Winology: The App That Finally Makes Learning About Wine Fun

Learning about wine isn't always easy. Between technical terms, styles, grape varieties, and terroirs, many people don't really know where to start. Yet a new generation of curious minds is seeking simple, fun, accessible content... directly on their phones.

That's exactly where Winology makes a difference.

A free app for learning about wine, designed like a Duolingo for oenology and created to dust off wine education with humor, pedagogy, and a light touch. Behind this project is Nathalie Roudier, co-founder, UX/UI designer, passionate about sharing knowledge... and member of The Local Nose community.

With Nathalie, we talked about:

• Fun learning
• Democratizing wine
• Terroirs, grape varieties, and quizzes
• Collaborations with wine industry organizations
• And her vision for the future of wine education

If you're looking for a free app to learn about wine easily, or if you're simply curious to understand what goes on behind the scenes at Winology, you should enjoy this interview.

👉 Discover Winology: https://winology.app/

     1. Origins & Vision

Nathalie, can you tell us about Winology's origins? What triggered this project?

The idea was born following a tasting I did completely by chance, during a vacation in the Bordeaux region. I had spent 2 hours discovering wine in a totally new way for me. Wine has always been part of my life: my entire family drinks wine and I grew up in the Côte Rôtie terroir. Yet wine culture was never present, never even discussed. That moment was a complete discovery and surprise. Curious to rediscover the concepts covered in the tasting, I found myself overwhelmed by a mountain of information. How do you sort through all that? How do you learn without having to read entire pages filled with technical terms? How do you discover wine gently and especially on my phone (yes, I'm very digital).

I created the app I would have liked to have when I started.

What's the mission behind the application? Making wine accessible, breaking codes, opening doors?

Just as Duolingo has enabled millions of people to learn to speak English, French, Korean... I'd like to make wine culture more accessible (free and directly in your pocket), and easier to understand. That's why we do a lot of work on simplification. We want to burst this bubble of elitism so that everyone can realize that wine isn't that complicated, and that it's well within their reach.

Why a "game/quiz" learning format rather than a classic editorial format with articles or videos?

Because I hate doing what everyone else does! Because these were precisely the formats that didn't suit me as they're too often made by experts for experts/enthusiasts. Because these formats aren't organized by knowledge level, so you quickly get lost. There's an extremely limited offering for beginners. And for those who, like me, enjoy learning on their phone, it's simple: there's nothing out there!

I had a wide-open road ahead of me!

2. Structure & Pedagogy

You've structured Winology into 13 levels, from Piccolo to Melchizedek. How did you build this progression?

Actually, the 13 levels correspond to wine bottle formats. We start with the Piccolo, the small 20 cl bottle, and end with the Melchizedek, which holds 18 liters! I liked the idea that the quantity of wine symbolizes the quantity of knowledge. The further you progress in Winology, the more you "fill your bottle" with knowledge. And it has a dual benefit: along the way, you also learn the names of bottle formats. Everyone knows Magnum or Jeroboam, but Piccolo, Fillette, or Melchizedek, much less so! So it's both a nod to the wine world and a small educational bonus, right in the spirit of Winology.

How do you ensure that quizzes and exercises are both fun and educational?

I write all the quizzes and exercises myself. I've always had a real sensitivity to pedagogy — it's something that has followed me throughout my career. And since I was a beginner myself not that long ago, I've kept this ability to really simplify things. I remember perfectly the words or concepts that seemed obscure to me at the beginning, so I always make the effort to explain them simply, often with everyday metaphors or parallels. It helps unlock notions that seem complicated, and shows that wine, fundamentally, isn't that different from other worlds we already know.

And then, once a quiz is completed, I always have it reviewed by a small team of volunteer users. Some are passionate, others total novices, and their feedback is invaluable for adjusting the level. It's a bit of my safeguard, to make sure the quizzes remain fun and especially digestible.

Do you work with wine experts (oenologists, sommeliers, industry organizations) to validate the content?

Yes, absolutely. While the first quizzes were quite simple — they're really aimed at complete beginners and cover the basics — so I designed them alone, from reliable and verified sources. But starting from level 3, we begin to address more technical subjects.

