(Forbes) - In 1999 google.com was two years old; AOL, the dial-up leader providing web portal, email and instant messaging, acquired Netscape and its stock split 2-for-1 that year as well; Nokia released its model 8210—the smallest, lightest phone that came with no camera, no bluetooth, no gps and no wi-fi, but at 76.33 million sold had placed Nokia at the top of mobile, er, in 1999 parlance, cell phone sales. Technology evolves.

Also, in late 1999 Wine Access got its start.

Wine Access went online in 2000. At the time, it was similar to wine-searcher, a website that connects consumers with best prices from an array of wine retail shop choices across the U.S. The early Wine Access went along for a couple of years not making money, until the company struck an idea: write stories about particular wines. A consumer following soon developed; then, the company struck another idea. Wine Acess evolves.

In the words of its present CEO, Benoit Vialle: “There are a lot of passionate new wine consumers looking for a guide to the world of wine, and we needed to find a way to connect with them. We started by hiring a world-class team of wine experts to source and select…we developed a new flavor profiling system" as well as "a sophisticated machine learning engine specifically for wine recommendations.”