Wine Country And Horses

Yesterday the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau released version 1.0 of an iPhone app promoting local wineries, restaurants, hotels, spas and more, from your iPhone. It is sort of like a private label version of Yelp dedicated to all things Sonoma County. It has a handy wine finder for example which lets you select a varietal–let’s say Carignane–and then view all the wineries within a certain radius of your location that offer that type of wine.

I already use my iPhone in so many ways when with clients and this tool will be a welcome addition.
So far I have used the iPhone out on location

to show maps, routes, and traffic
to take pictures and videos
to show pictures and videos from listings
to determine the orientation of a home with the compass
to send and search emails and review contract documents
to locate and make lunch reservations
to view the multiple listings,
to make blog posts or Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook updates
do calculations and more.

Now I can quickly point out what wineries are in range of a given weekend home, point out the latest upcoming tasting event or festival, recommend hotels, etc. I am not a golfer but this app finds all the golf courses within radius of a give property. It looks pretty good for a start and takes advantage of the iPhone environment. Check it out!

Visit Sonoma? There's an App for that!

Many of my friends and clients are entrepreneurs and small business owners in the community. From time to time in 2010 I plan to showcase them so that you can learn about some unique and vital services to Sonoma County and beyond.

Christian Wright and Gerald Simpkins were friends and fellow Vizsla owners long before they became clients in 2003 when we found them an astonishing 1915 farmhouse on acreage in Sebastopol, since lovingly restored. We sold their charming cabin in Guerneville near the Russian River so that they and their dogs would have more room to roam, and also to be closer to their full-time home in San Francisco, where they ran a successful interior design business, Wright-Simpkins, Inc., serving clients all over the United States.

Gerald and Christian have progressed along a path somewhat typical of second home owners in Sonoma County. At first they left San Francisco on Friday evenings and returned home Sunday afternoon. Eventually Friday reverted to Thursday and Sunday became Monday, stretching the weekend to nearly four days. Holidays meant two week stays whenever possible and they became increasingly involved in the community of Sebastopol and Sonoma County. The house had already had some extensive restoration by the previous owners and Gerald and Christian took it and the grounds to the next levels, so much so that the house and gardens have twice been featured on the West County Garden tour sponsored every year by Food for Thought in Forestville.

In 2008, Gerald and Christian decided to move to Sonoma County full time, and sold their home in San Francisco. The recently opened a small studio and shop in Sebastopol at 2833 Old Gravenstein Highway on the way to downtown Sebastopol. If you care to stop by and visit, you might call first, to 707 829-9177 to make sure they are in.

Oh, and in their spare time in 2009, they neared completion of a project in Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. If you, like I, are thinking of tropical weather these winter days, take a look!