The best smartphone apps for choosing wine
Whether or not smartphones actually make us smarter, they certainly make it easier for us to get the information we need, when we need it. And most of us—let’s not kid ourselves, all of us—could use more information when we’re trying to choose from a massive selection of wines in a shop or restaurant.
App store to the rescue! Now, a wide range of apps for the Android and iPhone demystify the process of selecting a wine. Gone are the days of having to believe whatever the commission-hungry salesperson or waiter tells you about your wine options. Gone are the days of carrying a tattered vintage chart around in your wallet.
With one of these cheap or free apps on your phone, you can count on drinking better wines and finding better values.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying Robert Parker and his Wine Advocate team have vast tasting experience and total access to the world’s wines. The “3 W’s” in the app’s title refer to what grapes are in each wine, where they were grown, and when they were harvested. You can search by any of these three parameters, as well as have total reference access to Parker’s vintage charts and his list of over 2,000 affordable and easy-to-find wines.
Over 64,000 reviews and a comprehensive vintage chart from this respected wine magazine are at your fingertips with the Wine Enthusiast Guide app. You can also run highly customized searches using price, rating, style, varietal and appellation as criteria. A 1,400-term wine glossary and tutorials on food pairing, glassware, navigating restaurant wine lists and more make this app a great education for the price. 
From the leader in social wine reviewing, Snooth’s iPhone app is a forward-thinking program with features like a map that pinpoints highly-rated wine stores near your location, and then allows you to search their inventories. It also allows offline access to your Snooth “virtual cellar” where you can keep records of the wines you’ve had. The “Pro” version takes search to the next level, enabling you to snap a photo of a wine label which the app will recognize and describe, complete with Snooth rating. 
One of the most popular and highly-rated Android wine apps, Swirl Pro is designed to be equally helpful to the wine novice and the advanced collector. Its search function includes access to the Snooth database of reviews, and also provides a comprehensive tracking feature so you’ll never forget that wine you loved (or hated). “Reds under $20” and “Whites under $20” lists make finding values easy, and the app facilitates sharing wine discoveries with other Swirl users, as well as posting them directly to Facebook and Twitter. 
Drync boasts a database of over 1.2 million wines, and the ability to make “smart” recommendations based on your personal taste. It includes a cellar tracker, and access to over 270,000 reviews, as well as 23,000 by wine celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk. Plans to integrate with Foursquare to let your network know what you’re drinking and where you’re drinking it are coming soon. So download one of these apps to your phone today and enjoy the delicious benefits for years to come. And unlike a human sommelier, if this one gets too snooty you can just turn it into a game of Angry Birds.
Just remember, no matter how great your app is, the final decision about what goes in your glass is up to you.
This timeless quote is attributed to the late American humorist W.C. Fields. Known as one of the “Greatest Drunks Of All Time”, Fields was a legendary bon vivant who dispensed volumes’ worth of hilarious and unforgettable wisdom about alcohol in all its forms. 
Pinterest users are primarily female. According to Forbes, a whopping 97% of the site’s millions of pinners are women. This quote from the popular (and cheeky) e-card producer someecards.com reminds women that sometimes the things they think they’re looking for in a man can be found in a glass of delicious wine. 
This is currently one of the most popular wine quotes on Pinterest with 3088 repins as of 7/26/2012. It is not hard to see why, as it appeals to everyone who knows that wine has an unparalleled ability to make the day’s questions, concerns and cares melt away. 
No one should be surprised that one of the most insightful, poetic and true quotes about wine comes from the great Italian scientist Galileo. Galileo spent much of his life in Tuscany, where it is safe to assume he drank some excellent wine. He also knew that bright, hot sunlight is what allows sugar to develop in grapes, and sugar is what allows fermentation—which creates wine’s bewitching and unique flavors (not to mention its alcohol). 
The success of this wine quote on Pinterest is likely due to the fact that every wine lover has said or thought some version of it in his or her life. When the world’s complaints just become too much to deal with, wine is the answer. It’s also a favorite quote of winemakers who need to give their cellar staff a little tough-love motivation at harvest time. 
Finally, a wine quote for the “morning after”, when you just want to bury your head under the pillows and smash the alarm clock to bits. But unlike other strains of the flu, most of us on Pinterest and elsewhere are willing to expose ourselves to it again… and again… and again. 
So you’re done with the wine, hopefully it was delicious, and now you’ve got a cork rolling around on the table. What to do? You could throw it away, or you could tap into your inner creative genius (which should be ready to rock now that you’ve had a few glasses) and come up with a second use for it. 
This has a fair shot of ending up buried in an attic. On the other hand a little more love in the world, especially love that begins with wine—is always a good thing. 
This piece of kitsch is the first of a few Christmasy things you can do with corks. Rudolph has his red nose here, but there’s something eerie about the lack of eyes. 
OK, it’s kind of weird. But it’s also kind of excellent. You’re on your own for how to make the tail and appendages. Note here that Cork Monkey only really works with a sparkling wine cork, with the corky “head”. 
This looks good and matches stylistically with most bathrooms. The only thing is: How wet can it get, and how fast does it dry? Mold and bacteria love cork—that’s how “corked” wine happens. 
Practical and less likely to set off a metal detector. 
There’s nothing special about cork that makes it a great garden marker, although it might get you dreaming of good wine pairings for whatever dish you’re making with that delicious fresh basil. 
By the time you get to the end of our list you’ll have plans for an entire Cork Christmas. This can also hang on your wall year-round. 
Fridge magnets are something that most of us have too many of. But these are space-efficient and practically disposable. They’re also ideal for sticking up that “BUY MORE WINE ASAP” reminder you need to write yourself. 
These look great, the main drawback is that there isn’t much to grip when you’re trying to hack into a stubborn log of over-chilled butter. 
Cork is durable and can stand up to the most furious, forceful stamping. And you can put any design on the end of the stamp, not just circles (above it looks like they’re making a game of Twister for tiny people). 
Really, you can hang anything—keys, jewelry, --- on one of these cool and easy-to-make boards. 
There is a lot of room for creativity here. The example above is particularly striking, especially with the dramatic cork-shaped shadows it casts on the wall. 
No, not a Pinterest pinboard. The old-fashioned kind where you stick reminders, favorite photos, announcements, and all the other things you need to keep in mind. Soft, durable corks are perfect pin receptacles. 
What time is it? Time to open a bottle of wine. 
You’ve probably seen those candles jammed straight into the neck of a bottle, usually a bad Chianti in a wicker basket. This classier version gives you the opportunity to get the whole bottle from that unforgettable wine you loved in on the act. 
Maybe the most practical entry in our list, cork can easily absorb the heat of a pot just off the stove and keep you from putting yet another ugly burn mark into your countertop. 
Throw in a cork wreath and a cork reindeer or two, and you’ve got the best Christmas party on the block. Environmentally better than a “real” or a plastic tree, this is an endlessly re-usable stroke of genius. Don’t forget to leave a big glass of wine out for Santa. 
Granted, this one is for serious craftspeople only. But it looks extremely cool and will ensure winged visitors clamor for a taste like gourmands at a three-star restaurant. Just be prepared in case your new feathered friends ask to see a wine list with their birdseed. 
We take no responsibility for you destroying your USB drive full of critical, irreplaceable data trying to make one of these, but nonetheless strongly encourage you to try. 
Wow. Just… wow. Obviously you have to drink a whole lot of wine to make one of these masterpieces, but we have faith in you.