Feedback: Vivino Wine Review App

It’s rather a mixed opinion I hear about Vivino in the world of wine. The more events I attend and the more times fellow wine professionals see me taking my notes on the app, the more negative comments I hear. I also see some negative comments growing online not only towards wine purchases, but also the reliability of the scanning / reviewing section and more recently, disappointment towards the forthcoming paid for option (Vivino Premium) and blighting the app with adverts for those not willing to pay to use.

“Contributed for years now there’s a fee for basic features
Another user of the app for years and now can’t even scan a wine to get a rating. Fine if you were to ask a sub for more complex features, but scanning and rating helps you provide a better service to others. App is now useless without a sub so will look for something else.” source TrustPilot

I remember when I first started to use Vivino (user id: GlassofBubbly) and there were a few rejections / suspicions from my close, fellow imbibers to this advancement from the traditional taking notes by hand scribbled onto tasting booklets / taking notes on the laptop. I was in defensive mode at that time in that the benefits outweighed any negatives and as a full time wine reviewer, I was even what could be explained as a raving fan, I was introducing the app to many in the industry, I for sure helped many download the app and then scan and review their first wine.

To date (09/10/2023) I have reviewed 5,445 wines using the Vivino App and this remains a for personal usage exercise in that I have a digital recording of my wine tasting notes which I can download at any time in an easy to digest CSV (row and column) data format. Prior to this, I was reviewing wines and recording details in notebooks which I still have and sometimes go back to for research purposes – I for sure would appreciate it if they were digitalised, but there are just under 10,000 reviews to convert over!

An added advantage of Vivino is, rather similar to social media platforms, is that you can build a following, and receive comments on your posts. The networking value of Vivino I’ve never really investigated, though I’ve got a mere 6,300+ followers, I have only ever followed one other account, building a following on Vivino has not interested me. As I have mentioned, I use the app for personal usage over the desire that my tasting notes will attract the attention of others, but it is of course always nice to hear from other fellow wine lovers expressing comments on my impression of a wine compared to their own.

I remember one senior wine professional telling me that I was simply building the content for Vivino by using the app, what were the advantages to me for this effort to grow their content thus business? For sure, the positives exist:

• Free to use
• Easy to use
• Mobile (and desktop with limited functions)
• Data is downloadable
• Networking possibilities
• Feedback / liking / status
• Information source
• Wine sales / wine offers

The usual gripes I hear, these being from fellow wine reviewers (though mostly the winemakers and re-sellers) are the inaccuracies the platform now holds from the quality of reviews (and reviewers) along with prices not being accurate. Let us not forget that the app is open to anyone to use so that could mean consumers with limited tasting experience to connoisseurs with countless years of experience. Where accurate ratings can be placed, they might be alongside less understanding examples and a very different approach to scoring – What might be an average wine for me at 3.5/5 stars, someone else might see this as 2.5/5 so the accuracy of the live data shown is open to debate

What’s in it for me, the Vivino user? Apart from a relatively easy to use mobile app allowing me to, on most occasions, quickly find a wine and review it in one place, it is really a situation where I feel am now building content for a third party (Vivino).

 

I too, especially as a long term, high ranking profile on the app, feel that we users have not really been invited to join the success journey that Vivino has enjoyed thanks to those who use it. Apart from one Champagne dinner, an invitation from an ambassador of theirs who was an acquaintance at the time, there has been zero communication / interaction led by them. In the early days, I pushed for a ‘featured user’ account which I was given upon my explanation that I was doing plenty of groundwork to merit one both by frequently using the app and spreading the word. I totally get that I was not promised any communications neither thank yous when I signed up to Vivino and it was clearly a contra deal, a free to use app in exchange for the data we add.

“(Vivino) User ratings are not weighted to how experienced a person is. If ten thousand n00bs get heavy into Whispering Angel Rose, suddenly it has the same rating as Tempier. If you don’t know about something, then why ask the ignorant for advice?” source Reddit.com

As one of the UK’s most frequent / higher ranked, featured users I feel I can give my honest feedback…

• Vivino do not reward their biggest users
• User ranking system works on a bizarre algorithm
• App tends to crash upon frequent usage
• Not responsive to ideas

As mentioned, I was once invited to attend an event put on by Vivino several years ago, nothing since – Where’s the appreciation of their frequent, professional users and especially top ranking users in wine classifications / regions today? I’m a top reviewer for a few sectors including Prosecco… silence from Vivino – How nice it would be to attend an event / dinner organised by Vivino with guest wine producers so to connect with and inspire users to review more content for their platform? For sure, if I was part of the Vivino team, working with top users would be my priority, organising events to include networking / tasting / tours would be at the forefront of my plans to grow user allegiance to the app.

