The following is a clip from the SF Chronicle article titled "Vintage labeling standards loosened" by Cyril Penn (thursday, May 4th, 2006): 

The Professors from San Francisco State University's College of Business have developed a new federally funded program, called Global Match, to match small wineries with domestic and foreign distributors.

The concept for the project came from the 2004 World Wine Market tradeshow in San Francisco. The tradeshow wasn't economically viable, but the matchmaking concept lives on.

Wineries can enter information about types of wines offered, appellations, price and so forth. Distributors or others looking to purchase wine can detail the price range, styles, and regions they may be after, and the markets they represent. With that information, some potential matching can be done, just as a dating service would pre-screen or pre-qualify potential matches.

To learn more, visit bie.sfsu.edu/wine_match or e-mail Susan Cholette at cholette@sfsu.edu.

Lorenz "Larry" Biegler, a chemical engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, working in conjunction with industry scientists in Chile, is  in the process of determining mathematical models that will identify the attributes of a good wine. This reminds me of the time when I had a brief conversation with Eric Wente of Wente Vineyards a couple of years ago about the mixing of technology and wine-making, to which he had said:

"That will be the day when you can pour a glass of Merlot down two copper wires"

indicating that there is more to the art of wine making (and tasting, I suppose) than simply computers and math. If Prof. Biegler does manage to find the holy grail of good wine, then more power to him. I like the fact that the probability of making good wine will go up. I don't think the warm fuzzies can still be had from a program written in C++. And not to mention the havoc a computer virus might create to your wine recipe! I am sticking with "my nose in the wine glass" test to enjoy the holiday spirit(s) of 2005. 

Cheers!