Think Italian wine complicated? Think you need to remember every wine? Think again. I often remember the place I enjoyed a wine or with whom rather than the details of the wine. Nor can I remember every producer and which of their many wines they do best.
With the apps I list below, you can record every wine you have ever had, learn about wines, their ratings and find where to buy the wine. There is also an app to help you find the best places in Italy to taste wine and shops to buy bottles.
I list the apps that Italians use to select their wines (and it’s not Robert Parker). The best thing about apps is that they weigh nothing, are always in your phone, have easy search functions and can find producers nearest you. We use these apps in restaurants when ordering wine, shops when buying wine and when travelling to decide which wineries to visit.
If you are not in a region where you can download these apps, many of the same authors have books and guides.
Recording wines:
Vivino
Great for recording which wines you drank, where, thoughts on the wine and the price. Just take a picture of the label and all the information will be presented for you to rate and record your impression. Free.
Delectable
The main competitor to Vivino with the same functions. Free.
General wine:
Wine Searcher
Great for finding particular wines. It holds the database for thousands of wine merchants so will give a reliable indication on pricing.
Corkz
Great for ratings on wines, pricing, tasting notes, keeping track of your own wine cellar, wine terms, grape varietals and wine regions.
Guides Italians use to buy Italian wine:
Italian Wines by Gambero Rosso
Great for ratings and finding wineries near you.
Veronelli
Great for ratings, doing searches, finding wineries with accommodation and more.
Slow Wine
Slow wine is from Slow Food and focuses on wineries which are not only good but good value, typical of their region, environmentally sensitive and ecologically sustainable.
The Italian Wines by L’Espresso
Have a good search function and can view which are the top wineries in a region.
Migliori Vini by Luca Maroni
Alphabetical listings of wines and producers with details and suggested food pairings.
Can do searches by food pairings, region, province, typology (ie Barolo) and types with rankings by the same categories.
Bibenda
This app is in Italian but lists all the information on the winery and each of their wines (with ratings out of 5 grape bunches). To use just select “altro” on the bottom left of the screen and then search (“cerca“) and input the wine name to see the ratings and details.
A guide to the best enotecas to try wines and stores to buy bottles in Italy:
Il Golosario
It’s in Italian but you can look up the region (ie Lazio) and city (ie Roma for Rome) to see the listings – just look for Enoteca in the name to find the best places in town to try wine.
Which wine apps do you like best?
If you have friends that are interested in wine or are planning a trip to Italy, please share this post with them.
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