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

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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