The world of wine apps for mobile phones and tablets is becoming increasingly crowded. A search of the words "Spanish wine" in the Android or Apple stores brings hundreds of results -more or less relevant- to cater for any taste. Some are designed to lure novice drinkers, others are focused on pairing food and wine and a majority act as a database to keep a personal record of tasted wines. There are also traditional guides on a digital platform, apps to promote wine shops and wineries, etc. You name it, it's there.

With so many to choose from, it might be hard to know what is interesting or useful. Some of them fail to include several key wineries to understand Spanish wine, others are slow or poorly designed and many of them only include basic information. On the plus side, most of them are free so they can be quickly removed if they fail to deliver. They are usually linked to Twitter and Facebook and follow the same data input procedures: take a photo of the label, rate the wine and the app searches its database with mixed results. 
We have tested the most popular apps with a bunch of Spanish wines from several areas, prices and popularity. These are the first five results. Next week we will publish five more.

Vivino 

Available for Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone
Free. Pro Version: €3.99
Languages: English, Spanish and others
It is one of the most popular platforms in the world wine web, with over five million users and four million registered wines. It is available in five languages, including Spanish. Users can take a photo of the label and the app searches it in a huge database where Spanish wines are well represented. It is easy to use and stands out for its speed to recognise all kinds of labels and load the photos. Multi-platform synchronisation between PC, mobile phone (Android or iPhone) and iPad is also seamlessly accomplished.

Although Vivino easily recognises most labels, it has trouble identifying arty or minimalist designs such as La Garnatxa Fosca del Priorat, produced by Vintae, or small brands such as La Viña de Simón, a natural wine made by Bernabé Navarro. However, it offers two interesting options to find the wine: you can manually type the wine name which brings immediate results or you can wait for Vivino to find the label, which may take some time unless you pay for the Pro version.

The wine file is full of useful information such as average price, popularity of the wine among Vivino users, grape variety and vintage comparison. The app shows nearby locations to purchase wine, but the search engine (Foursquare) lacks accuracy -it recommended a gym and a butcher as good places to find a bottle of Rafael Palacios' Louro but failed to spot my local wine store. A more thorough supervision of the wine files would be welcome to avoid wrong or duplicated data as was the case with El Grifo Malvasía Semidulce de Lanzarote. The software quickly indicated the region (the country is not classified by DOs) but instead of Canary Islands it suggested Castille-León. Errors can be reported but it is a long and laborious process. Spanish fortified wines are not well identified either and are generically labelled as Oporto.  

The latest update includes a new tool known as Tops Lists with weekly updates of the most popular wines based on prices and nearby users' ratings.

Wine notes

Available for iPhone
Free
Languages: English, Spanish and others
Wine aficionados looking for ratings from experts or other users will not find them in this app, but Wine Notes is one of the best tools in the market. Easy to use, intuitive, interactive and with a sleek design, it works as an efficient virtual tasting notebook. Wine geeks will be able to enter all kinds of information including vintage, alcohol volume, winery name, barcodes, etc as well as personal tasting notes or stocks. There is a cool sliding bar to accurately select a wine's colour, tannins, sugar level, acidity and body. Winelovers who shy away from writing taste descriptors will also love its handy aroma and taste template. 

Although some of the aroma translations are incomplete, the app has a barcode and an efficient label scanner to choose from. Photos can be stored and wine notes sent to your Facebook and Twitter contacts. Data can be synchronised with the Wine Notes server to help recover your information in case you lose or change your phone. 

Developers are currently working on an iPad version but Android users will still have to wait a little longer.

Hello Vino

Available for iPhone, iPad and Android
Free
Languages: English
This app, used by 1.7 million people, has a pleasant interface and sleek design. It was designed with American wine lovers in mind, who are able to make purchases directly from the app. However, a search of Spanish wines brought mixed results: as it doesn't support special characters such as the letter ñ,  it found Viña Real Crianza only after I typed the words "Cvne" or "Vina Real". For small production wines such as Garnatxa del Priorat or Bernabé Navarro's natural wine, the search offered no results. The app helps you find the right bottle to go with the right food or for a special occasion, but it rarely offers options with Spanish varieties or wines.

Despite its attractive design, the app is slow, crashes occasionally and disregards Spanish wines so it is not really worth it. 

CellarTracker 

Available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone
Free
Languages: English
Although it is a brand new app, it follows the steps of the veteran website CellarTracker, with 1.7 million wines from all over the world and almost 5 million tasting notes written by aficionados and professionals (although you need a subscription to read these). 

The app is able to scan barcodes and has a camera to photograph labels which can then be added to the wine file, but it lacks a label recognition tool. It is an efficient inventory to keep track of what's in your cellar -the software adds or takes away bottles and lets you add the name of the place where you bought them- but its sober graphics and slow navigation are no match yet for the PC or Mac versions. On the plus side, it boasts a vast database with plenty of Spanish brands -finding the natural wine was no problem- including old vintages of classics such as López de Heredia or Marqués de Riscal (all the 20th century vintages and some from the 19th are registered).

Cor.kz

Available for iPhone, iPad and Android
€1,79 for Apple devices and €1,50 for Android)
Languages: English

It is one of the most veteran apps in the market. Although it lacks the polished design of its competitors, Cor.kz uses the powerful and well-organised  CellarTracker database with around 65,000 wines from Spain.

Unlike other apps, users cannot photograph labels. Instead, they must type the name of the wine or scan the barcode, which is sometimes slow and troublesome. Data can be introduced manually -and efficiently. It recognised each wine correctly, even boutique or natural wines such as the one from Bernabé Navarro- and offers the option of choosing the vintage, something that seems to fail in more visually attractive apps. 

As it is integrated with the CellarTracker database, it has access to your account information (it imports and updates data) and to an impressive amount of information -clear and not repetitive- with multiple vintages and scores from professionals and fellow users. Cor.kz features an interesting functionality which lets users compare wines in terms of points, cost (in dollars), grape variety and region of origin -useful to make up your mind when you are buying wine. 

Geeks will enjoy Cor.kz ability to create and manage a virtual cellar for storing history and personal notes about different wines including region, grape variety, tasting notes, drinking date, preferred wines, etc. It even keeps stocks up to date: if you drink a bottle from your cellar, the app will automatically subtract it. Additionally, there is also an encyclopedia in English with clear and precise definitions of viticulture, varieties, regions and all kinds of wine jargon. Cor.kz is a great source of good information – it would be even greater if it had a modern interface with label recognition.

Have you tried any of them or do you know other interesting apps for Spanish wines? Add your thoughts in the Comments box underneath.