In the last two decades, wine sales have steadily grown in the United States. Thousands of new wineries with wines numbering in the hundreds of thousands have entered the market. Also in this time frame, we have made incredible investments in research, education, wine making and packaging/closure science.

But what is necessary to take wine sales and marketing to the next level?

I’m holding a USB stick in my hand that contains the future,the data on this USB and what it means in terms of understanding a deeper, granular level of our customers, is something I've dreamed of since I came into the wine industry fourteen years ago.

Customer Vineyard can use this data to help wine businesses take specific actions to better connect with existing customers or to reach new ones.

The big deal the outside business world has been making about “big data” is starting to reach wine marketers, who increasingly are able to dive into the lake of data on who their best consumers are and how to reach them.

What big data analytics means for wine producers and sellers is the ability to leverage the science of pulling together and quickly analyzing information from traditional and online sources to sell more wine directly to consumers and the places they buy it most often.

For far too long, our industry has used the "Wine Club" as a proxy for true customer relationships. If a customer is a wine club member, then they are a top customer. Unfortunately, a club is not there "just to increase sales volume" or get rid of extra inventory. They must also ensure we stay connected with our customers.

Wine clubs, only work well if treated thoughtfully, as one tool among many needed to build lasting customer relationships.