Among the the earliest wine gadgets (and I understand they are still available in specialty shops) were two devices that work in combination. They are called “Pen” and “Paper 1.0.” They are very reliable, require no charging, but provide no backup systems.
In the Paleolithic Age of wine appreciation, let’s say the 1990s, I filled hundreds of notebooks with tasting notes. In the past 10 years, I’ve bravely accessed the dozen or so shoe boxes I’ve accumulated twice. Both times it was for a friend who required information from an ancient tasting I attended.
It’s not that I don’t want to revisit wines I’ve tried. It is just a challenge. The information in those notebooks remains sound and valuable. I just find accessing the information difficult and cataloging a pain.
Modern times have helped greatly in our ability to easily record and retrieve the info. I tossed the notebook system long ago and was an early adopter of using my cell phone camera to record labels. I also started using my laptop to record my impressions and other tidbits about wines. This allowed for much easier searches and is something I still do to a degree.
With the explosion of apps, these basic functions (and many other utilities) are a quick download away. I recently spent the better part of two days wading my way through the 500+ wine apps in the iTunes Store.
Here are the ones you’ll find on my phone:
Memorable Wines ($1.99)—Essentially, this is everything I've ever wanted to catalogue my wine notes. You can type in info on the wine or use a voice memo. There are many pre-selected checkboxes you can touch to reduce typing, such as wine color, love it/forget it and varieties. You can take one or two images. This allows you to record the front and back label. The feature I use the most is "search," which allows me to quickly ferret through hundreds of entries with key words. Larry Peters, one of Memorable Wines' designers, says his team is working on an iCloud backup feature, which should be ready in 2014.
Vivino (free)—Instead of Googling through hundreds of wines, what if you could just snap a picture of a label and find out just about everything you'd want to know? Essentially, that's what Vivino does. Vivino scans the label like a QRC reader and instantly you'll see reviews (professional and community), vintage info, pricing and nearby wine shops that have carried it. Developers have a database of 1 million labels to compare to your wine's label. I tried to stump this app with the most obscure wine I could find. I was successful, but in less than 24 hours, I had an e-mail from a Vivino rep (yes, a real person) with all the info I could possibly want. The Vivino PRO ($4.99) allows you to catalogue your collection and perform manual searches of their labels. Available for iPhones and Androids.
Wine Picks & Pairings: Natalie MacLean (free)—One of my favorite wine writers, Natalie MacLean has put out an app similar to Vivino in that you scan the UPC code and up pops tons of info on your wine. What I like about this app is MacLean's food-pairing suggestions (or wine-pairing suggestions for different foods). You also get access to her down-to-earth reviews of thousands of wines (free for the first two months, then $2.10/month).
Cor.kz ($1.99)—For the wine geeks out there, this app works in concert with CellarTracker, the on-line database of 3 million reviews from somewhat obsessive wine lovers. It has a cellar management feature and a handy glossary of the more obscure wine terms. You can also view wines side-by-side to compare vintages or makers. It uses a UPC code scanner and requires iOS5 or later.
Wine Spectator Wine Ratings+ (free)—A handy information guide that is more of an electronic version of the Wine Spectator magazine than an app. It has vintage info for 55 wine regions, interesting vignettes from their writers on a broad variety of subjects and basic wine info. For a $2.99/month subscription, you get access to the magazine's vault of thousands of reviews, wine maps, games and how-to videos on a range of subjects.
