AI Chatbots Help Diners Navigate Wine Lists

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Diners are increasingly using AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to help them navigate wine lists and get recommendations, but sommeliers say the technology is best used as a conversation starter and can't fully replace the human expertise and intuition of a skilled sommelier.

Why it matters

The rise of AI-powered wine assistance tools highlights how technology is disrupting traditional industries like fine dining, where the sommelier's role has long been seen as essential. While the chatbots can provide a helpful baseline for diners, sommeliers argue that their ability to read a table's mood and context, as well as their deep knowledge of wine, make them irreplaceable.

The details

Diners, especially tech-savvy younger customers, are snapping photos of wine lists and feeding them to AI chatbots, asking for pairing suggestions and value picks. The chatbots typically provide reasonable but safe recommendations, rarely anything surprising. Sommeliers say they can spot when a guest's questions have been influenced by AI, and they're training staff to be ready for more tech-savvy diners. Some wine professionals argue that while AI shows promise for research and staff education, relying too heavily on digital tools risks making people's brains "lazy" when it comes to wine knowledge. Winemakers are also using AI behind the scenes to help guide decisions on new vintages.

• The rise in diners using AI chatbots to navigate wine lists has occurred over the past few years.

What they’re saying