Does anyone really use Vivino?

[Jenise]

My best friend the wine blogger uses it a lot. She keeps her inventory there (where I use CT) and she is often sent batches of wine by them to test in a single online session with a handful of others, the point of which seems to be to build ratings.

I checked it out when it was new. Was trying to look up wines while shopping at a Total Wine for stuff to use in one of my neighborhood tastings and found it absolutely useless. First two wines I looked up weren't even listed. When I finally did find a producer I was looking for, they had the grape wrong. Since then I have only looked at it by accident, like this morning while googling the Margaux-based Cru Bourgeois Chateau D'Arsac to check on grape constituency. One of the Google options to look at was Vivino's page which indicated that the wine was pinot noir. What? I clicked on it. Yup: it says pinot noir.

https://www.vivino.com/chateau-d-arsac-margaux/w/1369753

What a joke of a site. For inexperienced newbies who are easily impressed by words like 'awesome' and 'popular'.

[David M. Bueker]

Vivino is Yelp for wine, but even less useful.

I rarely look up prices there, but only as a last choice. I had supposed that it is generally used by those dining out to compare wine list prices with retail. Kinda sorta.

[Jenise]

Maybe, but once you're in the restaurant it's a moot point--you're going to pay the markup they ask (which will be on a sliding scale of percentages) or not order wine at all. My impression is that it's more for shopping. Say, you're at Piggly Wiggly and you're trying to decide between the Mondavi or the Martini, and you'll make your decision based on Vivino scores from, presumably, not critics but people like you. OR, you just had the wine in a restaurant and you want to know where to buy some. The latter makes some sense, that'd be how they'd monetize the site--retail referrals.

Could be, Jenise. We have always dined out rarely, and not at during Coronafinement. And when we did, we didn't order wine. I am too aware of markups and too frugal to pay them. So takeout with our own vino is standard operating procedure.

Years ago, before smartphones, we were staying at a small inn in Mendocino area. We each wanted a glass of red for dinner. Special treat, on vaca. The server asked if we liked Syrah. Duh, yeah. They had one open that was not usually by the glass. We were served the wine and wow.

Asked the server for the name of the wine. "Rehnquist", like the former Supreme Court judge. I should have asked to see the da$$ bottle. At home, finally figured out that it was (Jeff) Runquist. And we've enjoyed several of his wines.

https://www.jeffrunquistwines.com/

Moral of the story: now, take a picture. Then, should have asked to see the bottle.

Fun research and journey.