Joe
Matt
One of the many things I love about what I do is the people I come in contact with. This past Sunday my friend Patricia put me in touch with her friend Joe Gaspardone. He and his partner Matt Eshoo launched Thumbs Up Wine Finder a few years back. When the economy started turning south he found himself with a lot of time on his hands. The idea struck him when he was in the wine aisle of a supermarket one day, looking at hundreds and hundreds of bottles of wine. How’s the average person supposed to know what to buy? He realized that only a small segment of the wine purchasing public studies Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. He contacted his friend Matt and suggested they put together something for people looking for wine answers.
Joe comes by wine naturally. He first made wine when he was 12 years old. After the mechanical harvester had finished its job on Charles Krug’s Cabernet vines, Joe went through and was blown away by how much fruit was left behind. he picked up what was left and made his own wine from it.
When Joe decided to launch Thumbs Up, he knew his friend Matt would be the perfect guy to partner with. Matt had reviewed wines professionally for years. They both share a passion for wine and set out to make an app for the everyday wine buyer. They spent three years compiling data, tasting wines and writing reviews. Today, there are more than 10,000 wines reviewed and that number is growing. There are a few things that set this app apart from others. Let’s say you’re in the wine aisle at your supermarket. Tell Thumbs Up where you are, and it will tell you what wines they carry. It automatically eliminates wines they believe aren’t worth buying. It reviews the wines they do carry and tells you not only the price, but what they believe the value is. You might find an $8 bottle they feel is worth $20, or they can let you know if they believe a wine is overpriced. You can also search for a wine to pair with what you’re going to be serving for dinner.
The Thumbs Up youtube channel has more than 500,000 views, surpassing Wine Spectator. Their video reviews are entertaining as well as informative. The app is available in both a free and a paid version. Why not check out the free version, see how it fits your lifestyle, and if you like it and want to be able to refine your searches and make your own lists, upgrade to the paid version for $4.99. There are countless wine apps out there. I find this one to be one of the most useful.
