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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Wine Grape Council has announced the debut of a free iPhone app that enables wine enthusiasts to discover and learn more about the state's 48 wineries.
The "Indiana Winery Guide," available on the iTunes app store, provides Hoosier wineries yet another way to engage and connect with consumers who support this fast growing industry. The initiative continues to position Indiana on the leading edge of wine marketing among wine associations in the U.S.
The app was created by Mobiltopia, a leading Indianapolis-based mobile app development company.
The "Indiana Winery Guide" app launched earlier this month, just ahead of the 11th annual Vintage Indiana Wine & Food Festival on June 5 at Military Park in downtown Indianapolis. The app's introduction also celebrated June Wine Grape Month as declared by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
The app enables users to map local wineries, obtain directions, view photos and details about the wineries' amenities, and travel along a wine trail. A special feature of the app showcases Traminette, Indiana's inaugural Signature Wine, along with a listing of all wineries that offer it. Users also can mark their favorite wineries and wines for future reference when making purchasing decisions after a winery visit.
"We have a growing wine industry in Indiana and a lot of passionate consumers supporting us," said Jeanette Merritt, marketing director for the Indiana Wine Grape Council. "We wanted to give vinophiles a tool to locate more great wineries and continue to build affinity for Hoosier wines. Our new app is designed to make it easy to discover all of Indiana's wineries, to drive more visitors to our member wineries, and to increase demand for their products."
The app is a free download, available via the iTunes app store to any user of an Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The app will be updated regularly as new wineries open their doors. The app uses a tourism-platform that Mobiltopia created specifically to power this particular app, The platform has proven so successful that it will be used by Mobiltopia to create future tourism apps.
"It's a very flexible system, allowing us to add new features and functions," said James Burnes, Mobiltopia's CEO and founder. "We have several upgrades planned for the coming weeks and months as we get feedback and analytics from users."
More information about the app is available at www.mobiltopia.com/apps/indiana-winery-guide/.
About the Indiana Wine & Grape Council. Founded in 1989, the Indiana Wine Grape Council represents the nearly 50 wineries located throughout the state. The council seeks to enhance the economic development of Indiana by establishing a successful wine grape industry through wine grape research and market development. Based at Purdue University in West Lafayette, the council employs professionals in viticulture (grape growing), enology (wine making), and marketing to provide technical/educational assistance to the commercial growers and vintners in Indiana. Indiana currently is the 13th largest wine producing state; its wineries sell over 800,000 gallons of wine annually. Additional information about the state's wine grape industry can be found at www.indianawines.org.
About Mobiltopia. Mobiltopia creates custom mobile apps and mobile-optimized web sites for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and other smart phone devices. Based in Indianapolis, Mobiltopia's team of designers and developers have the capabilities to create apps for e-commerce, consumer marketing, sales force tools, research collection, manufacturing systems integration and more. More information about Mobiltopia's capabilities is at www.mobiltopia.com or call 317-426-0865.