Have you ever struggled to pair the perfect wine with an amazing meal? That happens at our house constantly! To no one’s surprise, I couldn’t resist writing an app for that. The premier version is now live on the site. Check out the (slightly) revised menu bar; the new feature is right between “Plan a Tour” and “Livermore Map”.
The pairing app is, hopefully, easy to use. Just click on each food group that will be part of your meal. As you do that, different types of wine will be screened based on your selections. The wines that best fit your meal will float to the top and earn a big “thumbs up”, too. There are some types of wine that are a close second, and a few that don’t really match your intended meal.
The wine families are broad generalities. You can click on a wine type, and a few varietals will pop up for your consideration. Not every varietal is mentioned, but this should get your imagination started.
Let’s be honest, wine pairing is not a science, but more of an art. A lowly web page can’t hope to match the knowledge and palate of a wine expert. Your personal tastes play a huge role, too. None of these factors can be rolled into a web page. We are limited to an “if this, then that” kind of matching for a web application, applying time-tested, general rules, like “dry white wine tastes great with vegetables.”
So what do you think of version one? What works, what doesn’t? Did we get some pairing right and some wrong? Help us out! Leave a comment, help us to build a better pairing app for everyone.
Thanks for the feedback!
Cheers!
About the Author: John grills a mean steak and is always in the market for another wine fridge. Believes that if a winery has more than 10 employees, it's probably too big. Buys wine faster than he drinks it, but who cares?
