There’s no shortage of wine-focused iPhone apps that help users access listings, varietals and recommendations on the go. Wine.com, a popular wine retailer with a fantastic domain name, is launching its own free iPhone app to help wine lovers everywhere find the perfect bottle.
You can research and buy from Wine.com’s database of 45,000+ wines, save them to your “cellar” to keep track of what you like and buy, create wish lists and more. The app also provides nifty recommendation lists, such as “90+ Point Rated Wines Under $20.” There are definitely practical uses of the app, which could be useful when you’re out at a restaurant and need more info on a particular wine, or want to compare prices and see how much the wine has been marked up.
Wine.com also recently released its API for third-party developers to create and enhance wine applications connecting to the site’s e-commerce and wine database platform. The online wine industry is steadily growing with wine-related startups raising significant amounts of funding. Online wine store and community Vinfolio got a $4.5 million infusion recently and social wine review site and retailer Snooth raised $1 million earlier this year. And the newly re-launched Corkd has added a social stream and a new business model. In makes sense for these sites to venture into the mobile space to engage wine lovers on the go. Vinfolio and Snooth both have iPhone apps.