Wine Wineries Rush to Understand AI Search

The wine industry is moving quickly to understand artificial intelligence, but many wineries still are not sure how much it will matter to their business, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Weinheimer Group.

The Wine Industry AI Marketing Readiness Report surveyed verified winery owners, operators and marketing decision-makers and found that 93% are either experimenting with AI or gathering information about it. Only 7% said it was not a priority. Even so, the report said there is still a wide gap between interest and action, especially when it comes to using AI to improve how wineries are found online.

Improving discoverability was named the top opportunity by 60% of respondents. At the same time, 36% said their biggest obstacle was not knowing what is real and what is hype, and 29% said they would need clear proof of return on investment before taking a first step.

Tim Weinheimer, a brand-AI marketing strategist and creator of Vintage2, said the industry had reached a point where AI could no longer be treated as a future issue. He said AI-powered search and generative engines were already acting as the first place consumers and trade buyers look for information, and that wineries not visible in those systems risk losing attention before a conversation even starts.

The report was released alongside the launch of Vintage2, an educational system powered by GEOGrow that is meant to help wineries understand how AI is changing discovery and how they can respond. The program focuses on AI search behavior, brand visibility audits, narrative alignment and Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, which the company describes as a way to make sure a brand is understood, trusted and cited by AI-driven platforms.

Weinheimer said Vintage2 is intended as an educational system rather than a software product, with the goal of helping winery teams build long-term skills instead of relying on outside tools alone.

The report also included comments from winery professionals who said AI visibility is already affecting their marketing work. Valerie Elkins, director of memberships at William Chris Wine Company, said an AI readiness workshop helped her team understand how consumers are finding wineries through AI-driven search and where the business has an opportunity to appear more consistently.

Vinoth Rajkumar, proprietor of Cork2Glass, said his new business treated visibility in news coverage, online ratings and reviews, and AI search as critical from the start. He said that in five months the company had seen consistent visibility that supported early growth.

The findings come as wineries face pressure to adapt their digital strategies while consumer discovery shifts further toward search tools that use generative AI. For many in the sector, the question is no longer whether AI will affect wine marketing, but how quickly they can adjust before competitors gain an advantage in the systems now shaping what buyers see first.