Thirty innovations honored at the 2026 Vinitech-Sifel awards

Thirty solutions selected from 55 entries

The jury of the 2026 Vinitech-Sifel Innovation Awards recognized 30 solutions from a total of 55 submissions. The awarded developments cover several areas of viticulture and winemaking, ranging from vineyard worker safety to wine blending supported by artificial intelligence.

An underwater wine drone was among the technologies presented. The available summary does not provide technical details about how the device operates, where it is intended to be used or who developed it. Likewise, no further information is available about the methodology behind the AI-assisted blending solution or the role it assigns to human decision-making.

Three gold honorees

Surus Connect, M&Wine and Mywah received gold honors in the 2026 awards. According to the source title, the 30 recognized innovations were assigned gold, silver and bronze distinctions, although the supplied material does not include the complete breakdown by medal or category.

The range of honored entries indicates that industry innovation is addressing workplace safety, support for winemaking processes and emerging digital tools at the same time. However, no details were provided about the technologies’ commercial maturity, implementation schedules or market availability.

Citations and a jury favorite

Beyond the 30 awarded solutions, ten additional innovations received citations. Agrocampus Bordeaux Gironde also earned a jury favorite distinction for its “Terroir d’idées” hackathon. The available information does not specify the hackathon’s themes, participants or outcomes.

Taken together, the solutions selected from the 55 entries represent a broad cross-section of technological directions in the wine and vineyard sectors. The inclusion of worker safety systems, underwater equipment and AI-supported blending also shows that the competition encompassed both operational and digital innovation. More information would be needed to assess the practical performance, adoption potential and measurable impact of each development. The original report was published by Vitisphere.