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.