ION LUCA · 21 OCTOBER 2026

AI doesn’t make wine for me. But it can help me make better wines.

On artificial intelligence, the dream of having a clone and the search for more time to make wine.

I’m a winemaker. But how much time do I have left to make wine?

I had the honour of being named Winemaker of the Year 2024 in the Republic of Moldova. Winemaking is my passion and the reason I built Carpe Diem.

But the reality of running a family winery is far more complicated.

Viticulture, production, administration, human resources, accounting, invoices, emails, marketing, sales, exports, logistics, tourism, Carpe Diem Wine Shop & Bar… The list is almost endless.

All of these things matter and need to be done. But each takes time and energy that I would rather devote to wine.

I’ve often thought how good it would be to have a clone. A second Ion, like in a Hollywood film, who could take over some of my responsibilities.

Well, today I have a real clone. It just doesn’t look the way Hollywood taught us to imagine it.

It isn’t another Ion standing physically beside me. It is AI agents that can analyse information, organise processes and carry out different tasks in parallel with me.

For an entrepreneur trying to do everything, that possibility changes a great deal.

In October 2026, together with my colleagues from Fetească Generation, I organised a course at Casa Vinicolă Luca on artificial intelligence applied to business, led by Veaceslav Cunev.

This was my second AI course. I’ve been actively using these tools in my businesses for about six months, and the three days of training were an excellent opportunity to discover new possibilities and put them into practice straight away.

Three days for a project postponed for years

Our website, CarpeDiem.md, is a good example.

For years, I knew it needed updating. There was inaccurate information, overdue changes, technical problems and a long list of ideas for improvements. But other priorities kept getting in the way.

During the three days of the AI & Business course, working alongside the seminar, I made substantial progress on this long-delayed project.

I updated our Webflow website, worked on its visibility in search engines and AI-generated answers, and compared it with other wineries’ websites.

In three days, the site became more current and better organised. The work continues, but the project has finally moved off the list of things I kept postponing.

But this story isn’t really about a website.

The website is just one of the many projects we entrepreneurs postpone for years. We know they need doing, but never seem to have enough time, resources or technical skills.

Now, many of those projects no longer have to stay on the waiting list.

Technology in the service of winemaking

I’ve also started using these tools to organise work at the winery.

I built a management system in Notion to track the operations carried out on each tank: treatments, filtration, materials used, dosages and stocks.

I can check whether I have enough materials before starting an operation, analyse temperature sensor data to manage energy use more efficiently, and quickly find information in technical documents.

These are practical things, but they matter. They mean better organisation, fewer errors and better-informed decisions.

AI doesn’t directly improve the quality of the wine, but it can create the conditions for me to do my job better.

The paradox: twice as efficient, but working more

After six months of actively using artificial intelligence, I estimate that I’m already at least twice as efficient.

And yet, for now, I’m working about two hours more a day!

The explanation is simple: I can now start and finish projects for which I previously lacked time or resources.

I don’t just complete my usual tasks faster. I do things I couldn’t manage before.

For me, a real improvement in performance means more than doing the same things faster. It means being able to achieve things that seemed impossible until yesterday.

And I feel that change every day.

Tradition defines us. Technology helps us move forward.

Casa Vinicolă Luca is a family business with four generations of winemaking tradition. I’m proud of that heritage, and I believe the experience and knowledge passed down through the generations are fundamental to our wines.

But I also believe a good winemaker must be a modern winemaker.

A small family winery must keep finding ways to remain competitive. I see no contradiction between tradition and technology. I want to respect my family’s heritage and understand modern tools well enough to make them part of my work.

I hope the time I’m investing in learning and implementing these technologies today will allow me to delegate more and more administrative tasks in the future.

To spend less time on invoices, emails, websites and documents. And more time making wine.

To experiment, taste and create. To give my wines the attention I wish I could give them.

I don’t want artificial intelligence to make wine for me. I want to master it well enough to give me more time for what I love most: making wine.

And who knows? Perhaps one day, with the help of this technology, I’ll have the time and freedom to make the best wine I’ve ever made.

Ion Luca
Founder, Carpe Diem / Casa Vinicolă Luca
Winemaker of the Year 2024