From measurement to meaning: how vineyard and winery data generate value

There is a silent knowledge that forms in every cellar and is not found in any manual of oenology or agronomy. It is built over time, by observing, touching and tasting the grape, the vine and the wine: a qualitative knowledge born of experience that reflects the style, vision and identity of those who have tended that vineyard for decades. The scientific literature calls it tacit knowledge: it is not codified, it does not circulate through documents or procedures, it exists in the heads of those who carry it with them.

The concept was formalised by the economist-philosopher Michael Polanyi in the 1960s with a phrase that stands on its own: we know more than we can tell. Decades later, researchers Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi showed, by analysing the processes of companies such as Honda and Canon, that turning this implicit knowledge into explicit, shareable knowledge is one of the main drivers of competitive advantage. This holds for industry. It holds even more for wine.

We know more than we can tell.

Michael Polanyi

Beyond the number: all the data a cellar produces without knowing it

When we talk about data, the first thought often turns to weather stations, an Excel sheet, a sensor, a number or an analytical parameter. These are numerical data and they are fundamental because they carry information with them — but they are not the only kind.

Every observation in the vineyard is data. Every note by the winemaker is data. A photograph of a suspicious leaf, the decision to stop a maceration, the sensory evaluation of a wine before and after ageing: all data, even if not numerical, even if not required by any tax register. Each piece of data is a piece of the puzzle that lets us see the complete picture of a wine. A picture that forms gradually, step by step, observation after observation, from pruning to bottling. Knowing this picture becomes a strategic reference point, making it possible to compare decisions and results across different vintages. These data, numerical and qualitative, are the only reference trace for understanding how that particular result was reached.

Why a single piece of data is not enough

An isolated piece of data, on its own, does not say much. A single observation, too, remains isolated information. Value emerges only when they are combined and meaning is obtained.

The decision of when to harvest is never made on sugar content alone: you must always take into account phenolic ripeness, the content of organic acids and, possibly, the aromatic ripeness of the grape. The analysis of these qualitative aspects leads to a technical observation and decision that in turn depends on the environmental factors that determined the content of sugars, polyphenols, acids and aromas. The same mechanism applies during the maceration of red wines. Polyphenol extraction can be monitored analytically. But the decision of when to end the maceration also depends on the tactile quality of the tannins, assessed by tasting.

Connecting the dots

For a qualitative piece of information to meet a numerical datum, they must first share space and time. An observation written in a paper notebook, with no coordinates and no precise date linked to a system, remains an island. Using a system able to ensure that every datum and piece of information is collected and stored systematically, on every plot, every lot of wine and every vintage, is the minimum necessary condition for correlating data.

Coming back to the starting point, the wine sector is the perfect example of the concept of tacit knowledge: great growers who define the style of wines, inspire trends and leave their mark. The value thus generated cannot remain buried inside a single person; companies must be able to extract and understand the knowledge that until today has remained silent inside great winemakers.