The number of worldwide mobile app downloads crossed 230 million in 2021. A fair share of this number is concentrated in the Food and Beverage sector, where app-based services have been swelling in popularity and competition in recent years.
Social media has in fact completely changed the way we look at food and drinks, with apps like Instagram redefining the way we engage with what’s on our tables and in our kitchen cabinets. The wine industry is keeping up with the times quite well, as is evident by the sheer number of wine apps out there.
Here’s our list of the best wine apps to have at your fingertips, whether you want to learn about wines, discover new favourites, compare your choices, record your experience, track your collection, purchase a bottle, or share your wine story.
A fan favourite app for scanning wines, discovering new favourites, and buying with a tap.
Availability: Both Android and iOS
Ratings: 4.6 on Apple Store. 4.8 on Google Play Store.
Rated as an essential wine app, Delectable is a top pick for its varied features. You can use it to scan wine labels to identify and know more about each wine; including descriptions, ratings, reviews, and tasting notes. The app lets you follow top sommeliers and wine experts, explore curated wine lists, and buy wine straight from your device. Use the social features of the app to connect with your friends and become part of the global wine community. You can also maintain a personal wine journal to keep track of your favourites, share recommendations, and tag people and locations to mark your wine experiences.
Hits: Works for both beers and spirits, free version available, great social and discoverability features, fast and accurate label scanning, clean and modern design
Misses: Some niche labels missing from the database
Best free cellar app to track and manage your wine collection.
Availability: Both Android and iOS
Ratings: 3.8 on Apple Store. 4.0 on Google Play Store.
Like other popular wine apps, CellarTracker hosts a large collection of wine reviews, recommendations, tasting notes, and community access. The database includes over 3.4 million wines. But the USP of the app is its cellar management tools. You can use the app to easily scan the UPC/EAN barcodes on your bottles (as well as custom CellarTracker barcodes) to create your cellar inventory. While each bottle entry will include tasting notes and reviews from the database as well as current valuations, you can also include custom notes like quantity and purchase location to personalise your collection. The app also allows you to track your consumption history by adding your own photos of labels, ratings, and tasting notes, which can be accessed later to remember what you’ve been drinking.
Hits: Barcode scanning feature, huge database, core features included in free version, flexible payment model for added features like automatic valuation
Misses: Lacks manual entry option
A widely accessible app to help you buy the right wine every time.
Availability: Both Android and iOS
Ratings: 4.8 on Apple Store. 4.7 on Google Play Store.
An App Store Editor’s Choice winner and an Ideal Wine Company favourite, Vivino democratizes the process of selecting and buying wines for everyone from the wine curious to the wine connoisseur. With a community of over 50 million users, this is arguably the most popular wine app for searches and purchases. Take advantage of Vivino’s crowd-sourced data to help generate personalised wine recommendations based on your unique app usage (scanning, rating, purchase). It also offers a nifty Quick Compare feature to help you pick the best wine from a shelf or a menu by scanning multiple labels in seconds to view their ratings, taste characteristics, price, and food pairings. The seamless two-click Vivino checkout feature makes purchasing wines from the app quick and easy.
Hits: Integration with social media platforms, personalised recommendation engine, access to the largest online wine marketplace
Misses: Regional info missing in some wines, vast amount of information on product pages can be overwhelming for beginners
A virtual wine assistant to help you pair better and drink smarter.
Availability: iOS only
Ratings: 4.2 on Apple Store
Aside from the usual label scanning, community ratings and wine guides that are common across the apps featured in this list, Hello Vino offers AI-guided food pairing ideas and wine recommendations that are personalised to your preferences. Choose your dish and occasion, set your broad preference and price range, and let Vino act as your personal sommelier and come up with the perfect wine suggestions. The app’s expertise includes wine gifting ideas. Whether you want a wine to pair with your sushi dinner or to bring to a summer barbecue, Hello Vino has the answers.
Hits: Smart food pairing ideas, No Snobs Allowed policy, wine dictionary with pronunciations
Misses: Not available on Android yet, too many pop-ups
Best micro-learning app to build your knowledge about wines.
Availability: iOS only
Ratings: 4.7 on Apple Store
Built with Decanter’s unrivalled industry expertise, the Know Your Wine app is the perfect tool for learning about wine. With ten free modules, short lessons, rankings and access to online quizzes, it guides you on the route to becoming a Know Your Wine Grand Master. Whether you are a budding sommelier or a wine enthusiast, this is a good app to support your foray into wine expertise.
Hits: Free learning modules, online quizzes
Misses: Not available on Android, intermediate level of content may seem too heavy for beginners
