Which online wine shops do ChatGPT and other AI assistants name in the US?

What the answers show about online wine shops in the US

Our data On October 14 we asked ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot six questions a customer in the United States might ask when looking for an online wine shop. All 24 answers came back, and together they named 73 different shops, wine clubs, apps, marketplaces and wine brands. 43 of those were named only once, and only 5 shops were named by all four assistants: Total Wine, K&L Wine Merchants, Splash Wines, Wine.com and WineBid.

Total Wine and K&L Wine Merchants were named in 9 of 24 answers each, Splash Wines in 8 and Wine.com in 7. Wine Insiders followed with 6, Astor Wines and WineBid with 5. No name came close to appearing everywhere. This is one run per question, so read the counts as a snapshot, not a ranking.

For an online wine shop, that means the answers were spread out: there was no fixed group that every list started with. Instead, each question had its own specialists. Gemini and Copilot gave the longest lists, 49 and 45 names across their 6 answers, against 27 for ChatGPT.

Each question had its own specialists

For rare vintages, the answers named auction and fine wine sellers: Benchmark Wine Group, Zachys, K&L Wine Merchants, WineBid and Acker. For organic and biodynamic wine, a different set appeared: Primal Wine, MYSA Natural Wine and Dry Farm Wines were each named by three assistants, next to clubs such as Plonk Wine Club and grocers such as Thrive Market. For low prices and bulk orders, Splash Wines was named by three assistants, and Copilot named warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's).

The names differed between questions about natural wine, rare bottles and case deals. Test the questions that describe the products and services you actually offer.

Fast delivery meant apps

For fast express delivery this week, the answers turned to delivery apps and retailers rather than online wine shops: Instacart was named by three assistants, Uber Eats and Saucey by two, and Drizly, DoorDash and Shipt by one each. Total Wine appeared in three of the four answers. Copilot's answer listed mostly wine brands, such as La Marca and Kim Crawford, next to two apps and Total Wine.

The alternatives question named Wine.com

Asked for alternatives to Wine.com, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Copilot named Wine.com itself first. K&L Wine Merchants appeared in all four answers. Gemini and Copilot listed 12 names each, including subscription clubs such as Firstleaf, Winc and Naked Wines and the Vivino marketplace.

No Google Maps answers

Because these were questions about shopping online across the US, Google AI Mode answered with text and links, not with Google Maps places. There are no star ratings or review counts on this page for that reason.

Which websites the answers cite for online wine shops

Our data All four assistants attached source links to all 6 of their answers. The most-cited website was winefolly.com, a wine guide (8 of 24 answers), followed by totalwine.com (6), then vinology.com, splashwines.com and trustpilot.com (5 each), and reddit.com, youtube.com and wtso.com (4 each). Southern Living, Wine Enthusiast, zachys.com and the WineBerserkers forum were cited twice each.

So the sources were a broad mix: wine guides and magazines, the shops' own websites, review sites and community discussions. Shops' own sites were cited often, especially for practical questions: for fast delivery, ChatGPT cited the sites of delivery apps and retailers, and for deals, Gemini cited the sites of several discount sellers. For customer satisfaction, all four assistants cited Trustpilot.

Where US online wine shops are usually listed and compared (advice): Trustpilot and other review sites, wine price comparison sites such as Wine-Searcher, marketplaces and apps such as Vivino, Google Merchant Center for product listings in Google Shopping, and wine forums and communities where buyers discuss shops. Wine guides and magazines choose their own picks, so you can't list yourself there, but you can check that what they say about you is correct.

Related snapshots of what the assistants named: online electronics retailers in the US and restaurants in Atlanta.

How customers ask AI assistants about buying wine online

Our six questions covered rare vintages, organic and biodynamic wine, low prices and bulk deals, customer satisfaction, fast delivery this week, and alternatives to Wine.com. Online buyers often add a state, a grape, a region, an occasion or a price limit. Questions worth testing, written the way people type them:

• "Online wine shop that ships to Texas with free shipping on a case"
• "Where to buy older Barolo vintages online in the US"
• "Natural wine subscription that ships to California"
• "Affordable mixed case of Spanish wines delivered to New York"
• "Online wine store with temperature-controlled shipping in summer"

Use the styles, regions and services you actually offer, and the states you ship to. Include those details when testing your own questions.

What an online wine shop can check to show up in AI answers

Advice: these checks are practical and most can be done in a day or two. None of them can promise a mention; they make the facts about your shop easy to find and hard to get wrong.

1. Publish a clear shipping page. Which states you ship to, delivery times, costs, case minimums, free shipping thresholds and temperature-controlled options, as text. Customers ask with their state and their deadline in mind.
2. Write product pages as text. Producer, region, vintage, grape, farming (organic, biodynamic, natural, with any certification), tasting notes and price per bottle, not only in images or a label photo.
3. Give your specialty its own page. Rare vintages and provenance, natural wine, case deals, wine clubs: a page that explains it in plain words. Each question in this run had its own specialists.
4. Keep your Trustpilot profile current. Reply to reviews and check your company details. All four assistants cited Trustpilot for the satisfaction question.
5. Check price comparison and marketplace listings. If your stock appears on Wine-Searcher, Vivino or Google Shopping, check that prices, availability and shipping match your shop.
6. Make deals and bulk pricing visible. Case discounts, mixed-case offers and volume pricing on a dedicated page, with current numbers. One question asked for the best deals on bulk orders.
7. Check the guides that were cited. Open the Wine Folly, vinology.com and Southern Living buying guides. Are you listed, with a correct description of what you sell?

How to check whether ChatGPT names your wine shop

Write five or six questions your customers would ask, including the wines you specialize in and the states you ship to, and ask several assistants. Note who is named, which apps and marketplaces appear and which websites are cited, then repeat in a few weeks, because the answers change. CheckAI checks your own customer questions across the same four assistants and shows the names and cited websites for every answer; a first check on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode is free. Our guide on how to check if ChatGPT names your business walks through the manual version.