Wine Cellar Blog

The Best Wine Apps

THE BEST WINE APPS

Chances are good that you have an iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry or other Smartphone, and since your reading this blog we are pretty certain you are a wine lover, so why not combine the two? 

Here at Cal Wine Cellars we are always talking about social media and how wineries are able to use new technologies to reach out and connect with their customers.  Well, now it’s your turn!  All you need is your handy dandy cell phone to download one of the many wine related apps and, volia!  It’s like having a wine sommelier in your pocket.  And who doesn’t want one of those?

HELLO VINO

---IPHONE APPS--- 

New to wine? Looking to find the basic information so you can select wine with ease, no more sweat beading up on your forehead as you try to figure out what wine goes with pork roast, Hello Vino does it all for you.  Simply pick the food you’re having and the occasion and Hello Vino goes to work to decide the perfect wine for you. 

Cost: Free!

TASTING ROOM FINDER

This is the ultimate in your hand guide to winery tasting rooms around the US.  Google is great for telling what wineries exist, but if you want to kick it up a notch and get all the info you need to find winery tasting rooms in your area then the Tasting Room Finder is the app for you.  Not only does this app find the nearest winery tasting rooms, it also gives you directions to the tasting room and the wineries phone number.  The best part, you can take photos of wines you like and store them with your own notes and ratings.  We all know it’s no use trying to remember for ourselves, so why not let this wine app do it for you!

Cost: $4.99

PAIR IT!

Want to find the perfect wine pairing?  Just shake your iPhone, yep, that’s right, shake or “Swirl” your phone and the Pair It! app will find a pairing for you.  With over 180 varietals and 1,000 food items (and counting) this app turns the troublesome task of figuring out what wine to pair with your meal into a fun experience.  You can even save your favorite pairings and add your own notes for next time. 

Cost: $2.99

WINE PH.D

Make intelligent wine selections with the help of Wine Ph.D.  With a catalog of thousands of wines, you’re guaranteed to find your perfect wine, at the right price and even from your preferred region.  This app even gives you the inside scope with ratings and comments from both wine enthusiasts and professionals.  And if any of the wine terms used are foreign to you… or perhaps require a Ph.D to understand?!, don’t worry, because Wine Ph.D comes complete with a glossary of wine terms, so you’ll never again have to scratch your head and wonder what a Cépage* is.

* French term for grape variety. When it appears on a wine label it will usually refer to the varietals used to make the wine.

Cost: $4.99

DRYNC

With 800,000 wines and counting and over 100,000 users, the Drync wine app is probaly the most well known of the wine app bunch.  This app not only gives you customer reviews for each wine, but also reviews from the wine world’s own Gary Vaynerchcuk.  Once you’ve read the reviews and decided which wine is the right one for you (or simply chose from their suggested wine list) the Drync app will locate a store that sells it for you, giving you the price as well as pairing options.  This is one app that definitely does the work for you. 

Cost: Free for the lite version & $4.99 for the pro version

WINERY QUEST PRO

As a website focused on California wines and wineries, this is definitely the perfect app for us!  The Winery Quest Pro app has almost 900 California wineries in over 20 regions in its database which means the next time you need to plan a winery tasting trip this is the app that will get you there.  Found the perfect trip?  Add it to your trip log!  This app stays up to date by adding new wineries daily, including giving you the full scope on the tasting events including wine prices and tasting fees. 

Cost: $7.99

WINE DJ

You have the wine, you have the food & your date - the only thing left to do is to set the mood.  That’s where the Wine DJ app comes in.  This app goes to work selecting the perfect music playlist for your romantic dinner for two or even a tasting event with fifty of your closest friends.  Wine DJ searches through thousands of songs having your guests think you not only have great taste in wine, but also great taste in music… don’t worry, we won’t tell them your secret.

Cost: Free!

---BLACKBERRY & SMARTPHONE APPS---

Don’t have an iPhone?  Well, the good news is there are still wine apps for you, but sadly there are less wine apps available for those who have a Blackberry or Smartphone, hopefully as the wine apps industry grows this will change.   Until then, allow us to highlight a few of the top picks currently on offer.

