(SBVWine) - I've recently been thinking about the changing metrics we've had available to manage the wine business over the years. What metrics existed 40 years ago for small wineries? How was wine sold then? What was the atmosphere like? How did we get information?

With daylight savings time upon us, I also started daydreaming today while looking out at the pool and thinking about summer. That brought me back to a trip to Mexico I took 40 years ago, so Mexico met up with metrics in this post as I pondered what direct sales will look like in 2028.

In 1988 my wife won a sales contest at work that provided for an all-expenses paid three days at the Fiesta Americana in Puerto Vallarta. I had never been to a foreign country before, except Canada and I didn't count Canada as foreign. But Mexico? Well going there would make me an official world traveler!