There, I work in collaboration with experts in the relevant field. For example, the quizzes on Portuguese wines were completely reviewed by the Wines of Portugal interprofession. The one on alcohol-free wines was created with Anne Quétanet, a wine merchant specializing in this area. Another on neurological sensations during tasting was co-created with Léa Desportes, and the one on wine defects in partnership with Viva le Noir, representative of Jean Lenoir editions, known for Le Nez du Vin. Each time, I surround myself with experts to guarantee the accuracy and credibility of the content, even if the tone remains light, funny, and accessible.

That's really Winology's motto: being serious without ever taking ourselves seriously.

3. Content & Themes

What major themes do you want to cover in the application (grape varieties, terroirs, tasting, food pairings...)?

The ambition is very simple: we want to cover EVERYTHING! Of course we'll cover all the major traditional wine themes, but not only! Regarding grape varieties, there will be a quiz dedicated to each one: we already have Gamay, and we're preparing those on Chardonnay, Chenin, Sauvignon, Merlot, etc. But we'll also explore ancient grape varieties, rare varieties, and hybrid varieties that are coming to the forefront.

On the terroirs and appellations side, we're already working with several interprofessions to create dedicated quizzes: for example, there are those on the Burgundy, Médoc, Saint-Émilion, Mâcon AOCs, we also present regions like Beaujolais or the Loire Valley in the Fillette level. But we don't limit ourselves to that: we'll also talk about wine history, women who have marked this world, other producing countries, or even more unexpected subjects, like geo-sensory tasting, a more intuitive, less codified approach, very interesting for beginners. My main objective is to awaken curiosity and get consumers to stop limiting themselves to wines they already know and discover other wines they wouldn't have tried otherwise.

Are there more specialized or emerging topics you dream of integrating (orange wines, natural wines, micro cuvées, aging...)?

Absolutely! As I just mentioned, what I love is sharing my own discoveries that are off the beaten path. We've already started with geo-sensory tasting, and I can't wait to address even more unexpected subjects that awaken curiosity and surprise our community.

Natural wines, for example, often victims of prejudice, when they hide real diversity and so many beautiful surprises.

I'd also like to talk about the history of women and wine — why not through a partnership with Florence Tilkens-Zotiades, who wrote a superb book on the subject.

And then there are all these forgotten regions that deserve the spotlight: wines from Auvergne, Isère, Bugey... incredible gems that are too little known. Not to mention wines from Eastern European countries, like those from Austria, which I'm particularly fond of: modern, light but deep, totally in tune with the times.

All these subjects that open curiosity, that make you want to taste, explore, and see wine differently.

How do you adapt content according to the user's learning level?

There's a real pedagogical thread in the app. Typically, the concepts seen in levels 0, 1, and 2 are supposed to be acquired when you reach level 3. That's why we've set up a system of progression by stages and level unlocking: you have to complete all the quizzes of a level to access the next one. This system ensures that the basics are solid before going further.

And to reinforce learning, we use repetition a lot: certain concepts come back, reformulated, to promote anchoring in memory. At the end of each quiz, there's also an exam that asks questions already encountered, but randomly. You need to get at least 80% correct answers to validate the level and move on to the next one.

4. Gamification & Engagement

Gamification is at the heart of the product (quizzes, scores, rewards): How do you find the balance between fun and oenological credibility?

For me, learning and playing aren't at all opposed, quite the contrary! They're two dynamics that complement each other perfectly. And in the app, the game serves learning, which is actually what makes the application successful. The user has fun, plays, and without even realizing it, enriches their wine culture. In the end, they've learned things they can use on any occasion, while having a good time.

To make the experience even more motivating, we've added a reward dimension: users can win prizes or exclusive discounts from our partners in the wine world.

What incentive or loyalty mechanisms do you use to keep users engaged (achievements, rankings, challenges, notifications)?

