Miller Family Wine Company (California) Unveils AI-Powered Sommelier Technology

The Miller Family Wine Company recently introduced AI-powered sommelier technology on its website. This advancement underscores the company’s digital vision and solidifies its role as a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence within the wine industry.

MFWC’s AI Sommelier represents a transformative development, fundamentally altering how consumers browse and purchase wine. Utilizing state-of-the-art autonomous AI-powered agents, the AI Sommelier provides fast, personalized recommendations tailored to individual palates. It delivers detailed tasting notes, comprehensive accolades, and expert reviews directly to users. Available 24/7, this innovative tool offers an unparalleled shopping experience, enabling wine enthusiasts to explore and acquire wines with unprecedented ease and confidence.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of our AI-powered sommelier—the fastest, most intuitive way to learn and shop for wines,” shares Nicholas Miller, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at MFWC. “Using advanced technology, the AI Sommelier takes the complexity out of choosing the perfect wine, providing detailed comparisons, reviews, tasting notes, and even pairing suggestions so everyone can make informed decisions effortlessly—anytime, anywhere. It’s primed to set a new standard for digital wine retail, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this innovative technology with consumers.”

MFWC’s AI Sommelier is available online at www.millerfamilywinecompany.com, accessible via the small icon in the bottom right corner.

Wine of Moldova offers a glimpse of the future with its game-changing AI tool

The Moldovan wine industry, following its reception at ProWein, has entered a critical juncture. After the successful unveiling of two wines produced with the support of Artificial Intelligence, key stakeholders will seek further collaboration with the nation’s burgeoning tech and design sectors in the coming years, using innovation to strengthen their global competitiveness.

According to Wine of Moldova, this new landmark AI project involves a strategic partnership between several institutions: the National Office of Vine and Wine, the creative media technology hub, Mediacor, and the Technical University of Moldova. The goal is to set a global precedent for the unification of Artificial Intelligence and human expertise, in addition to facilitating ongoing development via the use of new technologies; $500 million has been earmarked for vineyard expansion, technological innovation, and production capacity.

Robert Joseph, consultant and author, commented: “A changing climate – which means far greater vintage variation as well as higher temperatures – requires innovative solutions. This project gives wine producers access to the nation’s growing AI expertise that could be a game-changer.”

At ProWein this year, a white blend of Feteasca Alba, Feteasca Regala and Viorica and a red wine Feteasca Neagra were presented to an international audience, both created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence.

The wine industry is essential to Moldova’s economy, contributing around 3% of GDP and 8% of total exports, contributing to the livelihoods of over 50,000 families in rural areas. Premium labels are exported to 72 different countries – 55 percent of the country’s total exports are shipped to the EU.

“Moldova boasts a growing number of small new wineries, with young winemakers, while its larger ones are investing in vineyards and cellar equipment to produce more premium wines,” said Diana Lazar, AI Wine project lead.

Like every other wine-producing country, Moldova faces a range of challenges. However, stakeholders are in a strong position to meet these difficulties head on, taking full advantage of the solutions presented by future tech. A new era of cooperation between winegrowers and digital innovators has begun as Moldova offers valuable lessons for the rest of the world.

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCDUwK3Nv7A

Source: Wine of Moldova

Wine Grounds Launches Machine Learning-Based Vintage Scores

Wine Grounds announced this week a revolutionary new vintage quality feature to their food and wine pairing app, Grape Base. Their data-driven approach to determining the quality of a vintage allows industry professionals and consumers to see scores for any wine-growing region in the world. By utilizing machine learning and a proprietary weather model, Grape Base can instantly predict the overall quality of a vintage based on the weather during the growing season, at harvest and throughout the winter.

Grape Base is taking a hyper-local approach to vintage quality and creating scores for the top varietals grown in every officially recognized region, district and or appellation across the globe. Vintage scores will be continually expanded on and made available after the end of harvest in the northern and southern hemispheres. Industry professionals can use the data to make purchasing decisions and project trends in consumer buying habits.

Wine Grounds Founder Chris Hall states, “By tracking and evaluating the weather of a specific region and comparing that to the ideal conditions for the grapes grown there, we can predict the quality of the vintage for those grapes. You can then use those scores to pick the best vintage in a wine shop, from your own rack or out to eat. Somms can ahead on building wine programs that showcase varietals at their very best. It is absolute revolution in wine tech.”

Highlights Include:

  • Weather model can be applied to any region in the world for any grape and it is continuously learning and improving
  • 75+ regions available with scores for the past ten years
  • Search allows users to find scores by region or grape varietal
  • Monthly subscriptions start at US $1.99 after a one-month free trial
  • Grape Base is available in the Apple Store and on Google Play

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“Tastry” uses Chemistry + AI to Analyze Wine and Generate Flavor Profiles

A California startup that taught a computer to “taste” wine is using technology to help winemakers improve their wines and attract new customers.