 

 

How about asking top users for feedback? How about connecting top users together so as not only a motivation to stay a top reviewer, but to embrace the ideas of other fellow frequent users? Yes, there is the facility to ‘find friends’ on the app where allowed data is pulled in from the likes of Gmail contact, Facebook, Twitter friends and featured users are highlighted.

A TrustPilot rating of 4/5 stars isn’t too bad and proves that most users are happy to very happy with Vivino. Going through the ratings the majority of issues and lower ratings are towards wine purchases with issues mostly regarding bate and switch, order not delivered and ‘very very very poor customer service‘. On many occasions, Vivino reply to these TrustPilot ratings in order to remedy which is good to see. Example below:

“I have used Vivino for 5 years. for a number of…
I have used Vivino for a number of years. Good wines, decent prices and excellent customer service.
If I want to continue using Vivino, apparently I have to take out their “Premium” subscription. Their app is designed not to give you alternatives, and communication directly appears non existent. So, so disappointed.”

Reply:

“Hi David,

Thank you for being a long term supporter of Vivino – people like you helped build our community, and you’re a huge reason why it continues to thrive.

In order for Vivino to continue to grow, we needed to make some changes, and this includes launching our new Premium offering.

We care about your feedback and we’ve grouped it with comments from fellow top contributors. We’re actively exploring special Premium offerings for important users like you who have given so much to Vivino for so long.

We cannot provide more details at this time, but we will reach out to you directly as soon as we have more information to share with you. We appreciate your patience while work on this.

Best Regards,
Vivino Customer Support Team” August 16th 2023

 

Conclusion: All in all, Vivino has been a very useful tool for me over the years, but there comes a point where you feel that the loyalty and content should attract some loyalty back, I hear that some high profile users on the app are going to get free Premium Accounts, this would be the smartest move. Wine professionals use the app and supply the greatest amount of reviews and accurate data that consumer users, who are most likely to purchase wines, can refer to.

Though circulating rumours are themed on the Vivino brand losing big money currently with an eye watering monthly burn rate, there has been plenty of money pumped in ie: Vivino raises $155 million for wine recommendation and marketplace app – It would have been good to see some of that investment going towards top users internationally as let’s be honest, it is the users reviewing wines that have built the brand and made it what it is today. Some users have been that disappointed with Vivino’s attitude that recommendations are to boycott it though first going into your account and setting all your previous ratings to ‘0’ star reviews – This is a bit severe and is not a sensible solution in my honest opinion, leave with feedback is far better or at least pause using until the team at Vivino find a decent solution – ‘I got these ridiculous « cheap game ads » and they were pushing for Premium. But it went as it came. It’s pretty much back to where it was before now. So I’m staying put for now‘.

My disappointment in Vivino’s lack of loyalty and in more recent times, less than accurate reviews and scores, led me to launch a dedicated vintage Champagne reviewing website www.ChampagneCollectors.com – Here I have focused my attention on building a platform dedicated to accurate reviews with quality control – This platform, founded by myself and supported by industry investors, will launch in the first quarter of 2024. ChampagneCollectors will offer vintage Champagne auctions, profile building and importantly, rewarding users for the content they share by tokens to put towards purchases on the website – The more content you share, the bigger and more important your profile becomes and the more rewards / gifts / free invitations you will receive.

Update February 1st 2024 – Following this article I was contacted by the team at Vivino with a request for an interview with Heini the founder, a great chat was had with many of the points above discussed – Here is that video below so a big thank you to Vivino for such actions which shows they do have great care of their members and their comments:

 

Update June 2024:  As the adverts continued my loyalty and to a degree, patience, ran out and I made my final Vivino tasting note on June 5th 2024. I now use Instagram to share my tasting notes which I feel is a shame, but I must do what I feel is correct for myself. I have had a few nice comments for similar thinking long term users of Vivino – This is not an attack on Vivino which I believe is still a great platform to use, I continue my stance that professional users should bot be encumbered by adverts.