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i recently mentioned on my design blog that i had a great wine application on my iphone, and someone asked me which one it was. so i thought i would share about it.
there are many wine applications in the app store, and not all of them have the same functions. some are designed to keep track of your wine cellar inventory, others include a wine review database to help you choose which wine to purchase, and some are simply designed for you to keep track of what you like and what people might recommend you try. now to make things a bit more complicated, there are some applications that do a bit of one and a lot of the other.
frankly, if you are really interested in finding the perfect application for you, i recommend you do a search for "wine" in the app store, and read the complete developer’s description of each of the potential application. most importantly, read all the reviews!
an important note about the reviews:
when you click on "read all reviews" you will find that they are by default listed by "most helpful" – i recommend you change that to "most recent" and here is why. the app store was opened in august 2008 and all of the applications at that point were new. as is normal in all software development, glitches are very common and most of these new apps were in need of fixes. over the last six months many developers have greatly improved their applications, often based on their customers’ reviews and reports, but the customers have not necessarily updated their original reviews. because most people do not put a date or the app’s version number in their review, it is important to look at the most recent reviews! this issue is also a huge deterrent in relying solely on the average star rating for choosing an app. / please note that version 8.1 of itunes has now a date and version stamp on all reviews. (released march ’09)
in any case, since i spent so many hours in the virtual app store (something to do when having insomnia), i thought i’d help you a little in demystifying those applications.
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wine notes / journals
those are mostly designed for you to keep track of your likes and dislikes, recommendations, and so on. the biggest differences are the user interface and the amount of data you can enter.
wine pad 2 $3 | 5 reviews : 4-stars
that is the one i own, and is the best in its category in my opinion. there is a field to enter all the information about wine you can think of, all of which are customizable, plus there is a field at the bottom for personal notes as well as one thing other apps don’t seem to have which is being able to enter blends. the only thing i see missing is the point average rating (although you could easily fit it somewhere).
tasting notes lite free | no reviews
this app is from the same developer as wine pad, and was just released in february. it also has a beautiful interface and seems to have all the same functions, including point ratings. it is the free version of tasting notes which is for all alcohols, but this one seems to include only wines. please note that free applications are not ads-free... and do not always have the same functions as paid ones. (i do not own it, hence the use of "seems")
tasting notes $5 | 3 reviews : 4.5-stars
this is the full paid version of tasting notes lite, and is designed to rate all alcohol beverages.
wine cellar $5 | 1 review : 4-star
on top of basic wine notes, this app seems to have an added function to keep track of your cellar. the interface is not as nice as wine pad, and one complaint in the review is that blends are not customizable. i think this app looks fairly decent but is not worth its two extra bucks.
winelist $1 | 1 review : 3-star
this app seems to be very incomplete as far as the data that can be entered – certainly there is very little information in the app’s description. the one reviewer complains about no point rating, no blend info, no regions of origin... so you get the picture – or lack of.
wine journal $4 | no reviews
this application seems to be fairly complete and includes both tasting notes and a wine cellar inventory. however the user interface looks very basic – but that’s only a small issue for us "designer" snobs. (wink)
wine log $3 | 5 reviews : 2.5-star
this one looks to be fairly good, but for the same dollar value it doesn’t have as many information fields as wine pad, and the user interface is not as pleasant.
wine snob $2 | 12 reviews : 2-star
this is a great example of what i mentioned in my note about reviews. this application obviously had many issues in its infancy because it had terrible reviews. however the latest ones are extremely good. on the plus side this app also provides a pairing database. on the down side, it seems the personal data entries are limited compared to the first apps i listed above.
wine inventories / cellars
these applications would be best for keeping track of the wine you own – if you’re so lucky to have a cellar large enough to lose track of what’s in it!
merlot wine cellar assistant $3 | 2 reviews : 2.5-star
i think its name says it all. this app is designed to track what you have in stock, with vintage and basic rating info. i think it might also allow you to enter specific stock quantities. however the reviews are not very good and would basically keep me away from buying this app as it still needs improvements.
drync wine $4 | 7 reviews : 2.5-star
this application has a very cute interface... but the reviews indicate that it lacks functionality. it has a huge database of wines which is designed to help you make purchase decisions. it also has a cellar inventory... what you’ve tried... and a wish list. potentially a great app but still in the improvement stage.
cor.kz wine info $5 | no reviews
like the one above, this app has a huge database from which you can get help in your purchase decision, and it also has a cellar inventory and a wish list. plus the app also offers a wine terminology dictionary. it looks like a pretty heavy app, and if there’s one thing missing, it might be a personal notes section. this app also has a twitter integration – whatever that means.
wine-jot $2 (on sale from $5) | no reviews
this is truly an application for you to keep track of what you own. there is some space for you to make personal notes on the wine you’ve tried, but it’s not the primary function this app was designed for. there are also some basic rating available – did i say it was basic?
wine enthusiast guide $5 | 20 reviews : 2.5-star
okay, this is a guide and probably should be in its own category. for one, let’s first acknowledge that it’s been designed by the wine enthusiast magazine. as a guide it looks to be a great source of information, and the reason i put it here is that from their database you can select wines for your wish list. i suppose this could be of some help for those with the big cellars! i must however point out that the reviews are very mixed.
wine vintages
these apps are designed specifically to track the good years from the bad ones. i suppose if you have the room for all these bottles, you might want to keep worthy ones. now if that is the case, i don’t know that you can’t get this info integrated in one of the cellar apps from above.
wine vintages free | no reviews
this is a very, very basic application which only tracks good vs bad vintages with a five-point rating system. the interface is not too bad. the developer’s info is all in spanish... and i only speak french, english and italian. sorry. – i believe the difference between this application and the one below, is that this one is designed for you to do the rating, as the one below is from a database. (again, i can’t read spanish)
wine vintage card $2 | 2 reviews : 2-star
this is basically a database of vintage recommendations. obviously not all wines are included and the reviewers are both disappointed. not very enrolling. plus the interface is quite childish.
wine pairing
completely self-explanatory, these apps are designed with one thing in mind: for the marriage of wine and food. if you are at the level of appreciation for a perfect pairing, one of these apps might definitely be of value to you.
wine & dine $4 | 9 reviews : 3.5-star
this application has raving reviews from 7 of its 9 reviewers. i am not a big 'pairing' person as my knowledge of wine is fairly limited, but if i were to buy an app specifically for this purpose, this would be the one. the interface is also nice.
entaste food & wine pairing $2 | 1 review : 3-star
this application has been newly released, but it looks pretty good. the interface is simple and clean and looks very easy to navigate. based on its first review, the main downfall from the one above seems to be a smaller database. but since the app is so young, give it some time for possible great updates.
the everything app
i thought this last application deserved its own category, and in a short moment you will know why. it’s also self-explanatory.
velvet vine wine companion $6 (on sale from $10) | no reviews yet
this is a recently released application, and it looks like a pretty awesome one. it has a section for your wine cellar inventory in which you can make notes for each entry, it has a wish list, a database with professional reviews and notes, a wine journal to capture special bottles in special moments, a terminology dictionary, and a world community with whom you can share information. all that and probably much more, but you get the picture – and this time it’s a very colorful one! of course, if you don’t need all that jazz, pick an application that will serve your needs best. in other words, not having used this application, i cannot say that personal notes will be as thorough as one of the journal apps for example. so go with your guts!
for more iphone apps reviews, check ifones.com
guylaine rondeau © 2009
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