Adegga - the social wine discovery service

When I started my WSET Diploma in 2006 I made a real effort to write proper tasting notes. Initially they were all handwritten but as the volumes grew I took the technology route. I tried Tasting Buddy’s application but moved over to Bottletalk when I ran out of patience with the slow speed on my handheld terminal. I then moved onto a spreadsheet when Bottletalk didn't seem to be going anywhere. However in moving computers I managed to corrupt my spreadsheet and didn’t notice for a month or so after which time the data was so corrupt I started over again.

That’s when I discovered Adegga.

Adegga describes itself as "a Social Wine Discovery service. The idea is to take the complexity out of wine and allow people to discover wines based on other people’s choice.Adegga also helps you organize your wines. You can keep track of wines you taste, make a wish list or organize your home cellar."

It has a real community feel to it. I’ve met, electronically I mean of course, a number of interesting people with whom I compare tasting notes.

There is Paul in the USA, a prolific taster and note writer. I envy him the West Coast wines he is able to get his hands on. However he probably envies me the Old World wines I have easy access to here in the UK.

Bruce lives in Arizona and keeps getting these amazing bargains from his local liquor store.

Ben lives on the Isles of Scilly and seems to have all the quality suppliers who deliver there successfully worked out. Thanks to him I bought a case from Hawkshead Wines.

Botto is trying to arrange an online tasting group where we will taste particular styles or regions every two weeks.

Putting my tasting notes up on the site does encourage some discipline when it comes to defining why I like – or don’t like – any particular wine. It also makes me notice the grapes, region and producer more all of which are key elements in what goes into the end product I’m tasting.

I say I‘ve “met” these people. I had the pleasure to meet face to face Andre the brains behind Adegga last week. We met at the very successful Access Zone at the London International Wine fair. Andre took a big leap when he left his career to focus on Adegga and AVIN and I admire him for that. He talked about some fascinating plans for Adegga so it will be interesting to see the site develop. I'm looking forward to that.

If you are looking for somewhere to read unbiased views about everything from every day wines, through unusual wines to something a bit more special then I’d encourage you to give Adegga a try.