Host Lauren Heindel, from InnoVint, sits down with wine industry experts in finance to winemaking and dives deep into topics to help you run better wine businesses.
Expert Talks - Powered by InnoVint
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18 episodes
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Podcast Overview
Host Lauren Heindel, from InnoVint, sits down with wine industry experts in finance to winemaking and dives deep into topics to help you run better wine businesses.
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Publishing Since
3/28/2025
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Recent Episodes
June 3, 2026
Workflow Secrets From a Small Production Winemaker
<p>Running a small winery with a lean team means living in a state of organized chaos. In this episode of Expert Talks by InnoVint, Bertus van Zyl (FARM Collective) explains how he runs three brands and 20-25 unique wines a year with a three-person cellar team, and what changed when paper notepads stopped scaling.Bertus is the head winemaker at FARM Collective, where he oversees production for Tank Garage, the never-repeat DTC brand sourcing from across California, James Cole, a classic Napa-focused estate, and his own personal label, Belong. In this conversation with Lauren Heindel of InnoVint, he shares the workflow systems, planning rhythms, and team structure that let a small producer move serious volume without burning out the people running it.In this episode, we discuss:• How small wine producers keep many SKUs organized without micromanaging the team• Why compliance and inventory tracking break before anything else when a small winery scales• How Tank Garage plans 20-25 unique wines each year from 50+ varieties• Why empowered teams and front-loaded work orders make remote management possible• What's worth investing in for small producers, and which wine-industry tools are over-hypedGuest: Bertus van Zyl, Head Winemaker at FARM CollectiveHost: Lauren Heindel, Marketing Manager at InnoVint00:00 Welcome and Overview00:59 Bertus Origin Story03:59 Scaling Pain Points06:19 Fixing Chaos With Software07:59 Daily Workflow and Remote Ops12:05 Tank Garage Never Repeat Model17:55 Costing and Compliance Setup18:34 Advice for Small Producers20:54 Lean Team Bottling Machine23:37 Adopt Sooner vs Overhyped26:06 Wrap Up and Thanks🔗 Full episode page: https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/small-winery-workflow/🔗 Learn more about Expert Talks: https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/Expert Talks is a series from InnoVint, the winery operating system used by thousands of winemakers to manage production, inventory, and operations. Each episode features conversations with wine industry leaders about improving winery operations, profitability, and long-term business health.</p>
March 31, 2026
Making Better Sparkling Wine Blends With Data and AI
<p>Making great sparkling wine isn't just about picking great grapes — it's about mastering the art of blending dozens of unbalanced components into something greater than the sum of its parts. In this episode of Expert Talks by InnoVint, winemaker Kyle Altomare (Gloria Ferrer) breaks down the technical and intuitive sides of sparkling wine production, from assemblage philosophy to how AI is changing the way his team works during harvest.</p><p>Kyle has spent over 15 years working his way from small production cellars to leading winemaking at one of California's most respected sparkling houses, with stops at Clos Pegase, Charles Krug, and Artesa along the way. In this conversation with Lauren Heindel (InnoVint), he shares how he approaches blending for texture over aromatics, why sparkling wine requires thinking backward from the finish line, and how InnoVint AI helped his team work smarter during the 2024 harvest.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, we discuss:</p><p>▶ Why sparkling wine blending requires a completely different mindset than still wine production</p><p>▶ How Kyle evaluates base wines for weight, finish length, and acid purity — not just aromatics</p><p>▶ The philosophy behind using oak in sparkling wine without letting it overpower delicate base wines</p><p>▶ How vintage variation (like the dramatic difference between 2023 and 2024) shapes blending decisions</p><p>▶ When blending becomes intuitive — and why the final tweaks never get easier if you're doing it right</p><p>▶ How InnoVint AI features like image import, voice-to-text work orders, and custom reporting changed the way the Gloria Ferrer team works during harvest</p><p><br></p><p>Guest: Kyle Altomare, Winemaker at Gloria Ferrer</p><p>Host: Lauren Heindel, Community Manager at InnoVint</p><p><br></p><p>🔗 Full episode page: <a href="https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/%5Bepisode-slug%5D/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/making-better-sparkling-wine-blends-with-data-and-ai/</a></p><p>🔗 Learn more about Expert Talks: <a href="https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.innovint.us/expert-talks/</a></p><p>Expert Talks is a series from InnoVint, the winery operating system used by thousands of winemakers to manage production, inventory, and operations. Each episode features conversations with wine industry leaders about improving winery operations, profitability, and long-term business health.</p>
February 10, 2026
Why Your Tasting Room Isn’t Converting, and What to Do About It
<p>On this episode of Expert Talks, Wine industry insights by InnoVint we sat down with tasting room educator Liz Mercer, partner at WISE. She has dedicated her life to teaching wineries how to improve their tasting room staff, processes, and customer experience and has joined InnoVint to share her secrets. Liz and Lauren dissect what is currently working in tasting rooms, and what isn't and why. Then Liz shares some tactical first steps you can take today to start increasing your tasting room conversions.</p>
18 total episodes available
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