Cornell Wine Cellar Optimizer Considers What to Buy and When to Drink

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. October 14, 2008

ITHACA, NY, March 11, 2008. The growing popularity of wine has encouraged many people to develop their own wine cellars, with the goal of consuming or selling their wine at its peak. Although the goal sounds simple enough, the strategy of what to buy, how long to hold it, and when to open the wine is remarkably complex. Two Cornell University professors explain the complications as they show how to optimize an individual wine cellar by taking into account six performance criteria and twelve limitations to yield three types of decisions.

The report "Optimizing a Personal Wine Cellar," published by the Center for Hospitality Research in conjunction with the Vance A. Christian Beverage Management Center, both at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, is available at no charge on the center's website at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2008.html. The authors are Gary Thompson, a professor at the School of Hotel Administration, and Stephen Mutkoski, the Banfi Vintners Professor of Wine Education and Management, Beverage Management Center, at the school.

Noting that the wine cellar optimization involves scheduling issues, Thompson constructed an optimization engine that takes into account the performance criteria, limitations, and decisions. "While it's up to the cellar owner to determine which individual wines to purchase," he said, "the optimizer shows how much wine to buy according to three categories, short-hold wines, which will be consumed in the near future, medium-hold wines, which are perhaps two to five years from consumption, and long-hold wines, which will be held over five years."

Using the wine cellar optimizer, Thompson and Mutkoski tested two different levels of average wine cost ($20 wine and $40 wine) and examined the purchasing patterns needed for numerous cellar sizes and time horizons. "The purchase patterns among the wine categories change considerably with a longer time horizon," noted Thompson. "But at either budget level and at even a modest cellar size, the optimizer test demonstrates that a person can use a wine cellar to bring wine to its optimum quality at consumption."

Meet and interact with Dr. Thompson, an active member of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration, when he presents sessions in the Professional Development Program: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/executive/pdp/.

Thanks to the support of the Center for Hospitality Research partners listed below, all Cornell Hospitality Reports and Tools are made available free of charge from the center's website, www.chr.cornell.edu.

About the Cornell School of Hotel Administration Beverage Management Center:

The Vance A. Christian Beverage Management Center is dedicated to the study of beverage products, beverage trends, and beverage management systems (selection, procurement, controls, pricing strategy, merchandising, risk and liability, and staff training) in food and beverage operations. The center is a state of the art teaching facility designed specifically as a learning lab. The Beverage Management Center facilities include a wine library, service bar, reference room focused on beverage publications, a beverage tasting facility, and a kitchen for food production. Classes offered in the center include Wine and Food Pairing Principles and Promotion, Quality Brewing and Fine Beer, and Beverage Management.

About the Center for Hospitality Research

A unit of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) sponsors research designed to improve practices in the hospitality industry. Under the lead of the center's 71 corporate affiliates, experienced scholars work closely with business executives to discover new insights into strategic, managerial and operating practices. The center also publishes the award-winning hospitality journal, the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (formerly the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly). To learn more about center and its projects, visit www.chr.cornell.edu.

Center partners and sponsors: AIG Global Real Estate Investment, American Airlines Admirals Club, Davis & Gilbert LLP, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Denihan Hospitality Group, Expedia, Inc., Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Fox Rothschild LLP, General Growth Properties, Inc., HVS, InterContinental Hotels Group, JohnsonDiversey, Inc., Job.Travel, Jumeirah Group, LRP Publications, Marriott International, Inc., Marsh's Hospitality Practice, Mobil Travel Guide, Nestl'e, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Proskauer Rose LLP, Smith Travel Research, Southern Wine and Spirits of America, Inc., SynXis (a Sabre Holdings Corporation), Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Thayer Lodging Group, TIG Global, Travelport, WATG, and WhiteSand Consulting.

Center friends: 4Hoteliers.com o American Tescor, LLC o Argyle Executive Forum o Caribbean Hotel and Restaurant Buyers Guide o Cody Kramer Imports o Cruise Industry News o DK Shifflet & Associates o ehotelier.com o EyeforTravel o Fireman's Fund Insurance Company o Gerencia de Hoteles & Restaurantes o Global Hospitality Resources o Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) o hospitalityInside.com o hospitalitynet.org o Hotel Asia Pacific o Hotel China o HotelExecutive.com o Hotel Interactive o Hotel Resource o International CHRIE o International Hotel and Restaurant Association o International Hotel Conference o International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) o iPerceptions o KPMG Japan/Global Management Directions o Lodging Hospitality o Lodging Magazine o Milestone Internet Marketing o MindFolio o PKF Hospitality Research o The Resort Trades o RealShare Hotel Investment & Finance Summit o Resort+Recreation Magazine o RestaurantEdge.com o Shibata Publishing Co. o Synovate o The Lodging Conference o TravelCLICK o UniFocus o WageWatch, Inc. o WIWIH.COM

Contact:

Glenn Withiam,

607.255.3025,

[email protected]