Carneros-based Bouchaine Vineyards is excited to introduce “Taste of Technology,” a walking vineyard tour with a focus on Bouchaine’s sustainable farming practices empowered by Cisco Industrial Asset Vision sensor technology.
“Increasingly, our consumers are interested in where their wine comes from and how it is grown. On this tour, guests will get to see firsthand where the wine in their glass begins, including an inside look at the promises of new technology that will allow us to collect data and make block-by-block decisions to reduce our carbon footprint in the vineyard,” says Brian Allard, Direct to Consumer Director at Bouchaine.
Guests of the tour will be greeted in Bouchaine’s new tasting room where an introduction to the winery’s history will be blended with a “behind the curtain” discussion on the state of the wine business. From there, guests will be brought into the vineyard to learn the importance of everything from row orientation to sustainable pest management. During summer and leading up to harvest, guests will even have a chance to taste grapes fresh off the vine. The tour will end at the top of the vineyard with an introduction to the Cisco Industrial Asset Vision sensor technology that allows the winemaking team to be more precise not just in its water use, but in all its growing decisions. At the end of the tour, groups will taste through five wines on the terrace overlooking the bay, where they will be given a Cisco WebEx password and those with a sense of whimsy may invite family and friends to their own video selfie, including toasts at the top of the vineyard with the view of the San Pablo Bay in the background. Offered by appointment only to corporate and private groups, the “Taste of Technology” experience is $95 per person. Those interested may also add a picnic lunch for an additional $65 per person.
“The Cisco Industrial Asset Sensors allow Bouchaine real-time access to data that tracks temperature, light, humidity, wind and soil moisture over many different vineyard blocks during the growing season,” says General Manager and Winemaker Chris Kajani. “Using them, we are able to take our focus on precision viticulture to new heights by further refining decisions on irrigation, leafing and fruit thinning to minimize water use while also crafting higher quality wines.”
Those interested can book the experience online at https://bouchaine.com/collections/experiences.
