Could artificial intelligence change the way your favourite wine is crafted?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into the wine industry.

Experts suggest that AI’s integration shows how businesses can use technology to improve labour efficiency without replacing workers.

Across the globe, unpredictable **environmental conditions** are pushing winemakers to master not only fermentation but also adaptation.

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Climate change poses major challenges to the industry, leading to fluctuating production levels. Last year, global wine production fell by 9.6% compared to the previous year due to extreme weather conditions.

In response, innovative winemakers are turning to technology, incorporating AI-powered cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems into their processes. These advanced tools can now influence acidity, sugar content, and bitterness, Forbes reported.

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According to an infographic by the International Data Corporation (IDC), 50 per cent of organisations now operate digitally, relying on AI-driven cloud ERP systems to manage supply chains and streamline operations.

AI is also helping businesses prevent unnecessary waste. Encirc, one of the UK’s leading beverage packaging firms, has developed Wineview, a predictive analytics tool integrated into production lines. By analysing historical data, it provides real-time insights into wastage, Raconteur reported.

Traditionally, businesses had to wait until bottling was complete to measure liquid waste. With Wineview, that information is available from the outset.

But how exactly is AI influencing winemaking at the ground level? How are farmers making use of it?

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Here’s a look:

Artificial intelligence and autonomous tractors

When AI-powered tractors became available for vineyards, Tom Gamble was eager to be among the first to try them. Aware that mastering the technology would take time, he still believed it was worth the effort.

The third-generation farmer purchased an autonomous tractor, planning to activate its self-driving function in the spring. For now, he is using its AI sensor to map his Napa Valley **vineyard** .

As the tractor learns the layout of each row, it will be able to navigate independently. The AI will process the collected data, allowing Gamble to make better-informed decisions about his crops - an approach he refers to as “precision farming.”

“It’s not going to completely replace the human element of putting your boot into the vineyard, and that’s one of my favourite things to do,” he said. “But it’s going to be able to allow you to work more smartly, more intelligently and in the end, make better decisions under less fatigue.”

Gamble expects to rely on the technology as much as possible due to “economic, air quality and regulatory imperatives.” He believes autonomous tractors could help reduce fuel consumption and lower pollution.

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New agricultural technologies, including AI, enable farmers to minimise waste and operate more efficiently and sustainably by monitoring water usage and optimising the application of fertilisers and pest control.

According to farmers, AI-powered tractors and irrigation systems can analyse soil and vines to reduce water use while offering detailed insights into crop health and yield predictions.

Beyond farming, other areas of the **wine industry** are also embracing AI, from using generative AI to design customised wine labels to employing ChatGPT for developing, branding, and pricing entire bottles.

“I don’t see anybody losing their job, because I think that a tractor operator’s skills are going to increase and as a result, and maybe they’re overseeing a small fleet of these machines that are out there, and they’ll be compensated as a result of their increased skill level,” he said.

Farmers, Gamble said, are always evolving. There were fears when the tractor replaced horses and mules pulling ploughs, but that technology “proved itself” just like AI farming tech will, he said, adding that adopting any new tech always takes time.

Companies like John Deere have started using the AI that wine farmers are beginning to adopt. The agricultural giant uses “Smart Apply” technology on tractors, for example, helping growers apply material for crop retention by using sensors and algorithms to sense foliage on grape canopies, said Sean Sundberg, business integration manager at John Deere.

The tractors that use that tech then only spray “where there are grapes or leaves or whatnot so that it doesn’t spray material unnecessarily,” he said. Last year, the company announced a project with Sonoma County Winegrowers to use tech to help wine grape growers maximise their yield.

Tyler Klick, partner at Redwood Empire Vineyard Management, said his company has started automating irrigation valves at the vineyards it helps manage. The valves send an alert in the event of a leak and will automatically shut off if they notice an “excessive” water flow rate.

“That valve is actually starting to learn typical water use,” Klick said. “It’ll learn how much water is used before the production starts to fall off.”

Klick said each valve costs roughly $600, plus $150 per acre each year to subscribe to the service.

“Our job, viticulture, is to adjust our operations to the climatic conditions we’re dealt,” Klick said. “I can see AI helping us with finite conditions.”

But are all vineyards adapting to AI?

Angelo A. Camillo, a professor of wine business at Sonoma State University, said that despite excitement over AI in the wine industry, some smaller vineyards are more sceptical about their ability to use the technology.

Small, family-owned operations, which Camillo said account for about 80% of the wine business in America, are slowly disappearing — many don’t have the money to invest in AI, he said. A robotic arm that helps put together pallets of wine, for example, can cost as much as $150,000, he said.

“For small wineries, there’s a question mark, which is the investment. Then there’s the education. Who’s going to work with all of these AI applications? Where is the training?” he said.

There are also potential challenges with scalability, Camillo added. Drones, for example, could be useful for smaller vineyards that could use AI to target specific crops that have a bug problem, he said — it would be much harder to operate 100 drones in a 1,000-acre vineyard while also employing the IT workers who understand the tech.

“I don’t think a person can manage 40 drones as a swarm of drones,” he said. “So there’s a constraint for the operators to adopt certain things.”

However, AI is particularly good at tracking a crop’s health – including how the plant itself is doing and whether it’s growing enough leaves – while also monitoring grapes to aid in yield projections, said Mason Earles, an assistant professor who leads the Plant AI and Biophysics Lab at UC Davis.

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Diseases or viruses can sneak up and destroy entire vineyards, Earles said, calling it an “elephant in the room” across the wine industry. The process of replanting a vineyard and getting it to produce well takes at least five years, he said. AI can help growers determine which virus is affecting their plants, he said, and whether they should rip out some crops immediately to avoid losing their entire vineyard.

Earles, who is also co-founder of the AI-powered farm management platform Scout, said his company uses AI to process thousands of images in hours and extract data quickly — something that would be difficult by hand in large vineyards that span hundreds of acres. Scout’s AI platform then counts and measures the number of grape clusters as early as when a plant is beginning to flower in order to forecast what a yield will be.

The sooner vintners know how much yield to expect, the better they can “dial in” their winemaking process, he added.

“Predicting what yields you’re going to have at the end of the season, no one is that good at it right now,” he said. “But it’s really important because it determines how much labour contract you’re going to need and the supplies you’ll need for making wine.”

Earles doesn’t think the budding use of AI in vineyards is “freaking farmers out.” Rather, he anticipates that AI will be used more frequently to help with difficult field labour and to discern problems in vineyards that farmers need help with.

“They’ve seen people trying to sell them tech for decades. It’s hard to farm; it’s unpredictable compared to most other jobs,” he said. “The walking and counting, I think people would have said a long time ago, ‘I would happily let a machine take over.’”

With inputs from AP