I’ll always remember the day I bought my first iPhone. The Palm Beach Post sent me to shoot video on the day the 3G model went on sale. By 7 a.m., a long line stretched all the way from the front of the Apple store to the outer entrance of the Wellington Mall. The excitement from the crowd was contagious, and after my shift, I went to join the revolution. Four hours later, I was the very proud owner of my first iPhone.

Suddenly, a whole new world had opened up to me – a world of GPS and constant web access, instant messaging and mobile banking. I began to wonder how I ever lived without this slick and sexy device. And then I discovered the wine applications…

In the past few months, I’ve been on a mission to find the ultimate wine application. So far, I haven’t found one that covers every base, but here are some I like:

Wine Enthusiast Guide: $4.99

The good: This app features more than 70,000 professional reviews at your fingertips. You can search for wines by wine name, or search for suggestions by price, rating, style, varietal and region.

The coolest feature on this app is a vintage chart that spans more than 100 regions over the past 17 years. The chart gives quality ratings for each year as well as when the vintage is ready to drink.

The bad: The database is somewhat limited and the search is slow. Users can create lists tagging wines in the database that they like or own, but cannot add tasting notes.

HelloVino: Free

The good: Want to know what wine to serve with your pasta Bolognese? Or how about guacamole? This food and wine pairing app has you covered. Whether you are looking for wine to pair with a specific meal or occasion, or looking for a wine based on taste, style, or region, this is a great tool. The app suggests a few basic varietal types, and then pulls specific bottle suggestions from Snooth’s database of almost 1 million wines. And best of all, this app is free!

The bad: Although you can search a wine to check prices, the resulting wine notes are limited. The results don’t include any professional reviews, and have a fairly basic rating system based on Snooth user reviews.

NatDecants: $2.99

The good: It’s like having a personal sommelier in your pocket! Natalie MacLean is a well-known wine writer, judge, and a member of the National Capital Sommelier Guild. Her iPhone app, Nat Decants, is a comprehensive food and spirits pairing guide based on her own expertise. Some of the highlights include pairing suggestions for 218 different types of cheese and a wine list of 287 different grape varietals and styles.

The bad: You still need to subscribe to Nat Decants online to access her in-depth wine reviews… but this only costs $2.10 per month. The app is also a little slow to start up because it checks for updates each time you launch.

Drync: Light version is free (ad-supported), pro version is $4.99

The good: This app features a searchable database of more than 1 million wines with professional ratings and reviews. The app combs the web for all of the information available on any specific wine and renders a list of reviews from multiple sources. It also makes wine suggestions based on other Drync user reviews.

Wines found on Drync can be ordered online through Cellar Tracker. Email and Twitter integration allow users to automatically share information about the wines they are drinking.

Drync also hosts a virtual cellar for those who want to keep track of wines they want, drank, or own. Wine information can be added automatically through the search, or input manually by the user. There’s also a photo option for wine labels, a basic rating chart, and space to input wine notes.

The bad: Free version is slowed down by ads. Although users can see professional wine ratings on Drync, they must leave the application to read the full review online. Links to reviews on Snooth bring the user to the mobile device homepage rather than the review page.

Are there any great wine apps I’m missing? Let me know which wine apps you can’t live without!


~ Dry (gwen)