WINE ENTHUSIAST GUIDE

Knowledge is power!  With over 80,000 professional wine reviews (and growing) at your fingertips you’ll definitely feel the power behind this app.  Brought to you by The Wine Enthusiast Magazine this app allows you to search for wine by price, varietal, or wine rating.  This is by far the most complete wine app for Blackberry and Smartphone lovers alike, a must buy!

Cost: $9.99

NAT DECANTS WINE AND FOOD MATCHER

Ranked the number one wine app on App World and recommended in the New York Times, NAT Decants Wine and Food Matcher app is guaranteed to please.  Its comprehensive wine database helps you with wine pairings and gives you recipes, wine reviews, articles and more.  All brought to you by Nat MacLean, a well-known writer, judge, and member of the National Capital Sommelier Guild. 

Cost: $2.99 (plus $2.10/mo. for access to Nat’s in-depth wine reviews)

There you have it, the latest and greatest wine apps on the market today! 

Which wine app is your favorite?  Let us know your own reviews and top picks.  

Planes, Trains, Automobiles, & California Wine Tours

PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES AND CALIFORNIA WINE TOURS

How many ways can you tour California’s great wineries?  Let us count the ways…

BY LAND

Hit the open road!  This is by far the most common way to navigate the many vineyards on offer in California.  It requires the least amount of planning; simply hop in your car and go.  If you want to kick things up a notch and grab an off-road adventure, try California Wine Country Jeep Tours.  You’ll get a ride not just to the vineyard but through the vineyard, making your wine tasting experience an up close and personal one.

Take a hike! Want more of an active adventure to go along with your quality wine drinking time? Try signing up for a hiking wine adventure; both Zephyr Adventures and California Wine Hikes are great options for the hiking wine enthusiastic. 

Ride a bike! Not down with hiking?  Try a bike ride through the scenic roads in California’s wine country.  Whether you are a serious cyclist or just out for a joy ride, there is an option available for you.  Check out both Napa Valley Bike Tours and Bicycle Adventures to book your trip now.

All aboard now! Climb on board California’s most unique wine tasting experience, the Napa Wine Train.  Not only does the train take you to California’s famed vineyards, but the train is an experience unto itself, from the Moonlight Escape package where you travel in a romantic booth for two aboard a glass doomed train and dine under moonlight to their Murder Mystery play where everyone is encouraged to dress the part, drink wine and solve a murder crime. 

BY SEA

Grab a kayak! Imagine kayaking your way around California visiting one vineyard after another.  Kayaking is the perfect way to hit the open water and enjoy some vino.  Getaway Adventures and Captain Jack’s offer a multitude of ways to stay active and burn all those extra calories from wine tasting. 

Sail away! Why not sail away to California’s wine country?  Hop aboard the ARABELLA and enjoy wine tasting on a luxury sailboat.

Big Cruising!  The big players in the cruise industry know that wine is where it’s at.  Both Princess cruise lines and Celebrity Cruises offer wine cruises that go up and down the west coast where you can sip wine on the ship and stop along the way to visit wineries for vineyard tours and tasting events. 

BY AIR

Up, up and away!  Looking to experience California’s wine country from new heights?  Try gliding over vineyards in a hot air balloon.  Two companies to contact for your very own ride are Napa Valley Balloons and Up and Away. 

Private planes! Want to chart your own open sky adventure?  Hire a private plane from Vintage Aircraft or a helicopter from Wine Country Helicopters for a  birds’ eye view of wine country. 

No matter how you get there, California’s wine country is a destination not to be missed.  From vineyard tours to wine tastings and great eats California vineyards are where it’s at.  What are you waiting for?  Starting planning your next trip there today! 

Save Water Drink Wine

SAVE WATER, DRINK WINE

You may be thinking how a glass of wine can save water?  

We all need water to survive; the trouble is we don’t all have access to clean drinking water.  With nearly two-thirds the earth’s surface covered in water it’s hard to believe that this is possible, but the sad fact is that less than 1% of the earth’s water is accessible and suitable for drinking. 

WHAT’S WINE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Organizations around the world understand that this is a major crisis and are doing their part to help solve the problem.  The wine industry is no exception.  They have jumped on board to do their part to help bring clean drinking water to those who need it most.  Organizations like WINE TO WATER and THE WATER TO WINE PROJECT are both raising awareness and funds to help solve the world water crisis. 

