I was interviewed last week in our San Francisco office about the new What’s Cookin’ app on My Yahoo! The video is found on Yahoo’s Developer Network site, so I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about with the technical stuff. If you haven’t seen the What’s Cookin’ app yet you can find it here.
There’s an ocean of imported wine out there, so how do you know if something is going to be good or not? While a select few people are familiar with individual producers within a wide range of regions, a slightly larger group just has a firm grasp on the main wine producing regions and sub-regions of the world, yet an even larger group knows they like wine from a specific country or knows they want to try it out. When you don’t consider yourself in that first group, you can learn the names of a few respected importers that you can use a proxy for actually knowing the producer of the wine you are about to buy.
Importers are always popping up and going out of business, but there are a number of reputable firms you can look out for. When I walk into a wine store and am looking for a new imported wine to try, the first thing I do is rotate bottles to look at the back label where the importer information is often stored. There isn’t always a logo on the label as there is in this Kermit Lynch example, but the text should be there. In the US, all imported wine must have some designation of what company imported that particular bottle. Different importers may import the same wine into different states or countries and multiple importers may have the right to import a single wine into the same place, so things can get a little confusing.
I’m mostly familiar with the portfolios of California importers, so this list skews towards the left coast of the US but here are a few of my favorites that I look out for. Some of these importers are distributed nationally.
-Chambers and Chambers – a little bit of everything. In Italy, they even use a consultant named Carla Bocchio who travels around helping them find the best producers. I had the chance to interview Carla a while back when she was in town, so will eventually post this interview on the blog.
-Kermit Lynch – French wines. The famous.
-Winemonger – Austrian wines. I’m still learning about Austrian wines, but there portfolio hasn’t disappointed yet.
-Charles Neal Selections – France
-Cape Classics – South Africa. Between these two SA importers, I think they have most of my favorite wine farms covered.
-Vineyard Brands – South Africa
-Domaine Select – a bit of everything
There are a couple of good articles you can read more on this idea of learning the name of an importer in order to discover new wines: Slate and HalogenLife
Snooth launches iPhone Application
New app leverages Snooth’s database of world’s wines, adds location-aware functionality
New York, NY (June 1, 2009) - Snooth, the world’s largest wine site, today announced the launch of its iPhone application.
The app will allow users to access Snooth’s database of 1 million wines and 11,000 merchants from their mobile device.
Users can:
-Download the app from the iTunes store for free
-Find where their favorite wines are available for purchase in their neighborhood, using the device’s location-aware functionality
-Update their tasting notes, ratings, and reviews as they are dining
-Access personal wine wish lists while out and about
“We’re committed to translating the Web experience of Snooth to other innovative mediums,” said Philip James, founder and CEO of Snooth. “The feedback from our mobile-optimized site has been great, but now with iPhone’s location-aware functionality, users can now type in “spicy Shiraz”, or “Chardonnay under $20 for fish” and we’ll give you wines in-stock in your neighborhood. It is then simple to then click and call the store to hold the item, or to get directions. You can also keep track of what you tried and enjoyed while dining out.”
Since its inception in June 2007, Snooth has grown to be the world’s largest wine site, with over 500,000 users per month, 1 million wines and prices from 11,000 merchants and wineries worldwide. The site currently handles over 2 million searches per month and has over 125,000 registered users.
About Snooth
Launched in June 2007, Snooth is a highly interactive, social database of the world’s wines, offering both casual and expert wine drinkers the ability to search, obtain personalized recommendations, interact with fellow wine lovers, as well as seamlessly buy from a global network of over 11,000 merchants.
Users have the ability to search by their own personal preferences (bold, peppery, fruity, etc), by a specific meal-pairing, price, or by region or producer. Snooth’s recommendation engine also provides customized selections based on stated preferences and user feedback. The more information a user gives on wines they enjoy, the more personalized and detailed the recommendations become.
Please visit http://www.snooth.com for more information. Or download the Snooth iPhone app here.