#231 'IWC World's Best Wine' iPhone App

The International Wine Challenge (IWC)  officially launch their first iPhone App on Monday, which claims to give the user access to "the world's best wines at the touch of a screen".  I have issues with the term "world's best wines", as they should actually read "the wines that scored highly in the IWC competition" as, try as I might, I didn't find any first growths... or DRC....

I was given a sneak preview of it to review, and I found it to not be that great for me, though it does have its uses.  This App allows you to search by wine style, country, grape variety, price range, and stockist.  So, I looked up my shop, to test out it's accuracy and found that the biggest problem with this App, is that (as usual when you rely upon a journalist or suppliers to give accurate retailer information!) the details are wrong!  Apparently, I only stock 2 wines that won medals at the IWC (I actually stock loads more than that), and it says I'm charging £10.50 for these two wines, when I'm actually charging £8.99!

To be fair to this, my customers aren't who this is aimed at.  It's a handy little guide for an occasional wine drinker.  Imagine you are standing in a supermarket and you are looking for a bottle of wine.  There are loads of bottles in front of you that you have never heard of, and the spotty shelf stacker is about as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to giving advice.  You just look up the supermarket name and there, on the screen of your phone, are all the wines that scored highly in the IWC competition, and you can pick your wine with a bit of confidence, rather than on what label looks prettiest.

Future developments of this App are apparently going to include online ordering, food pairing and cellaring advice, all of which would be welcome, but to get an accurate picture of who is selling what wine, I'd suggest that retailers be able to submit themselves as a stockist for the wines awarded medals by the IWC, and include their pricing!  Also, as this App will be out of date in a year, a cheaper upgrade for those who buy this edition would be welcomed after the 2010 contest.

This App is a good first effort in providing a guide to wines on the iPhone.  At £4.99, it is worth it for the supermarket shopper, but if you frequent specialist merchants you may be wasting your money a little as the staff should be able to give advice on the products they stock.

Now all I want is Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine book for the iPhone.  If that was available with yearly updates, I'd buy it no matter what the price!

If you want to buy this App, search "The World's Best Wines" in iTunes