With hundreds of wines, more than 100 exhibitors, and plenty of discoveries to make, navigating Standard Bank Private WineX can be quite the experience. This year, however, visitors have a clever new companion to help them find their way around.

There is something quite exciting about walking into a wine convention. The prospect of discovering new producers, tasting unfamiliar varietals and catching up with some old favourites is enough to get any wine enthusiast through the doors. But if you’ve ever attended Standard Bank Private WineX, you’ll know that the sheer scale of the convention can be a little overwhelming.

With 120 exhibitors and approximately 700 wines to explore, there is a lot of ground to cover. Between navigating the different stands, deciding what to taste next and trying not to miss a producer you’ve been meaning to visit, it’s surprisingly easy to find yourself gravitating towards the familiar.
This year, WineX has introduced an interesting solution: Back Chat, an AI-powered Smart Event Guide designed to make your wine-tasting experience a little more personal.

Developed by Cape Town-based technology company Smart Operator, Back Chat takes the traditional WineX Passport into the digital age. Rather than simply handing visitors a floor plan and leaving them to figure it out, the guide uses conversational AI to help you navigate the convention according to your tastes, interests and even your budget.

Getting started is fairly simple. Visitors scan a QR code at the entrance, download the app and complete a quick sign-up. From there, you can tell Back Chat what you enjoy drinking, what you’re curious about or which producers you’d particularly like to visit. Enjoy lighter reds? Curious about an unfamiliar grape variety? Looking for something new within a particular price range? The guide can recommend wines and direct you to the
relevant exhibitors. As you move through the convention and share what you’ve tasted and enjoyed, its recommendations become increasingly tailored to your preferences. What I particularly enjoyed about the concept is that it encourages you to step outside your usual wine choices.

Wine conventions can sometimes become an exercise in visiting the
same familiar tables, but having a guide that introduces you to producers you might otherwise walk past adds another dimension to the experience.
And while the technology is impressive, the intention isn’t to have you glued to your phone throughout the evening. In fact, the recommendations are designed to lead you back to the people behind the wine. You can use Back Chat to learn a little more about a particular bottle, explore tasting notes or even get suggestions for questions to ask the winemaker
when you arrive at their stand.

Beyond the AI experience, another interesting addition to this year’s WineX programme is the introduction of private silent tastings.
Set within the lively convention, these sessions offered a slightly different way to experience wine. Visitors registered for a scheduled session throughout the evening, put on a pair of headphones, and enjoyed a more focused tasting experience. It’s a welcome change of pace amid the conversations, music and general excitement of the convention,
allowing you to give the wines a little more attention.

There is something quite lovely about having these different experiences under one roof. You can spend the evening exploring the expansive tasting floor, discovering local South African producers and even sampling international offerings from renowned wine regions such as France and Italy, before stepping into a more intimate guided tasting. Ultimately, WineX is about more than simply tasting as many wines as possible. It’s an
opportunity to discover, learn, meet the people behind the bottles and perhaps leave with a new favourite.

The introduction of Back Chat makes that journey more accessible,
particularly for visitors who might not know where to begin or who are keen to explore beyond their usual preferences. It’s a clever use of technology in an environment where human connection remains at the heart of the experience. After all, an AI guide might point you towards a wonderful bottle, but there’s still something special about hearing its story directly from the person who made it.

If you’ve been meaning to expand your wine horizons, WineX might just be the place to start. And this year, you have a rather smart companion to help you along the way.