Whenever the Wine Spectator encounters a magnificent wine, they illustrate it with bewilderment and seduction. That is how a fermented grape-juice bottle ends up displaying “a super-flashy style, boasting melted licorice, fruitcake, fig paste and black currant preserves. A hedonist’s delight.”
It is no mystery why so many people are intimidated by wine. And let’s not get into vintage, or terroir, that is just insufferable. Wine’s Golden Age has made it so overwhelming, that we often feel anguished while being in the spotlight.
But fear no more: Wine Apps are starting a revolution. Whether staying home, dining out or going to a winery, avoid a setback with some of these pocket-sized sommeliers.
For the wine geek
You have to pick a wine for your friend’s birthday barbecue. The wine section seems so daunting that you wish to stay in your comfort zone. After heading to the French aisle, you start to dismiss screw-capped and tacky labeled bottles. You think a Pinot from Burgundy should do, so you get what seems the most middle-priced. You end up with another utterly average bottle.
Instead, take your wine experience to the next level with a simple snap in Delectable or Vivino label scanning technologies. These apps are competing head to head with the most reliable wine profiling tools that compare ratings, varietals and tasting notes on the spot. Even greater, they incorporate a social mechanism that allows you to comment, like, share pictures and videos on different profiles. While Vivino proves to be more accurate in wine recognition, Delectable is still preferred by wine makers and critics whose reviews you do not want to miss. It is no wonder that it has been called the Instagram for wine lovers.
For the novices
Red is for meat and white is for fish. At least that is what the rule of thumb used to say. But in fact, industry experts claim that is a severely outdated stereotype. Did it ever happen to you that an expected nice pairing of food and wine ended up with a bitter, metallic aftertaste? There is a lot more to it than just the color. Fortunately, there is an app to remind you of that.
Take for example smoked salmon. Go into Hello Vivino and they will enlighten your meal, suggesting a soft-earthy Pinot Noir. It is quite straightforward. Have an easier and more enjoyable time by asking a digital connoisseur for the best wine in any occasion. Impress your boss with a jammy Rioja, get charming offering refreshing Rosé on your date night and pair the right cheese with your beloved Chardonnay. Every novice aiming to choose a wine should seriously consider this brilliant piece of engineering.
For the restaurant goer
An extensive wine list often makes you surrender to the idea of handing over your faith to the sommelier. You can only hope they get it right. At times, you are lucky enough to spot some fashionable regions and grapes you know of. You babble a bit about how New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc is dazzling wine critics and proceed to order a bottle. That might have cost you two mistakes. Firstly, ignoring your own preferences. Secondly, paying for an overpriced wine.
If you had downloaded Raisinable before, you would know that highly recognized wines usually have exaggerated markups. With this smart analyzer, a wine list is rated according to the fairness of its prices. Unfortunately, it is only available in a few destinations. Another genius (and more accessible) shortcut to display transparency in a restaurant or a retailer is Wine Searcher. It quickly pulls up a wealth of characteristics about a bottle and even tracks with GPS the place where you can find the best deals. After all this revelatory information, you will be confident enough to try an unfamiliar wine that is better value for money.
For casual oenophiles
For decades we have been fascinated with French and Italian supreme terroir, delicate style and wine legacy. No doubt they are extraordinary, but, speaking truth, many other regions can be equally elegant when serving a glass of Cabernet. Trying the most renown wine adventures in Burgundy, Champagne or Tuscany are some of the deepest craving for many wine enthusiasts. However, that is not going to be enough to thrill anyone today.
Update yourself with Wine Maps, a purely visual reference that boast more than a hundred wine region maps from the Old and New world. Different from others apps, it does not feature descriptions, social components, or any other fluff. It goes straight to the point. You will be amazed to discover how many underrated regions there are around the globe. Once you visually expand your knowledge, you can start digging up more and realize that Texas is also a very large-producing area in the US, Lavaux in Switzerland is a UNESCO World Heritage location owning delicious grapes, and Mexican winemaking history is as old as tequila.
