How wine lovers can have a sommelier on speed dial

Have you ever enjoyed a bottle of wine in a restaurant, decided you'd like to buy a few bottles but then either forgotten, or found the wine hard to track down? 

A new digital service aims to make disappointments like this a thing of the past and promises to be your own "back pocket sommelier". 

VINNI is a new text-based wine delivery service that launched earlier this month. 

It seeks to provide an on-hand wine expert and a focus on being able to conveniently access the wine you are looking for. 

When a particular wine takes a consumer’s fancy, they are able to text VINNI an image of the label and the number of bottles they’d like, which are then delivered directly to their door in batches of six or 12.

To access VINNI, users sign up via the website and are sent their own private contact number to store in their phone. 

They are then free to use it as many times as they like, much as a friend would. Delivery is free to major urban centres and you can also receive wine suggestions from expert sommeliers.

VINNI founder, wine expert and sommelier Luke Campbell from Vinified, explains: “You're drinking that wine that blows your mind, at your favourite little wine bar but then can't find it in retail.

"Text your new best friend ‘VINNI’ with the label, and this effective little guy will not only source it, he’ll get it shipped to you pronto.”

I see potential issues with pricing, and sourcing the correct vintage, but it does sound like a good idea. One to suck and see, perhaps. 

“Having been in the wine industry for the past 20 odd years, I found I was getting endless texts from my mates asking where they could source particular bottles of wine while they were out and about," Campbell says. 

"I thought, 'a sommelier is something everyone could do with in their back pocket'!”

Choose from a monthly ($3.79 per month) or yearly ($40) subscription option for the service. 

For more information, please visit www.textvinni.com