What do you get for the person who has everything? How about an artificially intelligent robot sommelier that can securely store, manage and suggest wines from your collection?
The Winecab Wine Wall does all that (hat tip to Boss Hunting), acting kinda like a very expensive automated wine vending machine that you’d find in only the poshest 7-Eleven.
Wine Walls come in a variety of sizes, from the more modest Curio Classic model, which holds 130 bottles ($139,000) to the 15 ft. Wine Wall, which holds 600 bottles ($249,900). Each system features:
- An articulating arm, calibrated with a gentle touch for handling delicate bottles of wine
- A label scanner to automatically catalog bottles you add
- An AI assistant to recommend wines and food pairings
- Security features to gate access to certain bottles
OK. So the Wine Wall might be a bit of pricey overkill for your average oenophile. But, it’s possible to see the Wine Wall in a restaurant or hotel or even a grocery retailer that wants to add high-tech wine recommenation to their offerings without bringing on a full-time sommelier. (Though, admittedly, the interaction with a human sommelier is part of the fun of ordering fancy wine.) Winecab even has a smaller six-foot version of its wall “coming soon” that basically looks like a wine vending machine.
The idea of a vino vending machine isn’t that far fetched. Last year PanPacific unveiled a beer vending machine that could verify the buyer’s age before dispensing. Combine that type of technology with the higher end cuisine vending companies like Yo-Kai Express, Chowbotics and Piestro are trying to create and suddenly the idea of a robot wine sommelier doesn’t seem so silly.
Hmmmm… perhaps I’ll put one on my Christmas list for next year.
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