Three Reasons Why I Am Taking This Class

Last time I blogged was when I was in high school... so please bear with me (or at least hope that my blogging skills improve as the quarter progresses).

I am taking this class because:

Wine is a tough business, and I want to have a comprehensive understanding of the trade. It is tough all the way from growing the grapes to making the wine to putting the bottles in customer's hands. A few summers ago, I spent 2 weeks in a small vineyard in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in France working in the fields, and my goodness, weren't those the toughest two weeks of physical labor I've ever endured. The rest of the value chain in the wine business is just as back-breaking - unpredictable natural conditions, ruthless competition, elusive consumer taste... But those are exactly why learning the business is so important before diving into it.

Wine is a complex and dynamic business, and I want to solidify my existing theoretical knowledge base with business intelligence and intuition. In the past 2 years, I have studied the "textbook" wine knowledge and successfully passed the certified sommelier exam. In this class, I would like to build the connection between theoretical knowledge (e.g., grapes, regions, appellations) and business intelligence (e.g., which markets are growing, which regions are winning favor of consumers), and be able to not just appreciate the wines but also analyze the industry.

Wine could be a lucrative and high growth business. At the outset of this class, my in-going thesis is that China would be the most attractive growth opportunity in wine in the next 5-10 years. It has a rapidly growing middle class that increasingly demands high quality consumables, of which wine occupies a special place. Wine is considered a luxury, a symbol of refined taste, and a beverage that benefits cardiovascular health. As the middle class becomes more accustomed to wine-drinking, demand for high quality and reasonably priced wine would continue to rise. In this class, I would like to prove out (or disprove) this in-going thesis, and explore potential business opportunities.