How to use data in writing about wine? This question was addressed at last week’s Wine Writers’ Symposium with a session called “Finding the Story in the Data.” The session included a panel of knowledgeable wine industry professionals coming from a variety of experiences in using data in wine writing. It was facilitated by Kelli White from the Wine Center at Meadowood Napa Valley and included Andrew Adams, Editor of the Wine Analytics Report and Erica Duecy, Chief Content Officer at Pix. The “Finding the Story in the Data” was attended by about 100 wine writers and was on the third day of the virtual conference.
Here are three takeaways for wine writers from that session:
Learn to Write a Story from the Data
“You can craft a pitch from a dataset,” said Andrew Adams. Numbers by themselves can often be meaningless to a general audience. The ability for writers to put data into context makes it easier to understand. Telling a story with numbers is an even more effective medium for understanding data. Erica Duecy shared that BevAlc Insight by Drizzly is an important source for her in finding a story from the data. Kelli White discussed the California Wine Institute as a reliable source for system level wine industry statistics to introduce or frame a story.
Take Time to Learn About the Data
Wine writers need to learn how to read and use data in their stories. This might be a time-consuming process but being familiar with the data sources and how to use them will benefit future stories. This includes determining the validity and reliability of the data. The writer is responsible for defending the data source. Erica also mentioned it is important for wine writers to learn how to read financial statements and reports. She referred to two important books she uses, Numbers in the Newsroom and Understanding Financial Statements.
Become Familiar with the Data Challenges
“A lot of the numbers are locked,” said Erica, meaning they are not publicly available. More commonly it requires a subscription with fees that are not set up for the occasional user. Many free and fee-based data sources were shared during the symposium’s session by presenters, as well as participants. They are listed on the Resources webpage. Panelists acknowledged on-premise data is often missing. Andrew mentioned NielsenIQ’s recent acquisition of CGA, a provider of on-premise insights, has promise for the wine industry.
There is a fourth takeaway. The conference was free and the sessions were informative, relevant and presented by prestigious wine professionals. If you do any wine writing, suggest getting on their email list from their website to stay informed about next year’s symposium. Although there is no registration fee, a recent writing sample submission was required.
Traditionally an annual in-person event, this was the second virtual event with 253 registrations from more than 20 countries. The Wine Writer’s Symposium is a conference founded by Meadowood Napa Valley and the Napa Valley Vintners almost 20 years ago to support the wine writing community. This community ranges from prestigious book authors to freshman wine bloggers.
