How to scan a restaurant wine list

Photograph a restaurant’s wine list in the scanner’s Menu mode and every wine on it gets a mark on the photo showing its value, scores or vintage grade. Sort the list by best value, narrow it to what you want, and ask Vincent to pick — all from the wines that are actually on the list.

Where to start

Device	What to tap
iPhone	The camera button in the tab bar — or the camera icon inside Search all wines on Home — then tap Menu just above the capture button
iPhone and iPad, from Vincent	In a Vincent chat, tap + → Scan a Wine List, or the Scan a wine menu card in a new chat. The list goes back to the chat instead of opening on its own

Menu needs version 6.40 or later of the iPhone and iPad app, and is on every plan. Don’t see Menu above the capture button? Update the app.

Scan the list

Tap Menu. The line under the frame reads Take pictures of the wine list.
Photograph one page and tap the large white circle. To use photos you already took, tap the photo icon at the bottom left.
Move straight on to the next page — each one is read while you shoot the next. You can add up to 6 pages to one list.
Tap View to open the list. Its number is how many wines have been read so far, and more keep appearing while the last pages finish. If you started from a Vincent chat, the button reads Ask Vincent and takes the list back to the chat.

Camera button → Menu → photograph each page → View

Each page sits in a row above the capture button with a count of the wines read from it. Tap a page to open the list at that page. Press and hold a page to Retake it or Remove page. Closing the list takes you back to the camera, so you can add a page you missed.

Came back later? In Menu, Resume last list reopens the last list you scanned in this collection, and Past lists holds every list you’ve scanned in it. Tap one to open it; press and hold to Rename or Delete it.

The list opens in Menu view: your photo, with a mark beside each wine’s price. Pinch or double-tap to zoom, and swipe across for the next page. Switch to List for the same wines as rows, under the list’s own headings.

In Menu view, the Show chip picks what each mark shows:

Show	Each mark shows
For You	How well the wine suits your collection, out of 100 — from what you drink most, your own ratings, its scores and how its price compares with what you usually spend. It appears once we have built a taste profile from your bottles. Coloured the same way as Critic
Value	The list price as a multiple of the wine’s market price — 1.2× means 20% over market. Green is great value, gold is fair and red is steep, measured against the other wines on this list
Critic	The average critic score. Green for the top third on this list, gold for the middle third, white for the rest
Community	The InVintory community score, coloured the same way as Critic
Vintage score	The vintage grade, such as A+, for that region and year
Market price	The market price of one bottle, in the list’s currency

Once a line is matched it gets a mark, even on a crowded page — the marks just get smaller. A line with no room at all shows its mark once you zoom in. Some marks aren’t a figure:

? in a dashed ring — we aren’t sure which wine that line is. Tap it to pick.
A magnifying glass — we couldn’t find the wine. Tap it to search.
A grey tick — we found the wine, but it has no figure for what Show is set to. Try another option.
A lock — that figure isn’t on your plan.

Sort and filter

Sort — For You (best fit for your collection first), Menu order (as printed, under the list’s headings), Best value (lowest markup first), Top rated (critic, community and vintage scores combined) or Price (lowest first). With any sort but Menu order, the top three are outlined on the photo.
Filters — the wine types on the list, Price (“Under …”), By the glass or Bottles when the list has glass prices, Drink now and In my cellar. On the photo, lines that don’t match fade out.
Currency — the chip with the currency code. Prices are read in the currency the list is printed in; tap the chip if we guessed it wrong.

Look closer at a wine

Tap a mark or a row. You see that line cut from the photo, the list price against the market price, its For You score with up to two reasons — like You drink a lot of Barolo or Fits what you usually spend — the critic and community scores, the drink window, how many you have in your cellar and your own rating. Show on menu zooms the photo to that line; View wine opens its full page.

Wrong wine? Tap Not this wine? — or a mark with a ? — and pick the right one from the suggestions, or search for it by name. Your pick is saved with the list, so it’s still right when you reopen it.

Ask Vincent about this list

Tap Ask Vincent about this list at the bottom of the list. A Vincent chat opens with the list attached, so there is nothing to photograph again — say what you’re eating and what you want to spend. He recommends from the wines on the list, and under his reply See his pick on the wine list opens the photo with his picks circled. Follow-up questions keep the list; tap × on the list card to take it off. Ask Vincent on a single wine asks about that one.

A short by-the-glass list? You can also just type or paste the lines into a chat — “2018 Caymus $24, NV Veuve Clicquot $28, what goes with oysters?”

Tips for a good scan

One page per photo, with the whole page in the frame — a line cut off at the edge can’t be read.
Lay the list flat in good light, and tilt it away from overhead lights so there’s no glare across the text.
Hold steady until the photo is taken. Blurred small print is the most common reason a wine is missed.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
No wines found or No wines were read from these pages	The photo was too dark, blurred or cropped to read, or the page isn’t a wine list. Press and hold the page, tap Retake, and follow the tips above
Some wines are missing	Check the line was inside the photo and sharp — retake the page if not. If the line has a magnifying glass, we couldn’t match it: in List it shows Not found · Search, so tap it to find the wine
The wrong wine is matched	Tap it, then Not this wine?, and pick or search for the right one. The fix is saved
Prices are in the wrong currency	Tap the currency chip and pick the list’s currency. If a banner asks Which currency is this list in?, tap Pick — values appear once you choose
Value shows a tick, not a number	There’s no figure to show: a glass price never gets one, and some wines have no market price yet
This page couldn’t be read	Tap Retry on that page, or tap its tile in the row above the capture button. If it fails again, retake it

Good to know

If market value is hidden in your collection, Value, Market price, For You and Best value don’t show.
Removing a page takes its wines off the list. Removing every page closes the list.

On each platform

Menu is on iPhone. On iPad, scan a list from a Vincent chat. On Android and on app.invintory.com there is no wine-list scanner yet: tap + in a Vincent chat, attach a photo of the list, and say what you’re eating and what you want to spend.

Next steps

How to ask Vincent about your collection — how to phrase what you want
How to log wines at a restaurant — keeping a record of what you ordered
How to change your currency — the currency we assume when a list doesn’t print one
Understanding individual market prices — where the market price behind each value comes from