Restaurant uses social media to compile wine list

Last year we reported on Bin Ends, who gave the public the opportunity to take part in wine tastings via Twitter. Last month, a London restaurant got in on the social media act by crowdsourcing their wine list selection. L’Anima, Time Out’s pick for Best New Italian Restaurant 2009, hosted a tasting for six wine experts, including wine writer Anthony Rose, wine vlogger Denise Medrano and resident sommelier Gal Zohar. The tasters formed three teams to sample Zohar’s short list and settle on the final selection. “Unfortunately,” said the sommelier on his blog, “these enthusiasts, rarely agree with each other.” That’s where the public came in. For three wine categories where the experts couldn’t reach a consensus, L’Anima uploaded videos of each team pleading their case. Members of the public, who had been given advance notice of the wines and were updated on the selection process, were then asked to vote for the wines that they’d like to have in the restaurant. The exercise proved a successful marketing tool for L’Anima, not least because a prize of free wine and a tour of the restaurant was up for grabs for a randomly chosen Twitterer who tweeted about the process. And L’Anima’s audience benefited too, getting its nose into proceedings that were once the exclusive domain of experts. Contact info@lanima.co.uk Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann