Most conversations about AI in agriculture lead nowhere. There is plenty of speculation, plenty of marketing, and very little shared understanding of how AI is actually being used inside real vineyard operations.  There is no manual. No proven tools, and even fewer examples that go beyond theory. That is what makes this story different. Rather than discussing what AI could do someday, this article looks at what happened when a professional vineyard management team, operating at scale and under real economic pressure, put AI to work on the unglamorous parts of their operation: scheduling, coordination, and administrative complexity. The outcome was not what most people would expect. The biggest gains did not come from automation itself, but from what changed once friction was removed from daily work. First, You Have to Start With a Real Problem A vineyard operations leader managing large-scale acreage described a situation many vineyard operators recognize immediately: an operatio

Legacy Vineyard. New Opportunity.      Ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon fruit for the 2026 harvest and beyond — sourced from a 2-acre hillside vineyard in Calistoga, positioned above renowned sites like Switchback Ridge and Hourglass. This vineyard has produced wines retailing at $200+ per bottle for over 25 years, and with the longtime winemaker retiring, this fruit is now becoming available to a new buyer — presenting a rare opportunity to step into an established, high-pedigree vineyard source. With sourcing decisions actively underway, listings like this offer wineries the chance to secure exceptional fruit early and build future vintages around proven vineyard performance. View Listing The WIN Marketplace is built to connect buyers and sellers across the wine industry, and vineyard listings like this highlight how the platform helps wineries secure exceptional vineyard sources directly from growers. With a long track record of producing high-end wines and a prime

In the film Field of Dreams, a quiet voice whispers a simple promise: “If you build it, he will come.” The idea was never really about baseball. It was about creating something meaningful and trusting that the right people would be drawn to it. The wine industry is standing at a similar crossroads. For decades, wineries have operated on a simple assumption: make great wine, tell a compelling story, and consumers will come. Craft the product. Earn the accolades. Build the brand. But the next generation of wine consumers is telling us something different. Gen Z, now entering legal drinking age and shaping the future of hospitality, is not primarily seeking bottles to collect or scores to chase. Many say they are looking for something more fundamental: connection, community, and places where they can gather with friends away from the constant pull of the digital world. In other words, they are looking for a third space. For winery owners, executives, and Direct-to-Consumer lea

Everything You Need for a Bordeaux Blend     Now available: Alexander Valley Bordeaux varietals — a rare opportunity to source all five Noble Bordeaux grapes from a single vineyard offering. This listing provides a true one-stop solution for wineries building out a complete Meritage or Bordeaux-style program, with fruit from one of Sonoma County’s most established Cabernet-growing regions. Alexander Valley is known for its warm days, cool nights, and consistent ripening conditions, producing Bordeaux varietals with structure, depth, and balance — ideal for both blending and standalone wines. As wineries move deeper into vineyard sourcing for the upcoming harvest, listings like this offer a valuable opportunity to evaluate fruit and secure tonnage early. View Listing The WIN Marketplace is built to connect buyers and sellers across the wine industry, and vineyard listings like these Alexander Valley Bordeaux grapes highlight how the platform helps win

For most wineries, marketing still follows a familiar path: email campaigns, wine clubs, tasting room experiences, and social media. These channels continue to drive direct-to-consumer sales, but they are also becoming increasingly saturated. Reaching new customers often requires more content, more spend, and more competition for the same audience. At the same time, another force is shaping consumer behavior at scale—film and television. A single streaming series can influence travel, dining, fashion, and brand awareness almost overnight. Within those moments, wine is already present. It appears in dinner scenes, celebrations, restaurants, and quiet evenings at home, serving as a natural extension of lifestyle and hospitality. Historically, however, the bottles used on screen have rarely represented real wineries. That is beginning to change. Wine product placement is emerging as a viable and strategic marketing channel for wineries looking to expand beyond traditional touchpoin

For decades, wooden pallets have been the default standard for warehouse storage and freight movement. But for many operations teams, that standard is creating more problems than it solves. From rising material costs and freight inefficiencies to workplace injuries and sustainability pressure, traditional pallets are becoming an expensive bottleneck in modern logistics. That’s why more companies are making the transition to recycled plastic slip sheets — and once they switch, they rarely go back. The Problem with Traditional Wooden Pallets Wooden pallets may be familiar, but familiarity doesn’t always mean efficiency. They are heavy, bulky, and prone to wear over time. Splintering, broken boards, protruding nails, and damaged corners can create serious safety hazards for employees while also increasing the risk of product damage. Beyond safety, pallets consume valuable warehouse space and add unnecessary weight to every shipment. Those added pounds directly impact tra

Wine club churn has always been a challenge, but the stakes are even higher as the direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipping channel has entered a period of sustained contraction. With 2025 seeing the largest year-over-year declines in both DtC wine shipment volume and value — according to the 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report — the channel is smaller, more concentrated, and increasingly reliant on a pool of higher-end customers. Stabilizing revenue in this environment means wineries must be more focused than ever on retaining customers in your winery’s wine club. In practice, churn rarely begins with a cancellation request. It typically starts with subtle changes in behavior that are easy to overlook in standard reports. This webinar will discuss: What those signals are — where and how to look for them How early churn forecasting differs from traditional churn reporting Which member behaviors tend to signal increased churn risk before cancella

Upcoming opportunities include wine placements in new studio productions, including an MGM feature starring Charlize Theron. IRVINE, CA — Sipcrü Studios, a media placement company connecting wineries, spirits, and craft beverage brands with major film, television, and streaming productions, today announced a partnership with Corksy, the modern direct-to-consumer platform for wineries. Through this partnership, Sipcrü Studios serves as a sourcing partner for productions seeking authentic wine and beverage brands for on-screen environments, working directly with studios, prop masters, and production teams responsible for building dining, restaurant, and hospitality scenes. Corksy will help connect wineries with these placement opportunities while giving its clients priority access to certain productions. Wine and spirits are a natural part of the environments portrayed in film and television, appearing regularly in dining scenes, celebrations, and hospitality settings ac

Two years ago, I wrote an article on AI in the vineyard for WBM. Feel free to read that article here…if you want. Otherwise, my basic argument was that although AI will eventually play a role in how we farm grapes, it’s a long way off compared to other industries and even other crops. We who grow grapes are the last ones to see such innovation. And since then, AI has grown exponentially. If two years ago you were playing around with Chat GPT to create bizarrely distorted images and learn about tax loopholes, you can now go onto the likes of Claude and have it just create a website for you from a single prompt. Chatbots like this have essentially eliminated the need for entry-level coders. However Claude is a computer, so it makes sense that it’s gotten very good at writing code for other computers. Similarly Chat GPT has digested the entire internet, and curates any answer for you by plucking it from its vast network of information. Sometimes its correct, and other t

2026 Alexander Valley — Bordeaux Grapes    Now available on the WIN Marketplace: Alexander Valley Bordeaux varietals — an opportunity for wineries looking to source fruit from one of Sonoma County’s most established Cabernet-growing regions. Alexander Valley is known for its warm Mediterranean climate and significant day-night temperature swings, conditions that help Bordeaux varieties ripen fully while maintaining balance and structure. This offering includes all five Noble Bordeaux varietals, creating a rare one-stop sourcing opportunity for wineries building a complete Meritage or Bordeaux-style blend. View Listing The WIN Marketplace is built to connect buyers and sellers across the wine industry, and vineyard listings like these Alexander Valley Bordeaux grapes highlight how the platform helps wineries secure premium vineyard sources directly from growers. With all five Noble Bordeaux varietals available in one offering, buyers have the opportunity t