Can a Wine App Tell You What to Eat With It?
Pairing features match a dish name to a stored suggestion. That works until the sauce shows up. The five interactions behind every pairing, explained.
The cellar notes
Field notes from the team building AboutWine — practical, jargon-free, and built around the moments you actually buy and drink wine.
What to check before you click buy: whether the wine can legally ship to your state, how summer heat ruins bottles in transit, and how to read a listing you can't touch.
Read the story →Pairing features match a dish name to a stored suggestion. That works until the sauce shows up. The five interactions behind every pairing, explained.
Wine is one of the first products where climate change shows up in the bottle. Riper fruit, higher alcohol, new grapes in Bordeaux, and vineyards in Kent.
No. The closure is a winemaking decision about how long the wine is meant to last, not a quality grade. Here's what cork and screw cap each actually do.
Case discounts are real, usually 10 to 20 percent, and mixed cases normally count. The catch isn't the maths, it's owning twelve bottles you only half liked.
Menu-scanning apps promise to decode any restaurant wine list. Here's what the technology actually does at the table, where it breaks, and what helps.
The best low-ABV wines aren't new products with the alcohol removed. They're classic styles from cool regions that have sat at 9 to 11 percent for generations. Here's where to find them.
Most people serve reds too warm and whites too cold, which changes the taste more than the bottle does. The right ranges, and how to hit them.
Wine clubs are worth it for discovery and convenience, and often poor value on price alone. How to judge one honestly — including the curation test.
AI is good at explaining wine and bad at knowing what exists. Where a chatbot genuinely helps, where it invents bottles, and how to use it safely.
Pét-nat is sparkling wine bottled mid-fermentation, so the bubbles are natural. Here is how it is made, what it tastes like, how to open it, and what to buy first.
What sulfites in wine actually are, why winemakers add them, how much is really in your glass, and why they almost certainly aren't the cause of your wine headache.
Ordering wine at a restaurant feels intimidating, but you don't need to know the list. Reason from three things: style, budget, and what you're eating.
Most wine apps identify a bottle and hand you a score, which teaches you nothing. The difference between an app that scores wine and one that explains it.
Is boxed wine any good? For everyday drinking, increasingly yes. Bag-in-box keeps wine fresh for weeks — what it does well, its limits, and when to buy.
What acidity in wine actually is: how it tastes, where it comes from, which wines have more of it, and why it makes a wine taste fresh instead of flat.
How to pick a good rosé: what color, region, and vintage actually tell you, how to spot dry versus sweet, and how to match a bottle to the moment.
Wine cellar tracker apps log what you own, where it's stored and when to drink it. What they do, the features that matter, and whether you need one.
Is canned wine any good? Often, yes — the can is a format, not a downgrade. Which styles work in a can, how much is inside, and when to choose one.
What full-bodied wine means: how body is the weight a wine feels in your mouth, what makes a wine light or full, examples of each, and why full-bodied isn't better.
How much wine to buy for a party: the simple bottles-per-guest formula, a quick reference table, how to split red, white, and sparkling, and why you should round up.
How to remember the wines you liked so you can find them again: what to note beyond the label, why a star rating isn't enough, and the habit that sticks.
Natural wine explained: what it actually is, how it's made, the truth about sulfites, why it can taste different, and how to buy a bottle you'll genuinely enjoy.
Sweet vs dry wine explained: what residual sugar is, why the label rarely tells you, how to reason it out from the grape and alcohol, and why fruity isn't sweet.
What wine to bring to a dinner party: the safest crowd-pleasers, how much to spend, red vs white, and what to avoid, when you don't know what everyone likes.
Can a wine app recommend wine you'll like? How taste-profile match scores work, where they fall short, and what separates a useful recommendation from a number.
Is non-alcoholic wine any good? How dealcoholized wine is made, which styles actually work, what the labels mean, and how to buy a bottle worth drinking.
What are tannins in wine? The compounds from grape skins that give red wine its dry, grippy feel — what they taste like and which wines have the most.
How much should you spend on a bottle of wine? The honest answer, the price-to-quality sweet spot, where your money really goes, and how to drink well for less.
How wine scanner apps work: image recognition matches a label to a database and returns a rating and price. What they do well, and what a score can't tell you.
Chilled red wine isn't a mistake. Which reds to serve cold, which to keep near room temperature, the ideal serving temperatures, and the reason behind it.
How to read a wine label without the guesswork: what the region, vintage, and ABV really tell you, which words are legally meaningful, and which are just marketing.
The best wine for BBQ and grilled food: bold reds for smoky meat, crisp whites and rosé for chicken, fish and veg. Pair to the char and the sauce.
Old World vs New World wine, explained simply: Europe's traditional regions and earthier styles versus riper, fruitier wine from everywhere else.
Orange wine is white wine made like red, fermented on the skins. Here is how it is made, what it tastes like, what to pair with it, and how to serve it.
Are wine scores reliable? A 92-point rating is a signal, not a verdict. What the 100-point scale and Vivino ratings measure — and what they leave out.
How long does wine last after opening? Most reds and whites keep 3–5 days in the fridge, sparkling 1–3. The full breakdown by type, and why it varies.
How to pick a good bottle of wine at the grocery store without a sommelier: a simple shelf routine, the real price sweet spot, and the regions that overdeliver.
Gen Z wine trends in 2026 favor orange wine, pét-nat, natural and low-alcohol bottles, plus discovery on social and story over scores. Here's what's shifting.
Confused by wine tasting terms? This plain-English glossary explains tannin, acidity, body, dry vs sweet, oak, finish, and minerality so labels finally make sense.
Wondering if a wine is good value? Learn the price tiers, the regions that overdeliver, and the restaurant markup math that helps you spot a great bottle.
Looking for the best wine apps? We compare Vivino, CellarTracker, Wine-Searcher, and AboutWine on what they actually do well, so you pick the right one.