5 Apps for Wine Lovers |
 Written by Allison Wahl |
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Whether you need to unwind, add a little something extra to your meal, or simply kick back and relax, few things do the trick like a nice, smooth glass of wine. Not surprisingly, many apps featured for Foodies on the App Store address the wonders of wine. Whether you’re well versed in the delicacies of the grape or you take a more casual approach to enjoying it, here are some noteworthy finds to pleasure your palate and open up your world of wine:
Bacchus ($4.99): Like the ancient god himself, Bacchus bestows the gift of wine. It is perfect for those who have sampled many a wine but tend to forget which ones have been favorites. Using the app, you can select red, white, or rose wine and then take a picture of the bottle you’d like to remember. Once the bottle and label are saved, you can add any notes you’d like about the wine so that you can refer back to your flavor-filled memory in the future. Bacchus tracks the location and date where you tag the wine so you will always be able to access when you saved it to your repertoire, and it even enables you to share your finds with friends and fellow wine lovers. Through various search, browse, and access options, you will never forget a wine or wine-filled moment again!
Daily Grape (Free): Whether you’re just beginning to enter the world of wine or you’re a seasoned vet, Daily Grape offers you daily wine education and recommendations through short, friendly videos from Gary, the app’s very own wine expert extraordinaire. Aside from learning from the clips, you can engage with Gary by accessing the wines he has tasted, gaining inspiration from his notes, and comparing your experiences with his. Daily Grape goes beyond introducing you to notable wines and actually lets you engage with the experts, learn about the process, and find many flavors to savor!
Cor.kz ($3.99): Claiming to be the best around for wine novices and enthusiasts alike, Cor.kz is an all-encompassing wine app. It lets you access their extensive database of over 1,000 wines, scan barcodes to learn about and save wines you’ve had or you’d like to have (although, this feature currently operates at about a 65% success rate), and engage in and access side-by-side wine comparisons. Furthermore, Cor.kz is a great tool after sampling (or drinking) bottles of wine, as it lets you record, rate, and reflect on your various indulgences and add it to wish lists for future reference or gift ideas. You can also always access your consumption history, manage your cellar (or, at least, your current wine inventory), assess pricing data from a number of wine sources and sellers, access reference tools for wine-related jargon and concepts, and, of course, share it all with your friends using Facebook and Twitter integration.
Cellar ($4.99): Even if you don’t actually have a separate room for your wine collection, organizing and envisioning it in its entirety has never been easier than it is with Cellar. You can customize the bottles you have based on shape, color, bottle top, and the wine label itself, and you can add extensive amounts of information regarding the wine producer, its status as vintage, the grape or blends that create the wine, the name, region of production, price, personal notes, and a whole slew of other features. Furthermore, once you’ve tried a bottle from your Cellar, you can transition it to the Garage for future reference (if you liked it and would like to have it again) or place in the Trash if it just was not worthwhile. When you’re out and about and encounter a wine you have never had but would like to invest in in the future, simply add it to your Cellar’s Wish list. Cellar also includes a number of other feautres, such as ways to back up the data you enter, various modes for viewing, searching, and sorting your Cellar, e-mailing bottles (yes, the actual virtual bottle as you see it in your Cellar) to your friends, and enabling you to shake the app so it chooses which wine you should drink when all the options are so good you just can’t decide which to indulge in.
Cheese Plate ($4.99): While not a wine app in the traditional sense, what would an expose of great wine tools be without some cheese as well? Cheese Plate introduces you to 150 different kinds of cheeses chosen by expert Jane Fletcher, carefully presented in 25 beautifully crafted cheese plates. Each cheese plate offers three complimentary cheeses, all with suggested alternates, depicted in a stunning picture — which not only induces some serious salivation, but also ensures that you know exactly what you’re looking for when you go to the store. The app divulges everything you need to know about the cheese plates, including who makes the cheese, how to pronounce the cheese names, country of origin, descriptive adjectives for the flavors you will experience, and details about the story and textures of the cheeses. Furthermore, the app educates you on how to pair the cheeses with wine — which, using the notes you saved using the apps above, ensures you will not only have the best wines for the cheese, but your favorites as well. With tons of ways to explore, search for, and share the cheeses, Cheese Plate not only becomes a great party planning tool, but a real taste sensation.
