Scanning a Wine Menu [BETA]

CellarTracker lets you snap a photo of a restaurant's wine list and instantly see ratings, average value, food pairing, and wines recommended for you. The quality of your results often depends on the quality of the photo you take. This guide covers how to get the best scans, the most common problems we see, and a few tricks for tougher menus.

How do I get the best results?

A few simple habits make scans far more accurate:

Use good lighting. Bright, even light helps us read every wine clearly. If the table is dim, turn on the phone flashlight or angle the menu toward the nearest light.
Keep the image sharp. Hold your phone steady and let it focus before you tap. Clear, centered images provide the best chance at reading each wine and price correctly.
Fit everything in frame. Make sure the full wine name, producer, vintage, and region are all inside the photo.
Screenshots can work. If you're looking at a digital menu, a screenshot is fine as long as the text is crisp and fully in view.

Why did my scan miss some wines or come back wrong?

If a scan looks incomplete or inaccurate, it's almost always one of these:

The photo was blurry

Movement or a missed focus leaves the text fuzzy. Rest your elbows on the table, wait for the camera to focus, and take the shot again.

Wine names were cut off

If names, vintages, or regions run off the edge of the photo, we can only read part of each entry. Back up slightly so the whole line fits, and watch the left and right edges.

The lighting was too dark

Dim restaurant lighting makes text hard to read. Move the menu toward a light source or use your phone's flashlight, then try again.

We didn't have the wine in our database

There are millions of wines in the CellarTracker database, but sometimes one slips through the cracks. You can always ask us to add new wines by emailing add@cellartracker.com.

You photographed a computer screen

Taking a picture of a menu on a screen often causes glare, reflections, and a moiré (screen-door) pattern that's hard to read. If the menu is digital, take a screenshot on that device instead of photographing the screen.

Long wine lists with dense or small print are the toughest case. The trick is simple: don't try to capture the whole thing at once. Cover the part of the menu you're not interested in, then photograph just the section you want. You'll get cleaner, more accurate results, and you can always scan another section afterward.

Image on the left is a dense list. Image on the right isolates a section of the menu. Faster and better chance for accurate results.

Quick checklist before you scan

Is the image sharp and in focus?
Are all the wine names, vintages, and regions fully inside the frame?
Is the lighting bright enough to read every word?
Is it a direct photo (or a clean screenshot) rather than a picture of a screen?
For a long list, are you scanning one section at a time?

Still not getting the results you expect? Retake the photo with the tips above. If it keeps happening, reach out to our support team at support@cellartracker.com.