In the last few years there has been an emergence of label scanning wine apps. Their clever technology allows you to scan the bottle and then information all about the wine appears. These are great applications to have on hand if you work with wine or simply to use personally when in out for dinner or at the supermarket. However with there being so many of these apps available now, it can be hard to know which are the best. So over the past week we have had fun testing out two leading players – Vivino and Delectable. 

Vivino

This app allows you to scan the label of a wine and cleverly a few seconds later information appears such as the name, grape variety, price and wine reviews. You are then given the option to rate the wine out of 5 stars and/or write a review if you really want. It stores all the wines you have scanned for future reference - which is great as it can easy to forget the names of wines you like. You can also follow individuals and see what they have been drinking, We tested out 10 wines at Riviera Wine head office and it correctly identified all of them. A great perk to this app is that if it cannot identify a wine then it gets sent to a real human person to identify, with a little delay of course. Also if the incorrect wine comes up, you can scroll down and there are a list of alternative vintages and wines.

Delectable

This works very similarly to Vivino by taking a label photo and is just as effective, correctly identifying the same ten wines. It has a little more emphasis on the social aspect, allowing you to follow fellow wine drinkers, be they professionals or friends. You can also see what wines are 'trending'. It also has the option to share your wine on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Wines here are rated out of 10 instead and you can write reviews too just like Vivino.  The slight difference to Vivino is it allows you to buy wine.  Whether you are getting the best price, we aren't sure, but its a good option to have.  Overall, very similar to Vivino but has a slicker and simpler design which we slightly prefer. 

Overall, they are both very easy to use and effective, so why not download both and see which you prefer!

This works very similarly to Vivino by taking a label photo and is just as effective, correctly identifying the same ten wines. It has a little more emphasis on the social aspect, allowing you to follow fellow wine drinkers, be they professionals or friends. You can also see what wines are 'trending'. It also has the option to share your wine on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Wines here are rated out of 10 instead and you can write reviews too just like Vivino.  The slight difference to Vivino is it allows you to buy wine.  Whether you are getting the best price, we aren't sure, but its a good option to have.  Overall, very similar to Vivino but has a slicker and simpler design which we slightly prefer. 

Overall, they are both very easy to use and effective, so why not download both and see which you prefer!