When making wine, AI augments rather than replaces human expertise.

AI succeeds when it respects what makes us human.

Wine professionals correctly sense which AI applications honor their expertise and which threaten it.

My husband is a wine connoisseur. He can hold the glass properly, swizzle the liquid inside just right, and, after a sniff, knows a lot about the wine he will be drinking (or not, if it is corked). Now, he has a new companion to aid wine aficionados in this venture. It is AI.

A recent study (Festa G. and colleagues, 2025) examined how AI is transforming wine production and found that it can help enthusiasts like my husband enjoy wine more. I draw on my book, Inside the Head of a Collector: Neuropsychological Forces at Play (2019), for neuropsychological concepts.

Here's where neuropsychology enters the vineyard. The human brain's relationship with wine is deeply emotional and multisensory. When we taste wine, our orbitofrontal cortex integrates sensory information with memory and emotion; it's why a particular bottle might remind us of our grandmother's kitchen or that study-abroad summer in Tuscany. This neural complexity is what makes wine special, and it's also what makes AI's role in the industry controversial.

The researchers surveyed 31 Italian wine industry professionals (Italy was the world's leading wine producer at the time) to assess their attitudes toward AI adoption. The findings challenge our assumptions about tradition-bound industries rejecting technology. Approximately 29 percent already use AI for tasks such as grape monitoring and logistics management, and there's a widespread belief that AI will significantly expand across wine business operations within five years.

Six Flavors of AI in Wine Country

The study examined six "enabling technologies." These are different ways AI can enhance (rather than replace) human decision-making:

Human-Machine Collaboration: An "intelligent" wine dispenser remembers your preferences and predicts what you might enjoy next. This is not to manipulate you, but to genuinely enhance your taste experience. Survey respondents rated this concept moderately useful (6.83 out of 10).

Smart Materials: Sensor-equipped labels that track temperature, humidity, and transport conditions received even higher marks (7.60/10). From a neuropsychological perspective, this addresses our brain's need for security and predictability; knowing your expensive bottle wasn't cooked in a hot truck eases anxiety. To illustrate the importance of Number 2, I offer a personal example. Five or six years ago, I ordered some fine wine (not available in Indianapolis, where I live more than six months a year) from New York City. It was to be delivered in a refrigerated truck; the high-priced wine would arrive in optimal condition even if the outside temperature rose. Instead, the vehicle lacked cooling capacity. The thermometer read 100 degrees Fahrenheit upon arrival, and the white wine was warm. You can imagine the client at the receiving end (me) was cooked, as was the wine.

Smart Materials: Sensor-equipped labels that track temperature, humidity, and transport conditions received even higher marks (7.60/10). From a neuropsychological perspective, this addresses our brain's need for security and predictability; knowing your expensive bottle wasn't cooked in a hot truck eases anxiety.

To illustrate the importance of Number 2, I offer a personal example. Five or six years ago, I ordered some fine wine (not available in Indianapolis, where I live more than six months a year) from New York City. It was to be delivered in a refrigerated truck; the high-priced wine would arrive in optimal condition even if the outside temperature rose. Instead, the vehicle lacked cooling capacity. The thermometer read 100 degrees Fahrenheit upon arrival, and the white wine was warm. You can imagine the client at the receiving end (me) was cooked, as was the wine.

Digital Twins: Creating virtual simulations of entire wine systems for decision-making received decent scores (6.23/10), though respondents seemed less certain about this application.

Intelligent Winemaking: AI systems that determine optimal harvest timing and aging processes scored 6.53/10, respectable, but suggesting some human skepticism about ceding control over this crucial artistic decision.

AI Tasting Systems: Here's where things got interesting. Software for predicting organoleptic (taste and smell) analysis scored the lowest, at 5.03/10. This makes neuropsychological sense: tasting is intensely subjective, rooted in individual neural pathways shaped by personal experience. The idea of AI replicating what your unique brain does when it processes flavor is threatening to both professionals and wine lovers.

Environmental Management: The clear winner. AI systems that manage environmental exposure, adjust panels for sunlight, and protect against rain and hail scored highest at 8.41/10, with the lowest disagreement among respondents.

Why Climate Beats Creativity

That last finding is crucial. Wine professionals aren't particularly excited about AI that mimics human creativity (such as predicting taste profiles). They're enthusiastic about AI addressing existential threats, specifically climate change and environmental challenges that could destroy entire harvests.

This reveals something fascinating about human cognition: We're more comfortable with AI as a protective tool than as a creative partner. Our prefrontal cortex, which handles executive planning, readily accepts AI assistance with objective, measurable problems (temperature, humidity, pest control). However, our limbic system, the emotional brain that creates meaning and aesthetic experience, resists AI intrusion into subjective domains such as taste.

Neuropsychologically, this makes sense. Our brains are wired for pattern recognition and threat detection. We easily understand "AI helps me produce more wine with less waste." We struggle with "AI works alongside me as an equal creative partner" because that challenges our fundamental sense of human uniqueness, what neuroscientists call our "theory of mind."

The Sustainability Sweet Spot

Perhaps the most promising part of the study is this: Respondents strongly believed AI can enhance environmental sustainability. This intersection of technology and ecological responsibility could be where AI flourishes in wine production. It is AI serving human values rather than replacing human judgment.

This research suggests a pathway forward where AI augments rather than replaces human expertise. The wine industry, with its deep roots in tradition and human sensory experience, may be an ideal testing ground for implementing human-centric AI. Technology succeeds when it respects what makes us human: our emotional connections, creative expression, and need for meaning. Wine professionals aren't Luddites resisting progress. They're humans correctly sensing which AI applications honor their expertise and which threaten it.

Festa G, D'Amato A, Palladino R, Papa A, Cuomo MT (2025), "Digital transformation in wine business – from Marketing 5.0 to Industry 5.0 in the world of wine adopting artificial intelligence". European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.

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