The best wine tracking app is the one that lets you find a bottle you liked and buy it again, which means it needs to save five things in one go: the producer, the wine's own name, the vintage, a photo of the label, and your own verdict on it. For most people that's Vivino today, since it has the biggest database and scans a label in seconds. CellarTracker is the better pick once you own more bottles than you drink, and Sommy, which is still pre-launch, is built around learning what you liked rather than what the crowd thought.
The rest of this page is about the part most app roundups skip, which is what you actually need to record so that "that red we loved at Sarah's" turns into a bottle you can find on a shelf next month.
What is a wine tracking app actually for?
A wine tracking app is for remembering wines you've drunk so you can rebuy the ones you liked and steer around the ones you didn't. That sounds obvious, but it's a different job from the two things people often lump in with it.
Managing bottles you own is a cellar job: what's in the rack, where it sits, and when to open it. If that's your problem, our page on the wine cellar app question covers it properly. Writing detailed tasting notes to train your palate is a journaling job, and the wine journal app page is the better read for that. Tracking sits in between those two jobs: you drank something at a dinner or picked it up on a weeknight, you liked it (or really didn't), and you want your phone to remember it for you, with enough detail that you can act on it later.
So the test for any tracking app is simple. Six weeks after logging a bottle, can you stand in a store, pull it up in under ten seconds, and know exactly what to look for on the shelf? If the answer is no, the app is storing memories but not helping you buy.
What do you need to record to buy a wine again?
You need the producer, the wine's specific name, the vintage, the grape and the region, and a photo of the front label covers most of that in one tap. Most people only remember the grape, and "a Malbec" or "a Pinot Noir" won't get you back to the same bottle, because one producer can make five different Malbecs at five different prices.
The rules printed on American wine labels show why the details matter. Wine people sometimes call it the 75-85-95 rule. Under federal labeling rules, a wine can carry a single grape name like Merlot if at least 75 percent of it comes from that grape. A wine naming an American Viticultural Area such as Sonoma Coast must get at least 85 percent of its grapes from that area. And when a wine with an AVA on the label shows a vintage, at least 95 percent of it has to come from grapes harvested that year, or 85 percent if the label names a broader area like a state or county.
In plain terms, up to a quarter of a bottle labeled Merlot can be something else, and the producer's blend can shift from one year to the next. That's why "the Merlot I liked" is a weak note and "the 2022 bottling from this producer, from this AVA" is a strong one. If label terms like these still feel like a foreign language, our walkthrough on how to read wine labels decodes the rest of the front and back.
Two more details are worth saving, and neither is on the label. The first is where you bought it or drank it, since a lot of everyday wine is only stocked by certain chains or regions. The second is what you paid, so you'll know whether a bottle you find later is a fair price or a markup. A quick note like "$18 at the store on Main, great with tacos" does more for future-you than any score.
Which wine tracking apps are worth using in 2026?
Vivino and CellarTracker are the two serious options for most people, Delectable still exists but looks largely unmaintained on iPhone, and InVintory is a collector's tool rather than a tracker. All four are free to download on Apple's US App Store, and all four also sell paid upgrades inside the app, which we checked against each listing in October 2026. Here's how they line up for the rebuy job specifically.
| App | Good for rebuying because | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Vivino | Huge database, fast label scan, your own ratings and notes | It's also a store, so buying prompts sit next to your history |
| CellarTracker | Detailed records, personal notes, barcode and label scanning | Built around managing a collection, which is more than a casual drinker needs |
| Delectable | Label scan plus a personal journal with people and places tagged | The iPhone app hasn't been updated since September 2021 |
| InVintory | Precise records of bottles you own, with a tasting journal | Pitched at serious collectors, with value and investment tools at its core |
Vivino is where most people start, and for good reason. Its App Store listing describes 16 million wines across 245,000 wineries and a community of over 70 million users, so almost anything you scan will match. It lets you keep a record of every wine with your own ratings, reviews and notes, and it now shows a "Match for You" score that guesses whether you'll like a wine. The catch is that Vivino describes itself as helping you "discover, choose, and buy" wine, and the shop is part of the same app as your history.
CellarTracker is the veteran, and its listing claims more than 8.8 million users and over 13.6 million ratings and reviews. You can log bottles with its wine scanner or a barcode tool and attach your own tasting notes and ratings to each one. For a pure "what did I drink" log it works fine, but most of the app is aimed at people managing a collection, with valuation data and drink-now alerts that a weeknight drinker won't touch. Its paid tiers are priced by cellar size too, from $4.99 for up to 100 bottles to $44.99 for more than 2,500.
Delectable is the one to check before you trust it with years of notes. Its website is still live and posted a tasting roundup as recently as September 2026, but Apple's US App Store listing shows the iPhone app's last update as version 5.9.5 on September 14, 2021, and Google Play shows its last update on April 15, 2024. The listing still offers Premium at $5.99 a month. If you already have history there, it's worth checking you can still sign in and see your notes before you add more.
InVintory describes itself as "a premium wine cellar app built for serious collectors", with 3D views of where each bottle sits and real-time collection value. It does keep a tasting journal and can import from CellarTracker or Vivino, but for tracking wines you drank out and about it's far more machinery than the job needs.
