Waipara Hills Winery, Christchurch, New Zealand

Let's do wine 

I was having a late lunch at Il Molo, a restaurant located at the end of Oxford Street in Bulimba. I selected a shiraz from the wine list that I knew nothing about. Because the wine was poured at the bar; I did not see the label and was unable to learn more about it. I had a chat to Alessandro, the Manager of the restaurant and he gave me an insight to a great app, Vivino. He explained that anytime he wanted to know something about wine this was his go to app.

What is Vivino?

Vivino is a one stop application all about wine. It contains an extensive list of wines from around the world and in seconds it gives the user access to information about wine.

What does Vivino do?

The really cool feature of this application is the in app image capture. A photo can be taken of just about any wine label; in that one “SNAP” the app searches and presents the wine straight to your phone. The information displayed varies from wine to wine however you can expect to find details categorised under two headings; Wine Highlights and Wine Facts. Within in these headings you are given the varietal, the winery, the price, food parings, ratings and reviews. It’s incredible and its’ amazingly fast.

What's the downside?

The app is really geared to selling wine and in parts; it comes quite overwhelming, however if you push past this and click to the wine detail then it really is quite helpful.

 It may be illegal for students under 18 to download this app. Take a look at Teacher Tips below to learn how you can get past this problem!

Tips for Teachers

With younger students, I find that when they read a wine list the information goes straight over their head because they have no concept about wine. They also lack product association between what the wine list says and the actual bottle of wine. The app is ideal for students to help fix this. In particular; it’s an excellent tool to help students learn about your training restaurant wine list. I get them to read the list, get up from the table and find the bottle in the bar, use the app to take picture, read the information and document their findings. If I have a more advanced group; I use a recent menu where I ask students to pair the wine with menu items based on the suggestion in the app

Stephen's Take

Unit of Competency Mapping

Please note; the purpose of this article is to introduce current hospitality trends. The content broadly applies to the units of competency listed. It is not intended that all content in this article maps directly to all performance evidence and knowledge evidence in the unit of competency. 

Botellon Tapas and Wine Bar, Graceville, Brisbane , Australia

Article and photos original by Stephen Duncan