Leanne and I chat about Canada’s first wine app, and the only one that gives real-time, GPS-based liquor store inventory across the country.
Just scan a bottle bar code and you get instant stock data along with:
– professional wine reviews
– food pairings
– custom shopping list
– cellar maturity dates
– top 10 wines in your closest liquor store
Check out the features here for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad as well as for Android and the mobile site for other smartphones.
Got Wine? There’s an App for That from Nat > Video
Carol Anne: Now! Let’s find out how to keep all those great wines straight. Let’s go back on the roof with Leanne and Natalie for some tips.
Leanne: Carol Anne, Natalie has an app for that. Really! She is going to demonstrate an app that she work on to develop and design and that she felt would be the tool that everyone needed when they are shopping at the LCBO or the SAQ.
Natalie: Absolutely! So, when we make our decisions about wines usually we’re not in front of the computer at home. This is where an app comes in handy because with this one, you can scan a barcode and it knows where you are via GPS. It’s got the real time stock data in the liquor store and it’ll say, “That wine is just down the street”.
Leanne: And you’ve done that? You’ve been testing it?
Natalie: Absolutely!
Leanne: We have images so that you can have a little look at what we’re looking at here. So, how can you download it?
Natalie: You can go to Apple iTunes and download it there. You can go to Google Marketplace because we’ve got an Android app, there or you can go to nataliemaclean.com because we’ve got a mobile site for other smart phones.
Leanne: We have a link on our website to Natalie. So, it starts, we’re on a kind of a cover page.
Natalie: Yes.
Leanne: Then we go to ‘My Cellar’. What does the ‘My Cellar’ do?
Natalie: With one click, you can scan the barcode of the wine you just bought. You can scan using your smart phone and put it right into ‘My Cellar’ in the app. A lot of people try to keep track the wines they buy. Even if you don’t have a gigantic cellar, you might want to put a few notes … the label, I want to remember this, I want to put who I was with, or what I was eating. You can recall this information later when you go to shop again.
Leanne: And that also relates to pairings and your own top ten list and those are all features of the app.
Natalie: Exactly! Another thing that we did is … if you don’t know what you want tonight and you are in the LCBO or SAQ or a BC Liquor Store, it will tell you your top ten wines by price, by score or by wine type in your closest liquor store, now. It will tell you what to buy. Many of us go into a liquor store and we see thousands of bottles. This app is trying to be your personal sommelier in your pocket. So, you scan a barcode and get all the information instantly.
Leanne: Most people would like to just go wine shopping with you, I think, Natalie. That’s great information and I believe we were showing the photos from the app on the screen while we’re talking about it. But now, let’s go to some of the other wines you’ve brought along because we’re going to do a quick wrap of the great Canadian Challenge.
Natalie: The Great Canadian Wine Match, that’s right! On this side we’ve got dessert wines. We’ve got some lovely ciders from Quebec and again you can just scan the code and find out if these are in the SAQ or the LCBO. We’ve got a Port style wine from BC. We’ve got late harvest Riesling from Niagara’s Cave Spring Winery which is just a lovely, lovely dessert wine.
Leanne: Tell us about the cider from Prince Edward County.
Natalie: Both ciders are made from a variety of apples. People might think, “Oh it must be so simple, it’s just fermented apple juice.” It’s not. Both ciders, the one from Quebec and the one from Prince Edward County, take a variety of apples, sometimes up to 12 or more different varieties, to blend that beautiful essence of apple pie in your glass. It’s dessert on its own or you can pair it up.
Leanne: How great is that sound? The essence of apple pie in your glass! Why don’t you just mention this one from the Rose Hall Run folks? They do 2 different wines and they’ve kept it very simple.
Natalie: Yes, this is a beautiful zesty white wine and it’s only about $14. It’s been nominated in the seafood category. When I scan this one in the app, it tells me that just down the street there’s 12 bottles at the LCBO.
Leanne: Okay! Fantastic! They also do a Pinot Noir you really like.
Natalie: There’s a Pinot Noir and there’s a Chardonnay from this winery. Terrific!
Leanne: We’re almost out of time. There’s always more information on Natalie’s website. I have to ask you about this one because it’s cold and it clearly just came out of your fridge, at home. This is called Featherstone … and it’s from?
Natalie: … a beautiful Niagara winery and they’re using Canadian oak. It’s Canadian on Canadian. I don’t know how to get more patriotic than that especially as we’re coming up to Canada Day. It’s been nominated for best grilled chicken wine. It’s a lovely match!
Leanne: We want to thank you very much for joining us and we should say “Large raindrops are falling on our heads.”
Posted with permission from CTV News.
