Food App Review of the Week: Champagne Apps

It’s time to dust off that champagne bucket because New Year’s is here. For most, champagne is something only consumed on special occasions, which means we’re typically rusty with our knowledge or technique—or we never had any of either and simply wing it. For a category that doesn’t get much day-to-day attention, there are some great apps available. Here are four to help you ring in the new year.


100 Best Champagnes 2010
Developer: FWD Helsinki Oy
Cost: Free
Runs on: iPhone
Website: www.top100champagne.com

Fine Champagne magazine has released their favorite bubbly drinks of 2010. This app provides a picture of every bottle, with a description, point rating, price, the number of times it has been tasted (just to make sure it was scored right, of course), style, when it’s best consumed by, producer and year. The app also includes a button to add a champagne to your favorites list. Scrolling through the champagnes is done by flicking the pictures left and right or by scrolling up and down in a list view—a search feature is also available. The only thing missing from this app are other ways to sort the champage, by price or style, for instance would be a great help for those who know what they’re looking for.

Toque Rating: 4.5/5

25 Ultimate Bubbly Cocktails
Developer: Jolt OS
Cost: $0.99
Runs on: iPhone
Website: www.bubbly25.com

Master mixologists Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan have put together their list of the top 25 bubble-infused drinks. Swipe left and right through the gorgeous drink images then tap an image to get the recipe, mixing instructions, origination of the recipe and even a nugget of information pertaining to the drink, labeled as “Cocktailian Conversations.” Clicking a star in the top right corner will save the drink to your favorites, labeled “My Bar” and clicking the list view at the bottom reveals a scrollable list of drinks with images. The only knock on this app is that the search function within the list view is a little quirky, and once you click on the search bar, you’ll have a difficult time viewing the list view again without the keyboard popping up (you need to close the app then open it again for the keyboard to disappear).

Toque Rating: 4/5

MobileToast
Developer: Sedicom Informatique Sarl
Cost: Free
Runs on: iPhone
Website: www.feuillatte.com

Insecure about opening that bottle of champagne during the New Year’s Eve countdown? This app, by champagne producer Nicolas Feuillatte, is a simple step-by-step walkthrough of uncorking a bottle of champagne. Unfortunately, this app is more for entertainment than actual education, since there’s only instructions on how to make the app respond to your touch and not on how and why you open a champagne bottle a certain way. For example, dragging your finger from the bottom of the cork up will pop the bottle open. If this were a true educational app it would warn you of the hazards of popping corks and even mention that “popping” the cork is not the best way since you’re begging the bubble to leave the champagne by achieving that festive noise. Then again, sometimes champagne isn’t about the actual drink, it’s about having fun and enjoying the occasion. This app is fun, but not great. Since it’s free there’s little harm in giving it a try, just don’t expect it to stay on your phone after the holidays.

Toque Rating: 2.5/5

The Party Planner
Developer: David Hiett
Cost: $0.99
Runs on: iPhone, iPad, Android
Website: www.facebook.com/pages/2-Guys-1-App/137290539634878

When you’re putting together a party, usually a pressing concern is the alcohol. Buy too much and you’re ready to open up your own speakeasy, too little and the party shuts down early. The Party Planner helps you calculate how much alcohol, including champagne (for a toast) you need to purchase based on your input. The app will ask: how many people; how long is the party; whether or not you wish to serve any of the following: beer, wine, liquor, champagne toast; a percentage of how much of each drink you’d like available; and finally the number of drinks per person per hour you’re willing to supply. Click “calculate” and the app provides a breakdown of how much of each alcohol you need to purchase. To accommodate 25 people in a champagne toast, The Party Planner recommends 4.2 750ml bottles.

Toque Rating: 5/5