For a wider look across every kind of wine app, including the ones built for pairing or shopping, see our roundup of the best wine apps, or our pick of the best wine app for iPhone if that's the phone in your pocket.
Why doesn't a crowd rating tell you whether to buy it again?
A crowd rating can't tell you whether to rebuy a wine because it's an average of strangers' palates, and the only opinion that counts for a rebuy is your own. A bottle that averages 4.2 stars might be exactly the oaky, buttery Chardonnay you can't stand, and a 3.6 might be the crisp, cheap white you've happily bought three times.
That's why your own rating, plus one honest line about why, is the most valuable thing in any tracking app. "Too sweet for me", "perfect with pizza" and "Dad loved this, buy for his birthday" are all notes you'll actually use. A sentence about hints of leather and forest floor usually isn't. If you want a simple structure for those notes, our wine tasting notes template keeps it to a few prompts.
It's also worth logging the wines you didn't like. A list of misses tells you as much about your taste as a list of favorites does, and it saves you from rebuying a bottle you'd forgotten you disliked because the label looked familiar. Over a few months those hits and misses add up to a rough picture of your palate, and our guide to building a personal wine profile without the jargon shows how to read one.
How do you log a wine in under 30 seconds?
You log a wine fast by doing it the moment the bottle is open, while the label is in front of you, and keeping each entry to a scan, a rating and one line. Logging later from memory is where tracking falls apart, because by the next morning you've lost the vintage and half the producer's name.
- Scan or photograph the front label as soon as the bottle's open.
- Check the app picked the right producer and vintage, and fix it if not.
- Give it your own rating before you check anyone else's.
- Add one line about where you got it, the price and the food.
At a restaurant, the same steps work if you ask to see the bottle or snap the line on the wine list, since the list usually names the producer and vintage too. After a couple of months you'll have a short list of wines you'd happily buy again, which is the whole point of tracking in the first place.
Do you need an app, or will your phone's notes do?
A notes app is fine if you drink a bottle or two a month and only ever want a list of names. It's free, it syncs everywhere, and a photo of the label in your camera roll is better than nothing.
The trouble starts when you try to use that list in a store. A note can't read the shelf in front of you, it won't match a misspelled producer, and it can't spot that the six wines you rated highest share a style. A dedicated app earns its keep at that point of decision, and our walkthrough on picking the right bottle in a crowded supermarket aisle shows what that looks like in practice. A dedicated app also stops the label photos getting lost among a thousand pictures of your dog.
How does Sommy track the wines you drink?
Sommy tracks a wine from a photo of its label. Label Scan reads the producer, the wine's name, the grape, the vintage, the region and the appellation off the label and saves them with the photo, which covers every detail the rebuy section above says you need. When you rate a bottle, Sommy stores your rating along with flavor tags, your notes, who you drank it with, and the occasion, so each bottle keeps the story of the night you opened it as well as its name.
The difference from a crowd app is what happens to those ratings. Each one feeds your Taste Profile, so over time the record of what you drank turns into a picture of what you like, and it's your palate rather than a crowd average doing the work. That same record is what a wine recommendation app needs before its suggestions can fit you rather than the average drinker. Sommy isn't in the app stores yet, so if that's the kind of tracker you want, you can join the waitlist at sommy.ai and we'll tell you when it launches.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best wine tracking app?
For most people the best wine tracking app right now is Vivino, because its database is huge and its label scan is quick, so almost any bottle you drink can be logged with your own rating and notes. CellarTracker is the stronger choice if you also manage bottles you own. Sommy is built to learn your own taste from what you rate and is currently pre-launch with a waitlist.
What are the best wine cellar apps?
CellarTracker and InVintory are the two best-known wine cellar apps, and both are built for tracking bottles you own, where they're stored and when to drink them. That's a different job from tracking what you drank to rebuy it, and our wine cellar app page compares them for that purpose.
What is the 75-85-95 rule for wine?
The 75-85-95 rule is a nickname for three US labeling minimums. A wine named for one grape must be at least 75 percent that grape, a wine naming an American Viticultural Area must be at least 85 percent from that area, and a vintage-dated wine with an AVA on the label must be at least 95 percent from that year's harvest, under federal rules on vintage dates. It's a good reason to record the producer and vintage, not just the grape.
Is Delectable still a good wine tracking app?
Delectable still works as a label scanner and journal, but Apple's US App Store shows its iPhone app hasn't been updated since September 14, 2021, and its Google Play listing was last updated on April 15, 2024. That doesn't mean it's shut down, since its website posted a tasting roundup in September 2026. Check that you can sign in and see your saved notes before relying on it.
Is there a free wine tracking app?
Yes, Vivino, CellarTracker, Delectable and InVintory are all free to download on Apple's US App Store, and each lets you log wines with your own ratings and notes. All four also sell paid upgrades inside the app, such as Delectable Premium at $5.99 a month, so check what the free version covers before you commit years of notes to it.
How do I keep track of wines I like?
Photograph or scan the front label as soon as you open the bottle, give it your own rating, and add one line about where you bought it, what you paid and what you ate with it. Save the producer and vintage, not just the grape, because that's what lets you find the same bottle again.
