Blending passion and distilling wisdom

Enjoying wines has been one of my leisurely passions for the past 15 years. Thus, taking the well-reviewed GSB course on the Global Dynamics of the Wine Industry is the best way for me to indulge in my interests, as well as to gain practical business insights into a highly competitive industry.

My personal interest in wines started in my Cornell undergraduate days. In my senior year, I attended Cornell Hotel School's annual wine tasting course.  With a large 800+ student capacity, it was the unofficial course you had to take to "graduate”. As an uninitiated student, the carefully curated course comprised lectures and tastings of 6 wines from the most influential wine making regions in the old and new world; a different region each week. I was hooked on the romanticism of the whole wine making philosophy of terroir and technique, as well as intrigued by how such a smorgasbord of flavours and scents could be created through a process every bit a science, art and divine intervention itself, through acts of weather. 

Fuelled by my new-found interest, as a poor student, I was surprised by the hospitality of what I had assumed would be the snobbishness of wine makers when my emails to wine makers in Alsace were answered. I was going on a trip to France and sent cold call emails requesting for winery tours - Domaine Hugel and Paul Blanck replied favourably, despite my stating that I was a university student with no ties to the wine industry. I was deeply touched by their warmth and generosity during the visit as I toured their vineyards, facilities and even got to taste some exquisite wines. Since then, I have gone on several wine tasting trips in NY state, Bordeaux, and various parts of Australia. I look forward to discussing and tasting wines from different regions amongst fellow Stanford aficionados, especially bottlings from our “home turf” of the acclaimed Napa Valley and Sonoma regions.

The family at Paringa Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Australia

It is often said that to make better decisions, don't let emotions cloud our judgement. In that vein, I’m also looking forward to learning dispassionately about the wine business to gain practical insights into strategy, brand-building, economics and sales. In particular, it is a highly competitive industry where newcomers can rapidly make a name for themselves, but could fall out of favour as quickly as the fast-evolving consumer trends in wine. There is also great degree of product differentiation with top limited production wines costing thousands and sold on futures, all the way down to the two buck chucks. Understanding profitability and revenue models at the mid to lower-end, would help shed light on how consumer value is created at the high-end. I believe some of the insights from the wine industry can also be applied more generally across to other sectors.

Looking forward to 2 weeks of exciting wines, rejuvenated palates and intellectual discourse on the art and business of wine making. Cheers!