Insert token, receive a small bottle of Moët & Chandon brut or rosé. What could be simpler? Nabbing a bottle at a test machine in the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Fla., was cheaper, more convenient, and more fun than waiting for room service. New York got its first machine in October, and in 2020 Moët plans to spread 100 of them across the U.S. (You can even buy your own—$35,000 at Neiman Marcus—but stocking it with 360 mini-bottles costs extra.)
The machines reflect the growing demand for instant access, even for luxury wines. Expect other wine companies to jump on this bandwagon. But because of France’s alcohol laws, don’t look for one in Paris.
Enotourism will get bigger
For starters, a €100 million ($112 million) World of Wine project is opening in 2020 across the Douro River from the city of Porto. The Fladgate Partnership, owner of several top port houses, is transforming 300-year-old warehouses into a series of wine experiences including a wine school and cork museum.
In France, Champagne Bollinger is opening its doors to the public via membership in its special Club 1829, Château Lafite Rothschild will open a new hospitality center and wine school at Château Duhart-Milon in time for harvest, and Burgundy breaks ground this month on its own Cité des Vins.
But the most interesting new wine travel development is the global DIY winemaking timeshare the Vines Global. Membership will let aspiring vineyard owners test their mettle making wine in a dozen regions with top winemakers. It started in Tuscany’s Montalcino last September; next year it will add Priorat, Spain, and two other places, with more to come.
Just want to see vineyards? The World’s Best Vineyards, a new annual ranking of the 50 most amazing ones to visit, will help you know where to go.
Wine packaging will surprise you
No longer a fad, canned wines are expected to reach sales of $4.6 billion by 2024. Now that canning has been normalized, and higher-quality wines skip the traditional glass bottle, keep a lookout for ever more innovative packaging: refillable, reusable jugs and flat bottles made from recycled plastic, as well as green-friendly components such as zero-carbon corks.
As for the staid wine label, more than 500 wineries across the globe are turning to augmented reality to bring labels to life through apps. And in Washington state, Chateau Ste. Michelle’s new Elicit Wine Project will act as an innovation hub for brands to take an info-rich, creative look at names, labels, and bottle design; for instance, its Fruit & Flower brand comes in both cans and bottles with themed label images to mirror the flavors of the wine inside.