Wine Ph. D iPhone Application

If you're anything like me, walking into a wine store and trying to decide on the perfect bottle is a daunting task. There are so many options that I never know where to start. Thousands of wines are included in the application which allows you to look up nearly any of them that you can find in a store. The application costs $4.99 but I feel that it is worth it because of the amount of money I have wasted in the past on wines that I did not enjoy. I have tried a few other wine apps as well and find this one to be the most comprehensive and easy to use. However, I recommend this app more for someone with an iPhone rather than an iPod Touch because it often needs to access the internet to download more information for you.

There are five options at the bottom of the application: Search, My Wines, Featured, Vintages, and Wine Words.

The search feature allows you to look for wines by their name, region, maker, or foods that they go well with. I really like the food pairings search option because this allows me to narrow down my choices based on what food I plan to serve with the wine. From there, I can find the wines with the best ratings. If I have some extra time, I read the winemaker notes and articles that relate to that type of wine. I also like that each wine has an average cost listed so that I can make sure I choose one within my price range before heading to the store.

The My Wines option allows me to record the wines that I have tried and rate them for myself. This helps me to remember bottles that I really enjoyed and want to try again.

I do not really use the Featured Articles option unless I'm bored and have some time to kill. This section has articles about what's popular in the wine world that will help you to make selections if you have time to read them.

The Wine Words option definitely comes in handy for a wine beginner like me. It is like a mini dictionary that just contains words related to wine. I use this all the time to help me decode bottle labels.

The Wine Ph. D application comes in handy as a quick reference when choosing wines. I am not interested enough in the topic to devote hours to reading articles and books about wine selection but I am willing to spend 5 extra minutes while in the store to have a better wine experience. The app has even helped me to make better selections on my own because I now know what I am looking for.