Social wine discovery service Real Time Wine uncorks delicious mobile apps

The world of wine is about to get super social and dramatically less snooty. Real Time Wine, the 140-character wine blog is now available in the form of beautiful apps for iPhone and Android phones.

Real Time Wine makes it easy for those who don’t consider themselves intrepid wine connoisseurs to venture out and try something new

“Most wine buyers are not wine experts,” says founder Andy Hadfield. “The challenge of discovering new wine at the right price is so great that we tend to stick to the old and familiar. Real Time Wine makes the process of choosing, drinking and sharing wine easy. It’s a real tool for a particularly fun hobby!”

The app allows you to browse short reviews by other everyday wine drinkers, check prices, contribute your own pictures or reviews — to track and explore your own tastes — and share the experience on social media. The social aspect of Real Time Wine allows people to find others who have the same tastes and discover new wines to try.

“The more reviews a wine has, the more reliable the rating will be,” says Hadfield. “So we’ve made it as easy as possible for people to contribute their own opinions. Just tap an icon to add a Yum, Hmm or Yuk rating, or if you feel moved to say more, you can check in when you’re drinking the wine and add a review.”

Hadfield is hellbent on doing away with clichés and jargon. Banned phrases like “‘bouquet’, ‘compote’ and ‘sweaty saddle’ are just wine snob waffle” says Hadfield. “If one of our users tries to slip in a banned word we’ll gently suggest an alternative. We want real words from real people.”

Real Time Wine is available in smartphone form and the standalone iPhone and Android versions can be found on iTunes and Google Play respectively. Downloads from other local app stores via Samsung and Vodacom will be available soon.

Hadfield sums up the Real Time Wine experience by adding, “Wine is one of the pleasures of life – we want to take away the anxiety and focus on the fun.”

Real Time Wine is backed by business angel investment group AngelHub.

Read more about the the Real Time Wine and AngelHub deal.