Photograph a wine label and InVintory reads the label, finds the wine in our database, and drops you onto a form where you set the quantity and the storage. Scanning is the fastest way to add a bottle.
It reads the text on the label, not a barcode — so the front or the back both work. The line under the viewfinder says so: Scan front or back of label or InVintory barcode. Back labels often carry the importer and the appellation, which is exactly what pins down an ambiguous wine.
Where the camera lives
Device | What to tap |
iPhone | The + button beside the tab bar, then Scan wine — or the camera icon inside Search all wines on Home |
iPad | The camera icon inside the Search all wines field at the top of the screen |
Android | The camera button in the middle of the tab bar |
You can also start a scan from inside a saved list, a cellar section or the Add bottles screen — the bottle then lands in whichever of those you started from.
Take the photo
Frame the label inside the rectangle. Tap anywhere on the frame to focus.
In low light, tap the bolt icon at the top right for the torch. The icon beside it flips to the front camera.
Tap the large white circle to capture — or the photo icon at the bottom left to use a picture you already took.
Home → + → Scan wine → capture → confirm the wine → Confirm
🏷️ Shop barcodes do not work. Point the camera at one and you get Trying to scan a barcode? — "We don't scan commercial barcodes. Make sure to take a photo of the text on the label instead." The only barcode it reads is one of our own printed InVintory labels, which opens that bottle directly.
What you see while it reads the label
On screen | What to do |
Reading label… then Searching database… | Wait — it takes a few seconds. While this runs the only way back is Cancel, which returns you to the camera |
Match found! | We are confident, so you go straight to the wine. Check it is right and carry on |
Choose label that matches your wine | Several wines fit. Your photo sits above the candidates — tap the one that matches your bottle |
Not the wine you scanned? | Tap View other matches for the runners-up, or Search to find it by name yourself |
No matches found | Tap Retake for a cleaner photo, or the Search Wine card to look it up by name |
Fill in the bottle
The Add To Collection form opens next. Nothing here is compulsory except the quantity, and most of it is already filled in.
Quantity — the − and + buttons, or the quick-add row: 1, 3, 6, 12, 24.
Bottle info — the vintage is filled in if the label showed a year, so check it and change it if the label was a different one. Size defaults to a standard bottle.
Storage info — pre-filled with the storage you last added to, and it remembers that between app launches. Below it is a free-text spot for a shelf or rack note.
Purchase details, Purchased or received from, Note and Tags — all optional, all editable later.
Tap Confirm and you land on Added to collection, with the gold Scan again button to go straight back to the camera for the next bottle. Done is at the top right.
Scanning a restaurant wine list is a different thing
Photographing a restaurant's wine list does not add bottles — it hands the pages to Vincent, who reads them and recommends what to order from what is on the list. Open a Vincent chat, tap +, then Scan a Wine List.
Next steps
How to add bottles to your collection — every field on that form, and the other ways in
How to add a new wine to our database — what to do when a label genuinely is not there yet
How to ask Vincent about your collection — including sending him a photographed wine list