Vivino Wine App

Before I took my WSET2 course, I had taken a five-week wine tasting course at Temple University, an American university in Tokyo. One of the teaching assistants introduced me to the wine app Vivino since I was just starting out in wine. For those not familiar with the app, it allows you to scan a wine label and then it lists all the essential information about the wine, such as region, variety, average price, and evaluations from users. It's free to download, but you do have to pay extra for the 'premium version.' I found this incredibly helpful when choosing wine since I wasn't familiar with all the wine regions and grape varieties. The ratings and evaluations are hit-and-miss at times. You have expert evaluations that you would get from a professional wine taster, but at the same time, you also get "nice and fruity" comments and ratings from those who don't realize red and white wine are different. I find that I don't use the app as much now since I have more confidence in choosing my own wine, but I still do check it for second-opinions when I can't quite figure out a wine profile on my own. ​

If you want to read more about this app, Forbes Magazine had a feature article about it when it first came out in 2012. They coined it the wine app for 'normal people."