Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are being adapted into truly useful solutions for the wine industry from grapegrowing and winemaking to packaging, but AI isn’t the only area of innovation, and this year’s WINnovation Award winners bring new solutions that improve efficiency and quality, as well as facilitate sales.
“Because of what we do here at Wine Industry Network, we have the privilege of seeing the newest products and services on a very regular basis, and we’re continually impressed by the level of innovation,” says Wine Industry Network President George Christie. “Industry suppliers, more often than not, are the change agents that help winery and vineyard operations drive quality or improve efficiencies. The WINnovation Awards are a way for us to acknowledge the efforts of these suppliers and their contribution to the wine industry.”
Here are the winners of Wine Industry Network’s 14th annual WINnovation Awards for excellence in wine industry innovation.
FloraPulse
Effective irrigation is essential to producing high-quality wine grapes, but knowing exactly when vines need water can be a challenge. FloraPulse is replacing guesswork with actionable data. Their microtensiometer technology embeds a tiny sensor directly into a vine’s trunk to measure stem water potential (SWP) and transmit readings every 20 minutes. SWP provides a direct measure of vine water status to support more informed irrigation decisions.
FloraPulse’s major 2026 advancement takes this innovation a step further with SWP forecasting. Combining continuous vineyard measurements with 10-day weather forecasts, the system predicts when vines may reach critical stress thresholds. This is especially valuable for regulated deficit irrigation, where maintaining specific water-stress levels can influence berry composition and wine quality. The result is a smarter, more proactive approach to irrigation that helps winegrowers manage water resources, protect grape quality and make decisions with greater confidence.
WIN Expo booth 331
InnoVint
InnoVint’s Intelligent Winery Workflows shows how AI can serve as a practical partner in the cellar, helping winery teams work smarter without adding unnecessary complexity. Launched in early 2026, it brings AI directly into winery operations, making it easier for teams to capture, access and act on production data without interrupting their work. AI work order creation, for example, allows cellar workers to dictate instructions on the go, automatically transforming spoken requests into structured tasks. This hands-free approach reduces data-entry, streamlines communication, and helps keep production moving efficiently.
The technology is already earning enthusiastic feedback from winemakers praising the image upload feature for making information entry significantly easier with the AI’s impressive ability to interpret data from a photo and enter it correctly into the system.
These early experiences demonstrate the potential of AI to simplify everyday winery tasks and make existing production information more accessible and useful. By integrating intelligent workflows directly into a platform wineries already use, InnoVint delivers innovation where it can have an immediate operational impact; helping winery teams work smarter and reducing rather than adding complexity to the process.
WIN Expo booth 402
MA Silva
MA Silva’s Bionic Eye delivers AI-powered precision to cork quality control. Consistency and quality are essential to protecting a wine’s integrity, and MA Silva is raising the bar with its innovative Bionic Eye technology. Combining AI and machine learning, Bionic Eye uses advanced visual inspection to identify faults in natural cork wine stoppers, helping wineries achieve greater consistency and confidence in their closures. That consistency matters. Closures are a critical component of the bottling process, and greater batch uniformity helps wineries reduce variability in their product.
Bionic Eye was implemented throughout MA Silva’s 2026 shipping season, bringing this advanced quality-control process to all customers using MA Silva natural corks for the 2026 bottling season. Even better, the technology is offered at no additional cost. By integrating intelligent automation into production without adding cost for wineries, MA Silva demonstrates how technology can deliver practical value to the wine industry.
WIN Expo booth 221
Pour Now
Pour Now turns wine marketing into measurable retail sales. Wine marketing can inspire consumers to buy, but converting that interest into an actual purchase remains a challenge, particularly within the three-tier distribution system. Pour Now is changing that equation by connecting consumers directly to the retail purchase opportunity at the moment their interest is highest.
The platform aggregates live digital product catalogs from more than 30,000 e-commerce-enabled retailers, matching over 100 million product offers. It transforms this extensive retail network into shoppable consumer listings that wine brands can incorporate at the end of virtually any marketing effort, from digital campaigns to consumer engagement initiatives.
The result is a powerful bridge between brand awareness and purchase. Instead of leaving consumers to search for a retailer carrying the wine they want, Pour Now makes it easier to find available products and move directly toward checkout. For wineries, this creates a more direct path from marketing investment to measurable retail sales within the compliance requirements of the three-tier system.
Saga Robotics
By combining autonomous robotics with UV light treatment, Saga Robotics is helping winegrowers tackle labor constraints, reduce chemical inputs, and protect grape quality. It offers a forward-thinking approach to vineyard management with tangible benefits for both sustainability and wine production.
Saga Robotics’ autonomous robots treat grapevines with ultraviolet (UV) light at night to help control powdery mildew. By automating vineyard treatments, growers reduce dependence on manual labor and use an effective alternative to conventional chemical fungicides, which is especially useful for protecting the grapes close to harvest. The technology offers a compelling combination of operational efficiency and more sustainable disease management helping wineries rethink crop protection without compromising their commitment to quality.
WIN Expo booth N (outdoor)