WINE TO WATER: By hosting wine tasting events this non-profit aid organization is able to raise awareness and funds to provide clean water to those in need.  Their clean water efforts have reached many countries including Sudan, India, Cambodia, Uganda, Ethiopia and most recently Haiti.  On their home page one of the first things you’ll notice is a donation button to help with the Haiti Emergency Fund.  But donating isn’t the only way you can get involved.  You can host your own WINE TO WATER wine tasting in your community, school or home.  Check out their website for more info on how you can get started planning your own WATER TO WINE event today! 

THE WATER TO WINE PROJECT: 25 cents can transform lives.  That’s the concept behind THE WATER TO WINE PROJECT.  By dining at one of their participating restaurants (currently their pilot program is with RuckerJohns in North Carolina) you can take part by contributing a quarter to the clean water cause.  “100% of each quarter received will go directly to the clean water project.”  As this non-profit organization grows they will be able to take their mission to restaurant all across the US. 

GRAPES NEED WATER TOO

The water crisis hits home in California.     

This winter California has seen some much needed heavy rains, but while a few weeks of rain followed by years of nothing but sunshine may create a great environment to live in, unfortunately it does little to help our water crisis.

Our crisis, however, has more to do with our crops then is does with drinking water.  Winemakers need water to grow their crops and with little rainfall going their way and the fact that California is beginning its fourth year of drought, grape growers are facing a tough situation.

NEW RULES FOR WINERIES

To make matters worse, wineries are now finding themselves faced with a new set of rules regarding their water supply and how they are able to use that water. 

The problem is California doesn’t have a large water supply yet more and more people are flocking to California to live and to grow crops, thus increasing the demand for the water that is available.  This strain on our water supply is forcing new rules to be put in place by state and local officials that will govern how the water we do have is used and distributed.  Winemakers and vineyards will feel the full weight of these new rules which will hit them quite hard, forcing them to reduce their already limited water consumption by 10% by 2020. 

Say goodbye to the water features that once greeted us at the gates of many vineyards.  With this new oversight and control of water, excesses like these will be limited and wineries will have to devote their efforts over the next ten years to cutting down their use of water and finding new and creative ways to flourish.

Many California wineries are being proactive and facing this problem head on.  The Benzinger Family Winery is working hard to conserve water on their vineyards, they have even “constructed wetlands that recycle 2-3 million gallons of water a year. All of the winery waste water and some of the grey water on our facility is captured in a pond and then, by gravity, it's recycled through this large wetlands that acts as a kidney that cleans the water to an incredibly high level -- to where it looks good enough to drink. That's the water that we then use for landscaping, and we then use for irrigation. It's used twice.”

The Benzinger Family Winery isn’t alone in their efforts to conserve water, Trinchero Family Estates "has gotten its water consumption down as low as 1 gallon per gallon of wine.”  The typical consumption of water to produce one gallon of wine ranges from 2-20 gallons.  To get down to one gallon used for one gallon produced means the Trinchero’s have wine making down to a science and are not creating any water waste in the process. 

Some wineries have taken their water conservation to new heights, literally.  Silver Mountain Vineyards has turned their roof into their very own triple threat, as they say, they have made it “triple green”. 

The roof works in three ways, “the roof shades the winery, previously exposed to full sun, and reduces refrigeration requirements in the summer; it has also been designed as part of a rainwater collection system to be used for vineyard irrigation and winery operations (such as barrel cleaning); and the solar array will support the energy requirements of the winery operations, office and residence.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Get involved.  There are many organizations out there that are raising funds to bring water to those in need.  Organizations like UNICEF, WINE TO WATER and THE WATER TO WINE PROJECT are all working hard to end the world water crisis.  Want to get involved closer to home?  Join your local legislature to get involved directly with how the new rules are affecting our wineries. 

Drink more wine!  Our favorite bit of advice is to drink more wine!...  Buy purchasing wine from wineries that are practicing sustainable farming you are helping to support their water saving efforts.  WINE TO WATER also sells its own wine whose proceeds go directly to helping build wells and bring water to those in need.  So grab a bottle of wine (or two) and we’d like to say “Bottoms up!”  After all it’s for a good cause.