This article was taken from the March 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
If you love wine but are far from a connoisseur, Heini Zachariassen is here to help. His big idea: using data to help refine your taste. Zachariassen's app Vivino has more than 2.8 million monthly active users who discover and rate the five million vintages that the startup has catalogued. "I wanted to be able to walk into a supermarket, point at a bottle of wine and find out more about it," says the Vivino founder.
According to the Faro Island native, a total of 100 million scans have been made through the app. About 20 per cent of Vivino's users also rate the wines they drink. "This is how we know you like Pinots but not Zinfandels, and that mapping is very important in what we recommend to you," he says. "We find the users that have given the same wines a rating within 0.5 of your ratings, then Vivino recommends the other wines that this user likes."
By analysing wine reviews, Zachariassen has discovered some interesting taste patterns among drinkers. "For instance, if you're a white wine drinker looking to start a red wine, you should try a Beaujolais," he says. "We have found that people who love French whites such as a Burgundy also enjoy Beaujolais more than average, which can't be said for other red wines. Beaujolais reds are usually nice, light and easy wines, perfect for the transition from white to red."
In November 2014 the San Francisco-based startup launched a restaurant version of Vivino, whereby users can take a photo of a wine list to see which bottles have the best ratings. More than 100,000 lists were scanned in the first two weeks. Using the locationss of each scan made through the app, Vivino hopes to build up an inventory of wines around the world by the end of 2015. Next up? "We want to let people buy wine through the app," says Zachariassen. "We can tell people what's available at which merchants, and let them order as much as they like." Better start cleansing that palate.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
