Many people truly enjoy a fine glass of wine with dinner or when celebrating a special occasion. Of course, there are also those who enjoy drinking wine a lot more often. Whichever category you fall into, the Hello Vino app will be useful to you. After all, few people truly understand what makes a quality wine, how to pair wine with a meal, or how to select the appropriate wine to be given as a gift. That’s where the free Hello Vino app for the iPhone or iPad can really come in handy.
The Hello Vino app is exceptionally well designed from a functionality and user interface standpoint, and its graphics are visually stunning. What makes this app truly useful, however, is the information it offers in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. The app’s developers refer to Hello Vino as, “your very own personal assistant to help you shop for wine.”
Using the iOS mobile device’s Location Services functionality, the app can pinpoint your location and then direct you to where the best deals on wine can be had. You can even be automatically alerted about sales or promotions from nearby wine merchants. Plus, Hello Vino allows you to shop for wine directly from your Smartphone or tablet using its Wine On-Demand feature. Again, the online interface for online shopping is slick, yet simple.
Beyond being an online shopping tool, the Hello Vino app has several functions. It can help you select the perfect wine pairing for a meal, for an occasion, by taste preference, by type or variety, or that are popular picks. You can also view seasonal wine selections.
For example, if you tap on the Wine With A Meal/Food option from the app’s main menu screen, you’ll be asked what type of food you’d like to pair wine with. Choose from Meat, Pizza/Pasta, Seafood, Ethnic Foods/Dishes, Soup, Salad or Appetizers, Cheese, or Dessert. Each of these options leads to one or more submenus, so you can quickly select very specific types of food in order to ensure the perfect wine pairing.
Choose a particular type of food, and the Hello Vino app offers the perfect wine pairing suggestion.
By tapping on the Seafood option, for example, you’re then asked to select a type of seafood (white fish, dark fish, shellfish, or sushi), and then choose a specific type of fish. So, if you select white fish, your options include cod/haddock, flounder, sea bass, sole, trout or catfish.
Once you’ve selected a specific seafood type, such as flounder, the app offers a variety of very specific wine selections, starting with a wine type, such as Sauvignon Blanc (a light white wine with passion fruit). At the same time, it suggests specific wines that are highly rated. It also offers specific picks for you (based on previous selections and local availability), and offers a list of value wines (priced under $10.00). Tap on the Get More Recommendations option to view additional suggestions.
Learn about specific wines and shop for them directly from your iPhone or iPad. (The app looks much better on an iPad.)
When you tap on a specific wine suggestion, a Wine Details screen for that wine is displayed. This screen allows you to learn all about the wine, view its ratings, learn its price, and obtain details about it. Tap on the Order button to order the wine directly, or save it to your Favorites list. Another cool feature of the app is that on the Wine Details screen, you’ll see a speaker icon. Tap on it to hear the correct pronunciation for a particular wine. This is particularly useful when learning about French or Italian wines, for example.
Another cool feature of the app is that on the Wine Details screen, you’ll see a speaker icon. Tap on it to hear the correct pronunciation for a particular wine. This is particularly useful when learning about French or Italian wines, for example.
One other feature this information-packed app offers is the ability to search for any wine. In fact, using the iPad’s built-in camera, you can scan a wine bottle’s label to look it up within the app in seconds. You can also search for wines using a variety of other criteria. Keep in mind, an Internet connection is required.
Tap on the Expert Reviews option to read detailed wine reviews from five different sources. Again, using the Location Services feature, the reviews the app displays will all be available through local retails, based on your current location. For anyone who enjoys wine, or who wants to learn more about wine, this free app is a wonderfully designed and extremely useful tool.
This book is now available from bookstores, Amazon, BN, and iBookstore
To discover hundreds of tips and tricks for using your iPhone or iPad that’s running iOS 6, check out my full-color book iPad and iPhone Tips and Tricks: 2nd Edition. It’s published by Que and available from bookstores nationwide, as well as from Amazon, BN.com, and iBookstore. To learn how to use many of the new features being built into iOS 7, an all-new, third edition of iPad and iPhone Tips and Tricks will be published this Fall.
