(WP) - For thousands of years, people have made wine using observation and intuition. But winemaking is going high-tech. In California’s wine country, a land of grape whisperers, a couple of “vine nerds” are implementing computer technology to manage how a vine is planted, pruned, watered and harvested. Sebastien Payen and Thibaut Scholasch, French expats profiled in the current issue of Wired magazine, are the co-founders of Fruition Sciences, a small consulting firm that uses solar-powered sensors to monitor how much water is present in a plant’s extremities.