We use very few notifications (one or two per month, maximum). The idea isn't to harass people, but to inform them. Yet our retention rates are about ten times higher than the average for educational applications. Retention rate has been an indicator we've worked a lot on since the second year. It's with this objective that we've implemented several fun formats.

The first was Oenigma: a daily challenge where you have to guess a mystery appellation from clues. It's incredibly popular: we have an average of 200 users per day who come to do their challenge. And then we launched monthly contests last June, with a themed quiz of about ten questions. Simply participating, regardless of score, is enough to try to win a prize offered by a partner. We've already collaborated with Le Petit Ballon, Vinodelice, and other partners are coming: Jean Lenoir Editions, La Cité du Vin...

I'm really careful to pamper our users so they win on all fronts!

Have you received user testimonials that particularly touched you?

Yes, I receive a lot of really touching feedback, whether on the stores or directly in private messages, and it's always extremely gratifying.

I'm thinking of two testimonials in particular. The first comes from a young mother: she discovered Winology during her pregnancy, and after giving birth, she rediscovered wine with a completely new perspective. She explained that thanks to the app, wine had become a real passion for her. The second testimonial is from a man who wrote to tell me that "since he's had Winology, he doesn't taste wine the same way anymore." This kind of message is just the best feedback: knowing that we've managed to change the way people perceive and appreciate wine, we tell ourselves we're succeeding in our mission. It's very energizing.

5. Technical Challenges & Monetization

What technical challenges (architecture, maintainability, databases, UI/UX) have you encountered in creating an app of this type?

In reality, we haven't encountered major technical difficulties, because Colin and I both come from the tech world. Colin is a mobile developer, and I'm a UX/UI designer. Creating apps is our job. What has been, and what still remains the hardest today, is distribution. All the communication, marketing, sales... that's more challenging!

The app is free today: have you planned monetization (premium, paid content, partnerships)?

Yes, the application is currently completely free and ad-free. If we want to reconnect people with wine, we won't manage to attract them with a paid subscription! So we racked our brains with a more B2B economic model. Since 2/3 of our users are under 34 years old, we quickly realized that this was a target that the wine industry seeks to reach, but they struggle. So Winology becomes a bridge between appellations and this new generation, and offers them a simple and fun way to make themselves known by sponsoring quizzes. That's what we did with Médoc & Haut Médoc, Saint-Émilion, or Mâcon: collaborative quizzes with their interprofessions, who support the content.

The second axis, which we're currently launching, is aimed directly at wine estates. The idea is to highlight a small selection of estates by appellation, so that users can discover, after a quiz, winemakers who embody what they've just learned. Estates chosen for their authenticity, their commitment, and their modern approach to wine.

The ultimate objective is to create a virtuous circle between learning, discovery, and showcasing producers' work.

Are you considering a "pro" version, specialized paid content, or associated services?

Yes, we've listed ideas. When you create a project like this, you obviously think about different business models to diversify revenue sources and especially ensure the application's sustainability. But it's not our immediate priority: for now, we're focusing on content development, community growth, and existing B2B partnerships. There are B2C avenues planned, but it's still too early to talk about them concretely.

6. Audience & Distribution

Who uses Winology today? Mostly beginners or also wine professionals?

Today, nearly two-thirds of our users are under 34 years old, so we're clearly addressing a new generation of wine enthusiasts. We have a lot of complete beginners, people who like wine but don't know much about it, and who want to learn without stress. But there are also more knowledgeable amateurs and even professionals who use Winology to level up their skills: wine merchants, servers, or even people working in wine and spirits marketing. Some wine merchants even use the app to host tasting evenings with their clients. And we also have students in WSET training who use it as a complement to the textbook, which, let's face it, isn't very fun!

What's your current distribution (countries, stores, languages)?

Today, the application is available in all French-speaking countries in Europe: France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It's currently entirely in French, but we're already working on an English translation, planned for 2026. The application is accessible on both stores, Google Play and App Store.

How do you make Winology known (social media, influencers, collaborations)?

That's a very good question! Today, we're still in bootstrap mode, so without advertising budget or PR agency. Everything is done by hand, in an artisanal way. Our partnerships help us a lot in gaining visibility: we regularly create collaborations with wine industry players, notably through our street food & wine pairings published weekly on social media, in duo with sommeliers.

