Even the world of viticulture is faced with change and it’s not all doom and gloom, as producers are becoming savvier about the actual benefits and opportunities associated with the cutting edge technologies that are available to them. Some of the innovative technologies include: climate, soil and cellar monitoring, robots, data management and so forth. But let’s first focus on mower robots. Traditionally, sheep were used to maintain lawns however; a French company looking to the future has developed a flock of grass-chomping robots. Led by their Shepherd (a mobile application) the robots can mow the lawn between the vines guaranteeing up to 20% more fruit. For wine producers this is a non-negotiable innovation as it means they are able to discontinue using glyphosate which is sometimes used in the industry to kill grass in unwanted areas and that has been linked to cancer.  And let’s not forget: data management, which is also extremely important and will encourage real-time information direct to mobile telephones. It will also make monitoring the regions vineyard’s health and quality potential and support decision making.