Founder Katerina Axelsson says Tastry uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze “tens of thousands of wines a year,” generating vast reams of data to help winemakers and retailers target their products more effectively.

Ms Axelsson formed her idea as a chemistry student working at a winery, where she noticed “idiosyncrasies” in how wine was evaluated. A 100,000-gallon tank of wine would be divided in two and sold to two different brands, where it would end up in different bottles, sold at different prices and receive different scores from critics, she states

She began analyzing wine samples, identifying thousands of compounds. Using AI, she could see how these compounds interacted with each other, creating the wine’s flavor profile. She then took that profile and used machine learning to compare its flavor, aroma, texture and color with other wines in the database.

The method allowed Axelsson to develop a wine recommendation app, which was launched on screens in the wine aisles of retailers in 2019. Through a quiz, consumers could input their flavor preferences, and the software would recommend a suitable wine with 80-90% accuracy at the first attempt, she says, rising to 95% with additional input form the user. Tastry’s system now powers its BottleBird wine recommendation app.

Tastry has also begun working directly with winemakers in the United States. Brands pay to have their bottle analyzed “and in exchange they would have access to what we call an insights dashboard, where they can identify how their wine is perceived in their market of opportunity, on a store, local or regional level,” says Axelsson.

One client is O’Neill Vintners and Distillers, one of the largest wine producers in California. To produce some blends, it combines wine from “upwards of 30 different tanks” to create the desired flavor profile, according to Marty Spate, vice president of winemaking and winegrowing.

The company is using Tastry’s AI to “streamline” the blending process by suggesting which tanks to use. “[Tastry is] not a replacement for the modern winemaking team,” he says, however, “that data can be pretty powerful.”

But in an industry steeped in artisan tradition, there are some critics of its algorithmic approach.  “It’s like having a computer analyze a piece of art,” says Ronan Sayburn, master sommelier and head of wine at 67 Pall Mall, a private members club for wine lovers in London.

“I don’t know how keen people would be on following what a computer tells them to drink, based on what they had previously,” he says. “I think part of the appeal of wine is forming your own opinions.”

Sayburn concedes technology can be useful to the amateur, for recommending serving temperature, aeration time and food pairings. “But when it comes to something which is a very emotive subject, I think there’s got to be human contact,” he argues.

Axelsson agrees that Tastry is not a substitute for a sommelier. But she says the scalability of her product makes it possible to analyze more wines per year than a human could ever taste.

Her company will start offering services in Europe later this year in collaboration with an online retailer, and is already thinking beyond wine, having conducted tests for beers, spirits, coffee and fragrances.

In the meantime, she’s happy to spend time winning over the naysayers.

“It takes time to educate any industry about AI and its benefits,” she says. “But if the use case is there and the value proposition is there, I think it’s just a matter of time before people really embrace it.”

Source :CNN Business London

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Vivino Raises $155 Million in Series D Funding

Vivino, the world’s most downloaded mobile wine app and largest online wine marketplace closed (this week) a $155m Series D funding round led by Swedish based investment firm Kinnevik with Sprints Capital accompanying as a new investor. Additional participants include GP Bullhound and existing early-stage investor Creandum. This latest round brings Vivino’s total funds raised to date to $221 million and includes a mix of primary and secondary investment.

Vivino currently boasts a community of 50 million wine enthusiasts, who turn to the platform for its personalized recommendations, unbiased rating system, and expansive selection of wines from more than 700 marketplace partners worldwide. The new capital will enable Vivino to improve its core technology and artificial intelligence platform to create better and more personalized recommendations for Vivino users. The company will also deepen its focus on select markets with the greatest potential for growth, including the US, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan, and Portugal.

“This is a testament to the remarkable work that our teams around the globe have done to build an extraordinary business,” said Heini Zachariassen, Vivino’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “This round has raised important capital for our rapidly growing company and drawn some exceptional new leaders to our board. The funding will enable us to continue to build on our core strengths, expand industry partnerships drawing more merchants and wineries to our marketplace, and support our continued global growth.”

Alcohol e-commerce sales worldwide have grown immensely, and it is estimated that by 2024, they will exceed $40 billion. Zachariassen credits the company’s growth to this continued shift in consumer behavior. “Our user retention rates are high, and we’re seeing a steady conversion of app users to wine buyers. That’s a good move in the right direction. By creating more value for our users, we also create more value for the company and industry at large.”

Since its Series C raise in February 2018, led by Vivino’s current board chairman, Christophe Navarre and former CEO and Chairman of Moët Hennessy, Vivino has increased its user base from 29 million to 50 million and has significantly grown its marketplace business, which connects wineries and wine merchants to its community. The company has posted a 100% annual growth rate for the last seven years and a 103% increase in year-over-year sales in 2020.

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