasions. When wine becomes more convenient to consume people will consider it for a much broader set of occasions. Cans open up wine to be consumed in new places and during more active pursuits such as walking, golf, poolside parties and events, boating, theme parks and so on. This means that canned wine isn’t taking away from traditional sales but adding to them.

Cans are also an inert environment with no UV penetration or Oxygen exchange that you would usually get in a glass bottle. Techniques used for canning wines guarantee quality for up to 5 years.

The Environment

Climate change is by far the biggest threat we face today and while businesses in nearly every sector are adjusting their practices to help reduce the threat, as far as I can see the wine industry is doing little to nothing. However, it could be very easy for the industry to play its part. A study conducted in the UK found that transporting the same total volume of packaged wine in 250ml cans has half the CO2 emissions of wine transported in traditional glass bottle packaging.

Aluminium is 100% recyclable and can be recycled time and time again, indefinitely. This makes aluminium cans the most sustainable beverage packaging available. 

Sustainability and the environment is something the consumers take extremely seriously now, particularly those in the younger demographics. Research suggests that the majority of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products and packaging while 51% of Millennial consumers check product packaging for sustainability claims before purchasing.

For the wine makers, importers and retailers there’s also savings to be made by adopting more canned wines. Lighter weight during shipping and handling, reduced breakage and more efficient stacking can save 15-20% of costs across the supply chain.

Variety

The smaller portion that consumers get from a can means they can try a much broader variety of wines in a single sitting. So for example across a three course meal a consumer could have three different wines without having to worry about opening a new bottle each time. It’s fair to say that most people will have a single bottle with a meal, across all courses, with canned wines they can have a different wine with each course without needing to use a specialist device such as a Coravin or other preservation tool.

The general trend towards faster and more informal dining also lends itself to canned wines where a consumer simply doesn’t have the time to finish a whole bottle. When dining with friends and family in larger groups they can also save the debates on which bottle to have with everyone in the party being able to choose their own can, just as you would today with choosing a beer.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of factors in favour of wine makers adopting cans, at least to some extent. This offers them the opportunity to innovate their brand and attract a new range of diverse consumers buying wine for all sorts of occasions. Cans don’t need to detract from traditional bottles sales, they can add to it.

A broad spectrum of wine makers have already started to adapt. From Francis Ford in California to Scarpetta in Italy to Hun Wines in the UK. Hun are a great example of a new brand taking full of advantage of everything discussed through this post. Their cans are attractive, they have a big Instagram presence and they actively promote their environmental credentials on their cans from them being Vegan to their cans being endlessly recyclable.

Image: Hun Wines showing their environmental credentials.

While I don’t think we’re ever going to see, or even should see, a Bordeaux 1er Cru Classe in a can we should certainly embrace and encourage wine makers to adopt cans, for the sake of the industry as a whole.

Nearly every industry has been disrupted by new innovations. Those that adapt survive and those that don’t die. Wine is no different.

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Sources

[1] https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/03/uk-sees-wine-decline-and-its-predicted-to-worsen/

[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/289987/expenditure-on-alcoholic-beverages-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-quarterly/

[3] https://www.siba.co.uk/SIBA-British-Craft-Beer-Report-2020.pdf

[4] https://londonspiritscompetition.com/en/blog/insights-1/current-state-of-spirits-market-in-the-uk--189.htm

[5] https://www.ft.com/content/a3172278-2a3f-11ea-bc77-65e4aa615551

[6] https://www.wineintelligence.com/schrodingers-millennial/

Keeping track of the wines in your cellar is no mean feat, even if you have just a few dozen bottles. Remembering each wine, where it was bought, for what reasons, at what price, and of course where you’ve put it are all easy things to forget and get wrong. Accidentally opening that nice bottle of Pauillac that you originally bought to keep for example.

This often means spending time in the cellar or with the cooler door open, disturbing bottles and trying to recall whether a particular wine is what you’re actually looking for.

We all solve this problem in our own ways, with notebooks, spreadsheets, sticky labels, bottle tags, and all sorts of inventive home solutions.

Now though there’s some great technology to help us easily know everything about our collections.

Caveasy

First up is a French start-up called Caveasy. They have developed a connected and smart wine storage unit which makes recording and then finding your wine a doddle.

To add a new bottle, or multiple bottles of the same wine, you simply take a picture of the label with your smartphone and then place the bottle anywhere on the Caveasy unit. The smart shelves recognise which slot you’ve put the bottle in, and record this to the app.

When you want to find a particular wine you simply press the ‘locate’ button on the app and the smart shelf flashes a light on the slot where that bottle(s) is located.

