Choosing Wines at the Touch of a Screen

Another example of how Apple is leading technology... and cultural change...
Uvealblues

Once patrons make sense of the touch-pad links, which does not take long, they can search for wines by name, region, varietal and price, instantly educating themselves on vintner and vintage.
Since their debut six weeks ago, the gadgets have enthralled the (mostly male) customers at Bone’s. And to the astonishment of the restaurant’s owners, wine purchases shot up overnight — they were nearly 11 percent higher per diner in the first two weeks compared with the previous three weeks, with no obvious alternative explanation.
Other restaurateurs who are experimenting with iPad wine lists, from Sydney to London to Central Park South, report similar results.
The devices seem to be spurring deeper interest in wine and empowering bolder, more confident selections, they say, potentially revolutionizing the psychology of dining’s most intimidating passage.
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Bob Reno, the wine steward on a veteran staff, said he and his co-workers had initially been cynical. “We didn’t want to be replaced,” he said. “We had to find a way to make it work in tandem.”
But the waiters quickly came to appreciate the iPad’s ability to monitor and instantly update an inventory of 20,000 bottles, and they found that customers still sought reinforcing advice, particularly about pairing wines with food.
“With the information on the device, they seem more apt to experiment by buying a different varietal or going outside their price range,” Mr. Reno said. “It stuns me, but they seem to trust the device more than they trust me, and these are people I’ve waited on for 10 years.”