Now We're Using AI to Outsmart the Wine List

Ordering wine now comes with a new kind of cheat sheet: an AI chatbot. As the New York Times reports, diners anxious about picking a bottle are snapping photos of wine lists and feeding them to tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, asking for pairings and value picks. Tech workers like Spencer Herbst say AI helps them avoid "clueless" choices and gives them a baseline for better questions for the sommelier, not a replacement for one. Some wine pros say they can spot AI's fingerprints from how specific guests' questions have become—and they're training staff with chatbot-generated scenarios to be ready.

"AI ... shows promise for research and staff education," Kisong Mun, a Chicago sommelier, tells Wine Spectator. "However, relying too heavily on digital tools risks making our brains lazy. ... Ultimately, I'm glad AI can't taste wine; if it could, my job would truly be in jeopardy!" So far, AI's performance is solid but safe: it typically recommends reasonable bottles, rarely anything surprising, and occasionally misjudges value. Sommeliers in New York and Los Angeles say the bots work best as conversation starters, especially for nervous or inexperienced drinkers, while humans still read the table's mood and context.

Winemakers like Napa's Dan Petroski are also using AI behind the scenes, feeding years of data into custom chatbots to guide decisions on new vintages. The consensus in the industry: AI can streamline the search, but it can't replace a charismatic sommelier—or the eye-roll of a spouse when you sneak your phone under the table.