Touring Monterey Wine Country? There's An App For That

Exploring the wines of Monterey is about to get a whole lot easier. On January 1st, 2011, the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association will launch a mobile phone application that puts a plethora of wine touring and direction information at your fingertips.

The application will use location-based services to provide detailed itineraries and the ability to view tasting rooms nearby. The free application includes information on over 30 tasting rooms in the Monterey, Carmel and River Road Wine Trail areas, as well as tasting menus to help visitors decide where they way want to go. In addition, wineries are able to update their tasting menus with new wine releases and real-time information for guests.

"This application will allow guests to make quick decisions that fit their lifestyle and travel plans. Traveling with a dog so you need to stop at a tasting room that is pet-friendly, but want to make sure the tasting room has Pinot Noir on their menu? We've got you covered! The user-friendly application will allow you to develop your itinerary from criteria that are most important to wine tourists," said Rhonda Motil, Executive Director of the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association.

Wine tourists can even mark their favorite destinations within the application, with the ability to add comments to aid future visitors as well. This fine application also has a "Make your own Itineraries" function and full integration with Twitter and Facebook.

An application like this has been long-coming and its ability to give tourists real-time, "on the fly " information is a major benefit. After seeing a preview, there's no doubt that it should be the first download of the year for any wine lover with plans to travel to this remarkable area.