Browsing the news this morning, I ran across a very nice smart phone app that wineries in Europe could greatly benefit from. By emulating the functionality of one the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association created, other producers can add great visibility and value for their products digitally.
This nimble smartphone app is essentially a tour guide and resource to some of the finest wine anywhere in the world. By offering detailed maps, directions, profiles, and details on Monterey vineyards, wineries and tasting rooms, The Growers Association has made enjoying the fruit of the vine far simpler. If figuring out the “who, when, and where” of wine enjoyment has ever been a point of pain, check out the screens below.
Users at the Monterey County Vintners website, or using the organization’s new phone app, can search vineyards, look at wine tours, and even find a nearby tasting room. Outside the phone app utilization, but extremely useful, are the PDF’s and even printable maps pertinent to all things Monterey wine country. As for the mobile “wine tool” this version is compatible with iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, among varieties.
Rhonda Motil, Executive Director of the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association had this to say about the new smart-phone application:
“The fact that wine travelers will have the flexibility and freedom to discover our region in detail from the comfort of their own mobile phone will be a boon for the wine industry here in Monterey. We believe we are at the forefront of a new wine country culture. The ease of use of our application, and the ability to view the pinpoints of the tasting rooms on the size of a mobile screen, contributes to the practicality of this navigational tool.”
The benefits of such applications are myriad. For Monterey Wine Country visitors access to this massive database of information at the touch of a keypad – this utility is extraordinary. Contact details, maps, even the varietal offerings of a season can be accessed. If that’s not wine connoseur travel genius, I don’t know what is.
The thing even integrates with GPS to help you get there. And on the grower/dealer end of the spectrum, helping potential guests and customers learn and know about their products, and especially “find them” – there you have the proverbial “win win” in client relations.
You can load up this fantastic new phone app here or here. Or if you are a European grower (or association there of) – Well, heads up. I hope to be relating your press release soon, I even have great app creator friends (wink). For more information about this story you can relate to the original press release here, visit the Monterey Wine Country website, or contact Linda Parker Sanpei, of Parker Sanpei & Associates at (805) 543-2288.