They're not wearing capes. They're wearing vests and carrying iPads and managing wine clubs and running tasting rooms and trying to figure out why last month's numbers don't match. They're superheroes all the same. In the wine industry, when are data superpowers unlocked? Usually it starts with one moment. A report that used to take an hour and a half is just there. A heat map that used to be built manually in Excel now takes two clicks. A segment gets run, an email goes out, and the winery sells more wine. It happens every day. Not once a quarter when the board report is due. Every day. That's what a superhero looks like. It’s not about being a “tech person.” It's about being willing to look at what your data is actually telling you — about your customers, your club, your tasting room, your next email. We're going to be putting the spotlight on the superheroes themselves at two upcoming events. If you're curious about what your data could actually be doing for you, these are worth you

Small but mighty. That's the phrase that kept coming back to me throughout last week's webinar. The three panelists who joined us are running lean DTC teams — Chelsea Leniart, Wine Club Manager at Scheid Family Wines, Hilary Berkey, Director of Sales, Marketing and Operations at Emeritus Vineyards, and Kristy Quigley, Operations Manager at Alma Rosa Winery. "Lean teams" meaning two or three people deep. At the most. The outsized results they're seeing, in a market that everyone agrees is hard, are genuinely remarkable. Here's some highlights and takeaways from  what they shared in last week's webinar. On Wine Club Customization The fear is that if you give members flexibility, they'll race to the bottom and swap out for your cheapest wines.  What Chelsea actually found was the opposite.  By studying what members customized in the previous year's March run, she reshaped this year's offering mor

“What can I do right now to help my winery sell more wine and, frankly, stay in business?” We know how many of our colleagues and friends are asking this question. We see and to hear it as an urgent problem that needs immediate attention. Which is exactly why we put together tomorrow’s FREE webinar, on better tools and strategies for navigating a tough market. There’s still time to sign up here. We’re particularly excited to shine the spotlight on three smart industry pros as they share their own strategies and toolkits. Here are some highlights to start: Chelsea Leniart, Wine Club Manager at Scheid Family Wines, will talk about inventory management and boosting Club revenue through projected customizations. Hilary Berkey, Director of Sales, Marketing and Operations at Emeritus Vineyards, will talk about hyper-segmentation in outbound sales, and the "side effects" of ideation for different teams. Kristy Quigley, Operations Manager

Wineries that are finding traction aren't just grinding harder. They're leaning on better tools. Tools, that is, that do the heavy lifting so that the wineries can focus on what they do best: making great wine and building real relationships with their customers. That's what this free webinar is all about, on Thursday, April 9 at 11 am PST / 2 pm EST. We'll walk you through the specific tools and strategies that are helping wineries grow — even in a down market. Here's a preview of what we'll cover: AI-driven sales suggestions. Our machine learning algorithms look at your customer data and tell you exactly who to call, what wine to pitch them, and when. These are smart, predictive tools for both sales and customer retention that lead directly to increased revenue. Marketing automation that actually works. Set up a highly targeted campaign in about five minutes (minus writing the actual message), with built-in safeguards so you don't overserve your

Generous. That's the very best word I can think of, to describe last week's Outbound Sales webinar. The panelists were generous with their time and content, and all participants were generous with their conversation. Here is the link to the webinar, in case you missed it or if you'd like to revisit. And here were some top takeaways: An Outbound Sales team is like a "Swiss army knife" of a winery. They field calls and questions from all directions, from phone sales to tracking orders to relationship building. The Average Order Value (AOV) of Outbound Sales is almost always higher than the AOV of a Tasting Room sale. Key skills needed in an Outbound Salesperson include persistence, objection handling, methodical note taking, long-term commitment, and an ability to trust the process. Chris created this highlight reel of Enolytics' Outbound Sales toolkit, including the Sell More Now! module and AI summary feature. Looking ahead, we'd like to share our

I'm gonna need everybody to stay calm. But I might - might - have a sliver of good wine data news to share with you. The latest Enolytics Snapshot came out this week, reporting on the month of February, and here's the big takeaway: "February's performance reveals an industry adapting to new realities rather than spiraling downward." Now. If you know us at all, you know that Enolytics is not prone to dramatics or exaggeration. "Cautious stability" is what we're calling it in this month's Snapshot analysis. So, again, everybody stay calm. But we think that not "spiraling downward" is a pretty big deal right now, so we're going to hover here for a moment. Please visit our Snapshots page and see for yourself. It's free for everyone to access. You'll see Q1 so far, and the month of February alone, and the last twelve months. Scroll down, and you'll see Wine Club Metrics, and the WISE Triple Score (because yay WISE!)

"The barrier to entry with wine and AI is you." That was my favorite takeaway from last Friday's inaugural AI and Wine group discussion, which Nadia Kinkade and I had initiated to explore how artificial intelligence is shaping the business of wine. It was Stephen Mok, founder of New Vintage Labs, who said it. And it's stuck with me. You know, and we all know, that there are plenty of barriers of entry when it comes to today's wine industry. And never before have two such powerful (tsunami-scale?) forces crashed together as they have right now, namely the massive shift in technology and the wine sales downturn globally. Which is why it's never before been so important to have conversations like this, about the industry's responses to these forces. And to have them openly and with a community-forward mindset. And to learn from our colleagues and peers about how they're managing the waves. That's exactly why we'll keep having these sessio

AI for wine. You're thinking about it. We're thinking about it. Everyone's thinking about it. So let's get together, and pool our collective thoughts, ideas and learnings. Nadia Kinkade and I are very happy to host this first session of the Wine AI group at 9 am PST this Friday, and you are most welcome to join us. Stephen Mok is our featured guest speaker, on the topic of barriers to entry for AI in wine. It's easy to sign up here. The vision is for half of the hour to be dedicated to content and education, and for the other half to be given to discussion and Q&A. We are in this together, and we'll succeed together too. Please join us. Sign up here. And we'll see you Friday, February 13! 9 am PST / noon EST via Zoom. Thank you, as always -- Cathy

“Peer to peer.” What are my neighbors doing? How are my neighbors doing, in relation to my winery? I’m all for running your own race, and doing what’s right for your own brand and your own business. I also understand that we live in a tight, relational ecosystem of wine. What’s happening with your peers matters and it can provide important perspective and context for what’s happening with you. This week I’d like to hover over two peer-to-peer perspectives. First up, our latest “snapshot” from January, highlighting key metrics across our entire dataset. For the first time we’re also including the WISE Triple Score, thanks to our newest partnership with the WISE team. Important takeaways from this community snapshot: Wineries gathered more customer data this January than last January, successfully building their databases for future marketing efforts. Winning wineries convert improved data capture and club conversion