While the popularity of wine fails to fade, millennials are fairly new consumers to the scene and are more inexperienced in terms of knowledge regarding the beverage. The new app will help them find wines in their price range and give them greater insight to the product.

“The entire purpose behind the app is to guide consumers in their purchase of high quality, inexpensive wines at their neighborhood retailer, grocery store or wherever they go to purchase wine,” said Jessica Shanken, vice president of business development at M. Shanken Communications, Inc.

Wine expertise
The new Wine Spectator app, Xvalues, caters to all age groups, but helps transition interested millennial into full-fledged wine experts and drive sales of local wine sellers in their area. The app congregates a variety of wine in various categories so users can browse for the product that best suits their needs.

The wine products will be featured within five categories such as extreme values, whites, reds, sparklers and holiday. The extreme value wine is all priced $12 and under, while reds and whites are $20 and under, sparklers are $40 and holiday is $30.

Xvalues provides information such as the bottle’s name, producer, price, region, year, tasting notes and score on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale. A variety of images of the wines and labels are featured on the app as well, for a more comprehensive experience.

Users can also search by keyword to find the best product for them. There is also a feature in which fans can create a list of favorite wines for better access in purchasing and future reference.

The new app is Wine Spectator’s second. The publication has an existing app for users to search reviews and magazine content.

Mobile apps
Similarly, apparel and accessories retailer Rainbow Shops developed a mobile app to grab a piece of growing mobile commerce sales as users become more comfortable with purchasing on smaller screens (see more).

Guess Jeans also fashioned a more personalized mobile shopping experience with its new app, allowing users first access to collections and customized style recommendations (see more).

“In general, millennials are new to wine,” Ms. Shanken said. “While shopping, there are many aisles with thousands of wines to choose from at all different price points.

“This app helps them avoid overpaying for a bottle or choosing a wine that isn’t good quality,” she said. “It is like buying insurance using the Wine Spectator ratings.”