You can manage up to 588 bottles on the app and smart shelves which come in either 48 or 84 bottle size. The shelves have a built in temperature and humidity sensor which links to the app, meaning you can easily monitor your cellar conditions.

The app also gives you more information about the wine, such as its maturity timeline and recommended food pairings.

One of the nice things about Caveasy is that the company takes a privacy by design approach which means your privacy is considered from the start. They don’t associate your cellar with your name or any other personal details. In fact, you don’t even need to create an account to use the smart shelves and app.

The product is currently in it’s first version with the company taking a very transparent approach and letting everyone see their development roadmap, which is a very nice touch and recognises the early stage this start-up is at.

The 48 bottle ‘Model M’ is priced at €600 while the 84 bottle ‘Model L’ is €952 currently.

I like this company and think they’ve got a great initial product here. As soon as they can integrate this in to a wine cooler I would be very interested in buying one (I’m not lucky enough to have a cellar).

eSommelier

eSommelier is a system that’s been around for some time, since 2003 in fact, and now boasts over 5,000 customers around the world.

This inventory management system consists of a touchscreen computer, barcode scanner and label printer, all kept in a stylish wooden stand.

To record your wine you enter the details on to the system including the storage location, print off a barcode label and stick this to the bottle.

Then when you want to find a bottle again you simply go on to the system to browse or search for a specific wine, see its location and then scan the barcode on the label to record that you’ve removed it.

The system records a whole host of really useful details including ratings, valuations, drinking window, and your own tasting notes.

Unlike Caveasy though eSommelier is quite manual, requiring you to manually enter details rather than just snapping a picture. You also need to have your own location system such as columns and rows in your storage unit.

This is a great system for large collections of hundreds or thousands of bottles. The company even offers a concierge service where they’ll come and catalogue your existing collection for you.

Your collection is easily accessible from anywhere by logging in to the eSommelier site. There’s no smartphone or tablet app though.

The whole system including a year of support is $3995. To keep your system working fully beyond the first year requires another $500 each year which think is a bit cheeky to be honest. We live in a world now where software updates especially should be available for the life of the product.

If you’ve got a large wine collection though eSommelier is a great piece of technology to help you know everything about your wines.

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What other great wine storage tech have you come across? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

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67 Pall Mall

Regarded as one of the worlds finest members club and with over 4,000 wines on their list they certainly have the choice. With London’s best Sommeliers in their employ they also have the expertise.

They haven’t let this prestige go to waste in lockdown either with a huge range of virtual wine tastings and other masterclasses available. It’s almost certain that you’ll find something interesting and perhaps even a bit different.

The venue is currently host at least two events every day of the week with some days even hosting five events. They have tasting of specific wineries, regions and introductions to whole countries such as China.

Tastings range in price depending on the wine being tasted but range generally from £70 to £130 although some do hit £200. Wines are sent to your home in small tasting bottles.

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Ward’s Wine Club

Started by a good friend of mine when he became furloughed Ward’s Wine Club offers a great range of regular wine tastings. All of the wines are hand picked by Ben himself with a focus on biodynamic and organic wines. They’re all very unique. You certainly won’t find any supermarket wine with in these tastings.

They offer a couple of great introductory sessions each of which features three unique wines. One has a Red, White and Rose while the other is all about Sparkling Wines with a Champagne, Prosecco, and a sparkling Chardonnay. These sessions are £59 and £64 respectively including UK delivery.

The highlight event with Ward’s Wine Club though is a 6 bottle tasting. You get a case of six unique and interesting wines delivered to your door. Five are for the tutored tasting while one, a sparkling, is to pop open at your will. This package is a very reasonable £129.

Tastings take place twice per week on a Wednesday and Saturday so you just join the relevant one for the wine you wish you to taste at that time.

The other great thing is that the tastings are recorded so you can watch back to get a quick refresher at anytime.

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Grape to Grain

A fantastic wine bar, shop and beer cellar in Manchester. Grape to Grain have now taken their regular tastings online.

Hosted on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and 6pm respectively they each have three wines and a selection of cheeses. All of Grape to Grains are quite unique and interesting, again, no supermarket stuff here.

The brilliant feature with these tastings is that they offer a range of sample sizes: a 100ml taster, 500ml carafe, or the full 750ml bottle. Prices are of course dependent on the wines being tasted and the size you go for but they can be as cheap as £15. You do also get some paired cheeses.

Wines can be delivered anywhere in the UK for a small fee but they will deliver for free in Manchester.

