ChatGPT Knows Wine. Sommy Knows Your Wine. Here's Why That Matters.

There's a detail near the end of a recent New York Times piece on AI and wine that deserves more attention than it got. A man named Spencer Herbst ordered a bottle from Slovenia. He couldn't have told you much about Slovenian wine before that night. But an AI recommended it, and he had the confidence to try it. That's the whole story. It's also exactly the story that gets lost whenever someone calls an AI chatbot "the new sommelier."

TL;DR

• General AI chatbots know a lot about wine, but they don't know anything about you

• Eric Asimov's verdict on ChatGPT for wine: "its floor is high, but its ceiling is low" — accurate, and the gap worth understanding

• Building real wine confidence requires knowing your palate, not just knowing wine facts

• Sommy builds your Palate Profile over time so recommendations get sharper the more you taste and rank

What Does "Knowing Wine" Actually Get You at a Restaurant Table?

General AI chatbots have a genuinely high floor when it comes to wine. Ask ChatGPT to evaluate a wine list and it will reason through value, style, and food pairing with real competence. Eric Asimov, the New York Times wine critic, tested it against an actual restaurant list and found the picks were sound. He also found the ceiling: it never surprised him. It thinks inside the box. It recommended wines he already knew, solid, defensible, predictable.

That's fine if your goal is to avoid a mistake. It's not enough if your goal is to discover something.

The problem isn't information. Every general AI has absorbed millions of words about wine. The problem is that knowing a great deal about Burgundy tells you nothing about whether you prefer the earthy grip of a village Chambolle or the brighter, more lifted character of a Gevrey. That's palate-specific. And palate knowledge only comes from paying attention to what you've actually tried and whether you loved it.

Why Does the Slovenia Bottle Matter?

The most revealing moment in the Times piece isn't about ChatGPT's technical competence. It's about what happened when someone trusted a recommendation beyond his comfort zone. Herbst ordered a wine from Slovenia, a country he said he'd never have had the confidence to choose from on his own. An AI pointed him there. He went.

That's the gap worth closing: not "can AI name a good wine?" but "can it push you toward something you didn't know you'd love?"

General AI can name a good Slovenian wine. It knows Rebula, it knows the Brda and Goriška Brda regions, it can give you a confident summary. What it can't tell you is whether you specifically are the kind of drinker who would fall for it, someone who responds to high-acid whites with texture, who's been ordering Vermentino lately, who logged a Georgian orange wine as a favorite six months ago. Sommy builds that picture through your Palate Profile and uses it to make the leap from "this is a good wine" to "this is a good wine for you."

That's a different recommendation. That's the one that gets you to Slovenia.

What Does "Confidence Builder" Actually Mean?

Dan Petroski, a Napa Valley winemaker quoted in the Times piece, put it well: "It may not be the perfect answer, but it can be a confidence builder." He was talking about ChatGPT. The phrase is more interesting when you apply it to what a personalized wine app can do over time.

A one-time chatbot interaction builds confidence for one meal. You know more than you did when you walked in, and that's real.

What builds wine confidence over months is something else: a record of what you've tried, what landed, what surprised you, and what you'd skip next time. It's the difference between reading a recipe once and actually knowing how to cook. The more you tell Sommy about the wines you've tasted, the sharper its recommendations get, because they're not drawn from what's statistically popular. They're drawn from you.

"Your wine confidence, built over time" is what Sommy is actually for. Not a smarter chatbot. A running conversation about your palate that gets better every time you drink something.

Why Does Using ChatGPT for Wine Feel Awkward?

One of the funnier details in the Times piece: Herbst's wife asks him to hide ChatGPT when he uses it at restaurants. She thinks it's embarrassing. That reaction is worth taking seriously.

Opening a general-purpose chatbot at a restaurant table, photographing the wine list, and waiting for a text wall of options signals something. It says you've brought a study tool to dinner. For some people that's completely fine. For a lot of people it amplifies exactly the self-consciousness that wine anxiety already creates.

A tool designed for that moment looks different. It's fast, it knows you, and you get a recommendation that reflects your actual preferences rather than a survey of what most people enjoy. Ordering wine with confidence at a restaurant should feel like a quick check with someone who knows your taste, not a research project. You shouldn't have to hide the app. The app should be designed so hiding never crosses your mind.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sommy just another AI chatbot that knows about wine?

No. General AI chatbots know wine in the abstract. Sommy knows your wine: the bottles you've tried, the styles you gravitate toward, the regions you're curious about. Its recommendations come from your Palate Profile, not from a statistical average of what most drinkers enjoy.

What's the difference between asking ChatGPT and asking Sommy for a wine recommendation?

ChatGPT gives you a well-reasoned answer based on what's generally known about wine. Sommy gives you a recommendation based on what you specifically tend to love. The first answer is good for anyone. The second is built for you.

Does Sommy work at the restaurant table?

Yes, and that's one of the things it's designed for. Photograph a wine list and get a personalized recommendation based on your Palate Profile, not a generic survey of options, just the bottles that fit how you drink.

Can Sommy push me toward wines I've never heard of?

Yes. That's the point. Once Sommy understands your palate, it can identify wines in unfamiliar regions or from grapes you've never tried that match your preferences exactly. The Slovenia bottle in the Times piece is a good illustration of what that looks like in practice.

Wine confidence isn't the same as wine knowledge. What people actually need at the restaurant table isn't a fact database, it's a recommendation they trust. That trust comes from being known. And being known is what gets you to Slovenia.

Start building your Palate Profile and discover wines made for your taste.