On the media side, we haven't had much coverage yet — let's say the media have been snubbing us a bit (too bad for them 😄). But we compensate with a strong presence on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, where we're growing our community organically.

And above all, we benefit from excellent natural referencing on the stores: when you type "vin" (wine), we appear in the top 5 results.

7. Impact & Industry Feedback

In your opinion, what role can this type of tool play in people's relationship with wine?

Winology's role is to educate and broaden horizons. Many people only know Bordeaux or Burgundy, or have a somewhat fixed image of them, of "dad's wines." We want to show them that there's a new generation of winemakers who are dusting all that off, and also help them discover other regions, other wine styles, often more modern, more free, closer to today's tastes.

The objective is to help people get away from labels, to get rid of prejudices. And when we succeed, wine will no longer be an ego competition, but just a real pleasure of sharing and discovery. Times are changing and I really want to be part of these changes.

Do traditional players (estates, schools, sommeliers) see these apps as competition, or as an opportunity?

I think that, yes, some schools or some sommeliers may perceive Winology as competition... too bad for them 😄. It's a shame, because we're not playing on the same field at all: we're not training professionals, we're simply making wine accessible to everyone. Fortunately, many others have understood that we're not a threat but an opportunity. We already collaborate with several of them, and it works very well.

For wine estates, it's even more obvious that we're not at all competitors, but true allies. Our role is to grow interest and curiosity for wine in a target they don't reach, so of course it's all to their benefit!

Do you see possible collaborations with wine houses, schools, salons, events?

Yes, of course! I think there are collaborations to imagine everywhere. From the moment we share the same desire to make wine more accessible, more fun, and more modern, there are necessarily things to do together. I don't see anyone as competitors, I'm always open to discussion.

8. Future & Ambitions

What are your projects for the future (additional levels, languages, specialized content, VR/AR, etc.)?

Lots of projects! First, translating the app into English and opening it to (almost) all countries in the world, that will be an ultra-important step. We're of course continuing to write new content: we're currently finishing the "Fillette" level, and we'll soon start level 4 by December.

And above all, we're developing a whole media around Winology: a newsletter, a blog, and other new features to come (I'm not saying everything ^^). The idea is to create a real community around discovery and the pleasure of learning. Little teaser: not everything will happen only on digital... there will also be "real life experience"...

If you had to give advice to an amateur starting their wine journey, what would it be?

The first advice, obviously, would be to start with Winology 😄 I really designed this app as a springboard to wine culture, to allow everyone to learn gently, without judgment, without pressure. You can progress at your own pace, in a safe and benevolent space, without risking mansplaining* — or rather winesplaining, which can quickly discourage beginners.

Then, I'd say: go out in the field. Nothing replaces meeting winemakers, estates, passionate people. That's actually why we're going to integrate this new feature into the app, to help our users discover these places and people in real life.

Last advice, I'd say: be curious. Dare to step out of your habits, taste wines you didn't know, explore less famous regions. Wine is an infinite playground, beautiful surprises are unlimited. That's what's magical, I think.

*Editor's note: "Mansplaining" is when someone explains a subject to another person as if they knew nothing about it... when they actually know very well. In wine, this quickly becomes "winesplaining": the famous somewhat overconfident discourse that can discourage beginners.

Conclusion

Winology demonstrates that learning about wine can be simple, joyful, and unpretentious. Thanks to Nathalie and Colin, oenology becomes a playground accessible to all, whether you're a total novice, curious amateur, or professional looking for fun reviews.

At Vinodelice, we love this approach:

• Because it opens the doors to a world too often perceived as elitist
• Because it encourages the discovery of lesser-known regions and grape varieties
• And because it fits perfectly into this new generation of educational tools that are changing our relationship with wine

We'll closely follow the next levels, new regions... and future collaborations with the Local Nose community.

👉 Find Winology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winology.app/

👉 And to continue learning about wine in a friendly tone, find our guides and articles on Vinodelice.