XChateau Wine Podcast

A Medical Record for Each Vine w/ Shawn DeMartino, Sentinel


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After struggling with tracking vineyard data firsthand, Shawn DeMartino, CEO and Founder of Sentinel, decided to create a solution with his partner. Enabling vine by vine mapping and data collection that could stand the test of time enables vineyard managers to increase the lifespan of a vineyard, manage viruses, and effectively create a “medical record” for each individual vine.  


Detailed Show Notes: 

Shawn’s background - winemaking, viticulture, now general management

Sentinel was a Covid project that became real, software that collects individual vine information over time

  • “Patient medical system of record for vines”
  • The solution includes a mobile app, desktop platform, and high-accuracy GPS (receivers that clip onto phones)
  • Maps all the vines in the field
  • Configurable data collection forms
  • Available in 5 countries currently

Mapping the vineyard

  • Create a 3D model with lat/long and elevation
  • Basics (variety, clone), images, comments, discrete statuses (e.g., life stage, virus status)
  • The vineyard mgmt team populates data, can walk up the vines and record
  • Work with/ Sentinel to put in bulk metadata (e.g., block info, varietal)
  • A client mapped 100 acres in 1 week

Work order function

  • E.g., irrigation can be recorded
  • Roguing, planting, and grafted statuses can auto-update when the work order is completed

Core benefits

  • Extend the life of the vineyards
  • Virus/disease management, see the program more clearly, identify asymptomatic vines in hot spots (case study: ~10% of vines asymptomatic) 
  • Optimize pick areas (through mapping flavor profiles)

Pricing

  • Mostly software, hardware costs small
  • Annual subscription based on acres, not users (<1% of farming cost)
  • Biggest growers ~$2k/year

ROI example: client roguing 1% of vines/year w/ growing virus problem, Sentinel enabled them to get ahead of the problem in 1 year

Marketing mostly organic search

  • Articles and podcasts helped
  • Last 18 mo, mostly word of mouth
  • Referral program: The referrer gets a bottle of Krug

Barriers to adoption

  • Worries about time requirements; the goal is to collect data when already in the field
  • Worries about less flexibility to manage vineyard; full customization of data enables more flexibility
  • Next on the product roadmap - continue to flesh out more work order functionality

Other tech Shawn is interested in

  • Winery management platforms (e.g., Innovint)
  • Soil moisture probes for irrigation


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XChateau Wine PodcastBy Robert Vernick, Peter Yeung

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