Unleashing the power of artificial intelligence for viticulture and oenology on earth and space

Introduction

Implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in viticulture and enology is a rapidly growing field of research with an essential number of potential practical applications. Yet, most initiatives have concentrated on specific production chain segments rather than encompassing the entire process from the vineyard to the consumer and making this information available back to winegrowers and winemakers for sustainable decision making (Fuentes et al., 2023, Fuentes and Gago, 2022). Since 2014, our Digital Agriculture, Food, and Wine research group (DAFW, 2017) has pioneered integrating digital tools and AI modeling strategies to analyze remotely sensed data for comprehensive vineyard management. Our work spans diverse areas, including assessing plant physiological and water status for optimized irrigation, monitoring seasonal carbon dynamics of grapevines, evaluating canopy architecture, and detecting smoke contamination at various stages, ranging from canopies to berries, final wines, and acceptability by consumers (Fuentes et al., 2021b).

A notable innovation from our group is the development of low-cost digital technologies coupled with AI that can identify key physiological and quality indicators across the plant/canopy (De Bei et al., 2016, Fuentes et al., 2012), berries (Bonada et al., 2013a, Bonada et al., 2013b, Fuentes et al., 2021a, Fuentes et al., 2020b, Fuentes et al., 2010), must (Summerson et al., 2020), and finished wines (Fuentes et al., 2020c, Harris et al., 2023). By leveraging AI modeling, the digital sensors can detect smoke-related compounds to assess levels of smoke taint and various faults in situ and throughout the winemaking process that can also be applied for traceability, provenance, and counterfeiting/adulteration detection (Gonzalez Viejo and Fuentes, 2022). Additionally, integrated with AI, low-cost Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) achieves similar targets as the other digital sensors, such as electronic noses (E-nose), while providing valuable assessments of wines through the bottle without needing to open them, including AI modeling of consumer wine appreciation (Harris et al., 2022, Harris et al., 2025).

Our latest research initiatives explore the fascinating intersection of wine and space, investigating how sensory perception and acceptability of wines change in simulated microgravity and immersive space environments, with growing applications to the space tourism industry (Gonzalez Viejo et al., 2024, Viejo et al., 2024). At the forefront of innovation for the wine industry, our group is developing solutions with implications for terrestrial applications and NASA’s long-term human exploration missions, including the Artemis program, which aims for the Moon by 2030 and Mars by 2040. The latter is part of the newly awarded Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space (ARC, 2024).