Tastry, a sensory science company, has merged AI and advanced chemistry to teach computers to “taste.” Now their technology is helping consumers find great wines, and providing insight to wineries and retailers about the wines people love to drink.

1. Transforming Winemaking With
Tastry
Artificial Intelligence Can Now Taste

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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Introduction
Introduction
Tastry, a sensory science company, has merged AI and advanced chemistry to
teach computers to “taste.” Now their technology is helping consumers find
great wines, and providing insight to wineries and retailers about the wines
people love to drink.
Artificial Intelligence Can Now Taste - Transforming
Winemaking With Tastry

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Up until recently, the methods wineries used to decide what to produce and
what to sell have been almost entirely subjective. Without data, it was really
hard to figure out how to make a great wine that would sell well in the market.
But in an extremely competitive market, where many wineries only have one
shot per season to make a great wine, more and more winemakers are looking
for ways to predict what consumers will like, so they can create better products
and increase their profits.

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Now Tastry, a sensory sciences company based in California, is using machine
learning and advanced chemistry to teach artificial intelligence to “taste” – and
that technology is shaking up the wine industry by providing valuable
information to winemakers and retailers about the wines that customers enjoy.
I interviewed Katerina Axelsson, Founder and CEO of Tastry, about how her
company uses artificial intelligence to recommend wines to consumers and
advise wineries about what products to make.

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Tastry’s “Tasting” Methods
Tastry’s technology decodes aroma and flavor profiles by chemically analyzing
thousands of wines in their lab. Then Tastry identifies the unique consumer palate of
each individual that takes a quiz in a store our on their app. Consumer palates are
like fingerprints – no two are alike.
The AI then uses both of these datasets (consumer palate data and wine profiles) to
predict consumer product scores with over 92% accuracy.
Their artificial intelligence technology provides science-based insights not only to
consumers who feel overwhelmed in the liquor store, but also to winemakers and
retailers who want to improve sales by using real data about their customers.

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
How Tastry Helps Consumers
Every individual has a unique taste experience. Tastry’s app, BottleBird, walks users
through a quiz called a “palate survey” by asking about their personal taste and smell
preferences – including questions about things like coffee, tobacco, and vinegar.
Then BottleBird uses AI and the science of your personal palate to create
personalized wine recommendations. This approach makes Tastry different from
apps like Vivino, which rely on historical purchase and rating data.
The app’s recommendations greatly reduce overwhelm when wine consumers are
trying to select a wine in a store, restaurant, bar, or winery. Their tagline is “Never
waste money on a bad bottle again.” The app even lets users find wines that rank
highly for their friends, so they can give gifts that hit the mark every time.

7. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Helping Winemakers Create Great Vintages
Tastry recognized that small and medium-sized wine producers were struggling
to get noticed in the crowded wine market, especially companies that had
smaller marketing budgets.
Tastry’s mission is to help winemakers save money on production and move
more of their products by providing wine chemistry data that helps them adjust
their wines to match customer tastes. Now they also provide sales teams with
information that can help them make better targeting and distribution
decisions.

8. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Helping Winemakers Create Great Vintages
With the BottleBird app, wineries also gain exposure and connect with brand new
customers across a variety of generations and lifestyles. Because BottleBird users are
also 45% happier with their wine purchase when they use the app, customer
satisfaction scores for wineries can also skyrocket when they engage with Tastry.
One of Tastry’s customers, Alexandre Remy of Atlas Wine, says:
“Tastry helps me use real data to make decisions at Atlas. They bring not only
AI, but their advanced lab methods allow me to match up consumer data with
my operations. It’s like a compass pointing me in the right direction. Tastry
builds a bridge between the winery’s goals and the consumer’s needs.”

9. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Business Insights for Retailers
Wine retailers can also benefit from Tastry’s AI-powered business insights. Tastry can
improve wine aisle sales by:
● Providing shoppers with localized, personalized recommendations in in-store
kiosks, smart shelf labels, shopping apps, and e-commerce sites.
● Helping retailers optimize their product mix with real-time inventory performance
dashboards
● Improving customer satisfaction and increasing the number of return customers
a retailer gets
● Reducing shopper overwhelm by demystifying the wine shopping experience and
helping customers find “perfect fit” wines in seconds
Tastry reports that their insights can lead to a 20% increase in gross sales for wine
retailers.

10. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The Enormous Possibilities of AI Tasting
By teaching artificial intelligence to “taste,” Tastry’s model takes subjectivity out of the equation for
consumers who want to stop wasting money on bottles of wine they don’t like, as well as wineries and
retailers who want to increase sales by understanding what consumers want.
Katerina Axelsson shared that Tastry already has proven efficacy not just for wines, but also for
products like fragrances, beer, spirits, and coffee. They’ve even done some work with hot sauce
companies. When I asked her about Tastry’s future plans, Axelsson said,
“Hyper-personalization is becoming very important. There are just too many products and too
many options for things now, and people are experiencing the paradox of choice in almost
everything they buy. People will expect personalization, which we call singularization, and they’ll
expect those recommendations to be accurate.”
Companies that use business insights from companies like Tastry will also gain a huge competitive
advantage in the marketplace as time goes on.

11. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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