**ProWein 2025, Germany**: Industry experts at ProWein 2025 explored how AI-driven software is transforming personalised experiences in wine, spirits, and hospitality. The panel highlighted current AI capabilities, industry digital lag, and the potential for tailored flavour recommendations, supported by AI technology and expert whisky tastings.
At ProWein 2025, a panel of industry experts explored the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in creating personalised experiences within the wine, spirits and hospitality sectors. The discussion took place at The Spirits Business Hub, under the title: “How AI-driven software is driving personalised experiences.” The panel featured Andrew Sussman, co-founder and CTO of Preferabli; Danny Cooper, chief information and digital officer at Virgin Wines; Jose Amado-Blanco, CEO of Vinarte Migros Gruppe; and Colin Hampden-White, a whisky specialist and member of the Preferabli team. The session was moderated by Patrick Schmitt MW, editor-in-chief of The Drinks Business.
The event incorporated a tasting of three rare whiskies — Dailuaine 1997, Auchroisk 1996 and BenRiach The Twenty One — personally selected and presented by Hampden-White. He has extensively contributed tasting notes for Preferabli, which utilise numerical data to cross-reference flavour profiles across various products, enhancing the capability of AI-driven recommendations.
Andrew Sussman spoke about how AI technology, including large language models like ChatGPT, can assist consumers in understanding their flavour preferences and provide tailored recommendations. He highlighted that, while current AI tools excel in content generation and natural language understanding, they still fall short on delivering deeply personalised insights based on individual tastes.
“We would talk to people about AI and they had absolutely no idea what we were talking about,” Sussman commented. “How many people here at this point have played with ChatGPT at least once, right? Almost everybody. That is a form of AI that we refer to as a large language model, or generative AI.” He continued, “You’ll see there are certain things it’s very good at… But where it lacks finesse… is personalisation capabilities that are truly based on what you would find to be appealing.”
A significant theme during the discussion was the industry’s lag in adopting modern digital technologies. Jose Amado-Blanco remarked, “I do think in general, the wine industry is not very digitalised. Especially in AI, we’re very, very behind.” Danny Cooper echoed this sentiment, stating, “Hugely, hugely behind. The fashion industry 20 years ago started launching mobile apps, started getting into algorithmic AI… Certainly Virgin Wines is one of the top-tier online retailers in the UK, and the entire industry at that level is probably 10/15 years behind the rest of the industry in terms of e-commerce.”
The panel noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed the sector’s insufficient investment in e-commerce and digital innovation, underlining the need to incorporate AI and digital tools more effectively.
For those interested in gaining further insights into how AI can enhance wine, spirits and hospitality operations, The Spirits Business has released a detailed video accompanying the panel, available via their YouTube channel.
Source: Noah Wire Services
