On this page A live mode that follows the tasting order

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Tasting notes app rebuilt: capture faster while you taste

VinoVonk's free tasting notes app now has a fast live mode, QR flights and offline use. Try it and tell me what could be better.

Jeroen Vonk
Jeroen Vonk WSET Level 3 · CIVC Level 4
Illustration of a tasting glass with measuring lines next to a wine bottle on a table

A reader emailed that he kept reaching for paper at tastings. The tasting notes app moved slower than his glass, and the moment note-taking stalls, everyone picks up a pen again. Fair point. So I rebuilt the app around that single problem: writing things down has to be faster than, well, writing, even when five, twenty-five or a hundred people are tasting at once.

A live mode that follows the tasting order

In the new live mode you tap a card for each wine. No keyboard, just buttons. The steps follow the way you taste: look, smell, taste, a short note, conclusion. Under look you pick type, clarity, intensity and colour. Under taste you tap sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body and finish. Every field is optional, so you only fill in what you have time for.

I kept the conclusion deliberately simple. Two questions that matter later at the shop: do I like it, and would I buy this bottle myself. A 1 to 10 score is there too, but nobody has to use it. A wrong tap is fixed with the previous button or a swipe, without leaving a duplicate behind.

Live mode: one tap-based card per wine, in the order look, smell, taste

The host shares the line-up

Pouring a tasting yourself? Set the wines up front and share a QR code or link. Guests scan, the wines are already filled in, and all they do is score. That saves typing long wine names while the speaker keeps talking. No server is involved, the whole line-up lives inside the link.

The host fills in the line-up up front and shares it as a QR code or link

A buy shortlist afterwards

When the tasting ends you get an overview: a shortlist of wines you would buy, plus a ranking. Share that overview as text or keep it as a backup. An evening of tasting then leaves you with something you can use at the shop.

The post-tasting overview with a would-buy shortlist and a ranking by score

Now an app, offline too

You can add the app to your phone with an icon on your home screen, and it runs without a connection. Everything stays free and open source, your data sits locally in your own browser, and no account is needed.

Try it

Give the rebuilt tasting notes app at vinovonk.com/en/tasting/app a spin and tell me what is missing or what could be better. An email to [email protected] is enough. The last version improved because of one honest remark, so I am curious about yours.