If you have been reading this blog you have heard about my Napa/Sonoma wine list. It started over a year ago because it is always my job to know where the customer wants to go. I used to carry all kinds of maps on which it was always difficult to pinpoint the place to find the information I needed. Being the computer geek that I am I decided "Well, this all needs to go on my PDA. " Slowly, in down time, I would place the information off of the maps onto my old Dell Axiom PDA which I would sinc with my Outlook Contacts list at the end of each day. Each time I would find a new map into the PDA the info would go, no list was more than about 350 wineries in length. The first edition was just short of 600 wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties excluding Sonoma Coast.
Each night I would come home and start at the A's ,going winery by winery and searching the net for theweb sites, searching the name along with winery, vineyard, vineyards and wines for the proper endings. Many have web sites and there I would find information such as FAX number, email address, a list of wines and prices. There was always some information on the principals and usually the wine maker(s) . For me, very interesting stuff! These items I would add to the list for future reference and to make it more complete. Often would will find another winery associated with that one or the wine maker would mention another he was also making wine for, an web of associations to say the least!
Soon the list got so big it was apparent it needed to be in database form so one could search for the information needed rather than scroll through such a huge list. I opened up Access Database and started entering information, adding fields for each varietal I encountered,. Wow, there are a lot of varietals out there! There were many revisions as something would crop up that needed to be changed or added. Oh and how about $$ signs, that took 5 days in itself!
Today, I have finished phase 2! The list is now 919 and more complete than any I have seen. This is including the ones that sell ad space to people because they are the best listing and the most complete. NOT! The next comparable list is a 1/3 to 1/2 the size, no web site and no email!
The only thing left to finish is the new table for the web site which we will place the database into. We will have search boxes at the top to find any aspect of the list, city, varietal, zip code. By far the best list of any out there and it will soon be available under winery listings on www.limosamerica.com
I will tell everyone when the list Phase 2 is up there, but remember phase 1 is better than anyone else has now!
Looking forward to the list and Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Vinotas | November 24, 2007 at 08:26 AM