Grape to Grain’s tasting are a bit more relaxed than others, particularly 67 Pall Mall, expect a bit of swearing but a lot of fun too.

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As with pretty much every industry there’s some key developing technologies that are really starting to provide benefit. For wine making there’s two emerging as potential game changers: Drones & Satellites and Artificial Intelligence.

Drones & Satellites

I put Drones and Satellites under the same category as they’re both providing similar outcomes - high quality imagery across a broad range of the EM Spectrum, although there is recognition that they of course do this in different ways with their own benefits and disadvantages.

With the average vineyard in Europe measuring 1.3ha (13,000m2), and over 10ha when considering France on it’s own, knowing what’s going on in every corner can be extremely challenging and of course across that area conditions can vary greatly due to geography, soil, rainfall, sunshine, temperature, disease and so on.

This is where drones and satellites come in. Using these enablers with multi-spectral and other sensors allows growers to get measurements that are often beyond easy reach using traditional methods. For example, measuring soil moisture at varying depths across a whole vineyard, measuring temperature and humidity, measuring density patterns (typically referred to as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)). While these have generally always been possible using human labour and some tools they are clearly time intensive tasks and still may not be at the resolution that’s really needed.

By making use of drones and satellites these measurements can be taken very accurately at potentially cm resolutions. This makes the spotting of patterns so much easier and therefore gaining actionable insight also so much easier. Where previously a grower would have to walk the vines and spot problems such as disease with their eyes they can now see problems perhaps before they’re visual and can see them on a smaller scale. This then means actions such as the use of fertilisers and pesticides can be used preventatively and on a much smaller scale, perhaps on just one vine rather than a whole area - reducing costs and environmental impact.

By measuring the vineyards NDVI more accurately and to a greater resolution growers can also harvest grapes at varying times to ensure that they have the best uniformity. Where typically a vineyard would pick everything at the same time, or perhaps split it in to large chunks, they can now see exactly which vines are ready for picking and which need more time. This allows wine makers to get grapes that are all at relatively the same maturity.

While measuring NDVI using satellites isn’t particularly new we are now seeing the use of higher resolution and cheaper satellites such as Cube Sats which is opening up the technique to ever more growers. The use of drones can be even more approachable, particularly for smaller vineyards where satellites don’t make economic sense.

Looking to the future we’re probably going to see the use satellites more and more in this area as they become much more economical and their capabilities continue to increase. We’re probably going to find that companies offering this ‘as a service’ will be the most successful with growers wanting insights and actions rather than just raw data. On the drone front we’ll probably see similar development. We’ll likely see the use of drone swarms so that more area can be covered quickly. We may also see the use of drones for spraying but realistically this needs significant improvements in battery technology first - 10-15 minute flight times at the moment make it not very viable unless you’re using a lot of drones at once.

Artificial Intelligence

Now I use the term AI in the loosest possible definition to basically mean data analysis with a bit of prediction. As grape growers make more use of technology the amount of data they collect and hold only increases. This data though can be hugely valuable when it’s used in Machine Learning algorithms, either as training data if historic or as data to form the basis of predictions if current.

Making use of the data collected from drones and satellites as discussed above is proving hugely valuable.

Predicting the yield of a vineyard each year is extremely important for growers and for the makers who rely on the grapes. Knowing not only the amount of grapes but also the quality can really help with predicting financials for the year and bad predictions can wipe out multiple years of profit as growers overstock on resources such as fertiliser and human capital or the other way not having enough barrels ready or people available to pick.

Unfortunately predicting yields is probably one of the hardest things to do in agriculture (and we must not forget wine making is a part of this industry). There are so many variables such as weather which in itself includes rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind that it can be difficult to predict early in the season what the yield will be at the end. Currently growers take samples from across the vineyard and assess measures such as weight, number of grapes per bunch and canopy growth, then extrapolating this across the whole vineyard to predict themselves what the yield may be, based on their years of experience. This gives a roughly 60-70% accuracy (surprisingly high I thought).

By taking historic measurements such as weather, soil data and yields, which most vineyards will have, they can use machine learning algorithms and data analysis to better predict yields from early measurements of the current season, based on what’s happened in previous years. By also making use of better long term weather/climate forecasts it’s been shown that you can accurately predict yields for the whole season with up to 90% accuracy.

As more and more data is collected, stored and analysed these algorithms will become ever more accurate and useful. Looking further towards the future we’ll see AI moving in to the production facilities with makers being better supported by data in their decision making as we learn more about what properties make wine taste good.

While many believe wine making is an art form, it is in fact much more like science.