Luxury wine wall with ‘robotic arm’ launches
A luxury fine wine showcase with a robotic arm that can pick out your desired bottle, and with a ‘virtual sommelier’ to suggest food pairings, has been launched.
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WineCab said its new luxury wine wall includes a ‘seven-axis, industrial high speed robotic arm’.
The technology is capable of fetching a fine wine from the collection and delivering the bottle to drinkers via a glass-panelled hatch.
The launch is another example of how fine wine displays have become increasingly popular in homes and also restaurants.
Yet with prices starting at $179,000, the temperature-controlled WineCab has very much aimed at the higher end of the market and ‘serious oenophiles’.
A spokesperson told Decanter.com that orders have already been placed.
‘There are several units for private clients in the design process,’ she said, adding that the company has also been working with two fine dining restaurants in New York, in particular.
There is a waiting list for new orders, and WineCab was working to a delivery time of four months, she said.
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Buyers can customise the design of the wine wall, but each has a ‘virtual sommelier’ system installed that can offer wine and food pairing advice, as well as personalised recommendations, said WineCab.
New bottles are ‘robotically scanned’ into Delectable, the cellar management app, said the firm.
The system also has facial recognition security, which can ‘lock out important bottles from certain users’, said WineCab, which was founded by president and CEO Mark Chaney, an entrepreneur and investor who previously founded Calvary Robotics.
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Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.
He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.
Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.
Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.