We have been planning a trip to Sonoma for past several weeks and much like planning for any vacation, it takes some time to prepare an itinerary especially when you’re looking to visit several wineries a day.  There are several approaches we like to use and after polling some wine friends, we’ve learned of other things to consider, which I’ll compile here shortly.  But, in the meantime I came across this article from the Pressdemocrat.com about an iPhone application called iVisit Sonoma County from the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau.  Let’s see how it works and if I think it will be helpful for when we are in Sonoma next month.

Of course, the first thing I look for is the wineries by selecting the wine icon which brings up a list of all the wineries in Sonoma county initially listed in alphabetical order.  Here are the pros and cons:

PROS

1. You can sort the list of wineries by distance to your current position, which is cool if you are travelling the wine country roads of Sonoma and want to be spontaneous and hit the next winery near you.  Note: I was in Atlanta when testing this which explains why the wineries are over 2000 miles away — depressing, really.

2. You can filter the list by the types of varietals the wineries are producing.  If you only like Gewurztraminer, no need to gamble that the winery you’re rolling up to only makes Cabs.

3. Oh, it’s FREE!

CONS

1. When you select a winery, the Details tab does not give you the option to get directions from your current position to the winery like Google Maps does.  You can “Map It” but that doesn’t really do you much good if you’re more than a mile or two away.

2. Limited in number of options overall.  This is only the first release of this application and enhancements are forthcoming.  I would like to see more filters (include and exclude) to narrow down the list of wineries such as those requiring appointment only, wineries open at 10 am, and tasting fees (yes, no or $$).  How about some social media links, especially if the winery is on Twitter or Facebook and links to review sites.

All of the other menu selections function in the same way:  List of the establishments including distance from your current location and some options to filter the list by type of establishment and sort by distance or name.  The Dining selection doesn’t offer any additional filters at all such as type of cuisine or price, though with Sonoma County Restaurant Week just around the corner, it may still come in handy.  Right now this application doesn’t do anything more than show me a list of what’s nearby.  I look forward to version 2.0.

Cheers!