An artificial intelligence with its feet in the vineyard and its nose in the glass… and one that knows how to say “I don’t know”.

Wine is a vast body of knowledge. It touches on agronomy, microbiology, tasting and history, but also on a mountain of regulations: customs, appellations, labelling, certifications. Winegrowers spend an enormous amount of time on paperwork, and wine lovers often get lost in the jargon.

Freia is a conversational assistant we are developing to help everyone in this little world. Her “wine” version, Freia Vin, speaks like a winegrower, sommelier and oenologist in one: technical and precise with a professional, simple and lively with someone who is curious.

What makes her different

She relies on texts, not on her memory

Freia Vin does not answer “off the top of her head”. Before each answer, she searches a library of reference documents:

  • European regulations on wine: market organisation, oenological practices, labelling, organic production and permitted additives;
  • the French customs practical sheets on viticulture: CVI, declarations, DRM, accompanying documents, excise duties;
  • data and guides from the INAO: AOC and IGP appellation areas, guide to reading organic rules;
  • the specifications and standards for organic, Vin Méthode Nature and Demeter ;
  • encyclopaedic articles on grape varieties, regions and techniques.

When she answers on a regulatory point, she cites her sources (the text and the article), and these citations are checked automatically: a reference that cannot be found in the documents is flagged.

She measures her own certainty

This is the heart of the Freia project. Before answering, she checks whether the documents found really cover the question, whether they are consistent with one another and how relevant they are. If nothing solid turns up, she says so, invents no sources and points you to the right contact: the customs viticulture service, the ODG, the certification body, an accountant…

She never gives a rate, a threshold or an article number that she has not found in a text. She also reminds you that some amounts, such as excise duties, change every year.

She respects everyone, and tells it straight

Natural wine, organic and biodynamic farming are the culture closest to her heart. She speaks about them with affection and readily suggests the option with the fewest additives. But she always draws a line between:

  • what is regulated and inspected: EU organic and AB, Vin Méthode Nature, Demeter or Biodyvin specifications, HVE;
  • and what comes under practice, tradition or belief, such as the lunar calendar or biodynamic preparations.

She does not present as proven what is not, and she respects all winegrowers, conventional ones included.

She does not read your emotions

Freia’s tone, more neutral or warmer, is set on request. It is never inferred from your messages: Freia does not analyse your emotional state. That is an ethical choice, and a choice to respect personal data.

🍇 For winegrowers

  • The estate’s admin: taking over vines, setting up and making wine from your harvest, keeping your CVI up to date, understanding the DRM, choosing between DAE and DSA for shipping, knowing where to find excise rates… Freia explains the procedures step by step, with the references.
  • Regulations and certifications: sulphites permitted in conventional or organic wine, copper in organic farming, conversion, what Demeter requires on top of organic, the right to write “Vin Méthode Nature” on a label…
  • Labelling: the mandatory information, including the list of ingredients and the energy value required since December 2023.
  • In the vineyard and the cellar: diseases, pruning, harvest, native yeasts, carbonic maceration, preventing mousiness in a wine with no added sulphur…
  • Communication: a text to present a cuvée or a social media post, in line with the Évin law. Freia never encourages drinking and never makes health claims.
  • Your own documents: your technical sheets, tasting notes or cellar records can be added to your space. They stay private and are never shared with other users.
  • Working as a team: shared rooms let a whole team (winegrower, cellar master, sales) talk with Freia in the same thread, around the estate’s documents.

🍷 For sommeliers, wine merchants and restaurateurs

  • Presenting a wine to a customer who doesn’t know the region: Savagnin and vin jaune, a Cahors, a pét-nat from the Loire…
  • Pairing and service: temperature, whether to decant a natural wine or not. Freia gives a clear opinion, offered as a suggestion, always with an alternative.
  • Reading a technical sheet: SO₂ levels, additives, filtration. Enough to give curious customers a precise answer.

🌿 For wine lovers

  • Understanding without jargon: “I’m visiting a biodynamic estate this afternoon, what difference does it make in the glass?” Freia answers in a few simple sentences.
  • Learning at your own pace: grape varieties, terroirs, methods. Ask all the questions you don’t dare ask at the wine shop.
  • Always with respect: no encouragement to drink, and no drinking advice to pregnant women or minors.

What Freia is not

  • She is not a guide that scores wines. Like Vinivers, she prefers to tell their stories.
  • She is not legal or accounting advice. For a binding decision, she refers you to the competent body, and that is precisely what makes her reliable.
  • She is not a black box. You can see which texts she relies on, and she tells you when she is unsure.

Try her out

Freia is still being developed, and we are looking for winegrowers, wine merchants and sommeliers to test her and help us improve her. Your real questions are the best way to make her useful.

👉 Write to us to join the group of testers.

Knowledge about living wine is collective. Freia wants to be a tool for it, not an oracle.