Five wine trends for 2027 put technology to a taste test

Selling fewer bottles more clearly

Moderation could mean fewer bottles sold, but it does not automatically mean buyers will spend more. Nor does a high price prove a wine is environmentally responsible. Producers will need to show what customers are paying for, including the landscape and local culture behind a bottle.

That starts with understanding why people choose a wine and what brings them back. Analytics can track shifts in taste; AI can help spot emerging demand and plan production. Making wine for buyers who already exist could reduce wasted resources and unsold stock.

But customer data can make a winery feel less like a host than an overenthusiastic salesperson. Marr jokes that after one purchase, some wineries contact him so often he wants to say that his evening with the Chardonnay was lovely, but he is not ready for an exclusive relationship. Better targeting is useful only if it respects the customer’s attention.

Hospitality is part of the business

A tasting can change how someone sees a wine when a winemaker explains the difficulties of that vintage. Wine tourism also connects the glass to the place it came from, through vineyard visits, food and public events.

The Global Wine Tourism Report 2025 drew on 1,310 wineries across 47 countries. Two-thirds of respondents called tourism profitable or very profitable, and half planned to increase investment. Visitor numbers varied by region, a reminder that tourism plans need to fit local conditions. Among US wineries covered by the First Citizens/SVB report for 2026, tasting rooms and wine clubs accounted for 53% of sales.

Booking systems can make visits easier to manage, while customer platforms can help wineries stay in touch afterward. Yet as more wine is bought through screens and online reviews become harder to trust, meeting the person who made it may be the more durable advantage.

Managing a vineyard that keeps changing

Burgundy’s 2024 harvest offered a sharp example of weather risk. Persistent rain and too little sun created difficult conditions amid downy mildew. The International Wine Challenge called 2024 Burgundy’s third-wettest year of the 21st century and its least sunny. The Buyer reported that William Fèvre lost 90% of its harvest in Chablis.

One season cannot establish how much damage came from climate change. But long-term data cited by France’s INRAE show that harvest now begins two to three weeks earlier on most vineyards than it did 40 years ago. Higher temperatures can raise alcohol levels and lower acidity. If warming exceeds 2 °C, around 90% of traditional wine regions in coastal and lowland parts of Spain, Italy, Greece and Southern California could become unsuitable for economically viable production of quality wine by the end of the century. That estimate concerns the most vulnerable regions, not the entire global industry.

Some producers are already using technology to adapt:

I think the important shift is not simply that wineries are buying more sensors. It is that environmental data could help them decide what to do before a season’s losses are locked in. Whether these systems can deliver reliable guidance at the scale and cost growers need remains unclear.

Robots, but not necessarily humanoids

Robotics addresses a more immediate problem: vineyard work is hard, especially on steep, uneven ground. It is easy to romanticize manual labour when you are only lifting a glass.

These are practical uses, not a vision of a fully automated estate. Humanoid robots may take on more vineyard work as embodied AI develops, but expecting widespread use by 2027 is a stretch. For many jobs, specialized machines are a better fit. The real test is how much useful work a robot can do safely, with limited supervision and at a price growers can accept.

Alcohol-free wine has to earn a second purchase

IWSR research shows that alcohol-free wine volumes grew across eight major markets between 2019 and 2024. But taste and price remain barriers. IWSC judges have noted more balanced wines, helped by improved production methods and greater attention to grape quality.

Marr has tried low- and no-alcohol wines with an open mind, but many have not convinced him. He says they can taste like a children’s fruit drink in an evening suit. Removing alcohol changes aroma and texture and takes away much of what makes wine pleasurable. The Australian Wine Research Institute has studied methods including spinning cone columns and reverse osmosis, as well as ways to improve the finished drink.

The announcement in this trend is not a new machine or a striking growth figure. It is the unresolved gap between curiosity and repeat demand. I think that gap is the right test for all five trends: technology should help wineries make distinctive wines and build businesses that can withstand difficult harvests and shifting tastes. A first bottle can be bought out of curiosity. The second has to taste good.