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CBC Online News Coverage - 12 March, 2009

New service launched to help consumers buy wine Last Updated: Thursday, March 12, 2009 | 8:53 AM ET CBC News A Toronto company has launched a new online mobile service designed to enable consumers to make informed choices when buying wine at liquor stores in Ontario. WineAlign includes functions that allow users to learn about wines through reviews, and search for wines by price, region, type and food match, either via their computer or Blackberry, iPhone or other wireless smartphone. Uncork Solutions Inc. created WineAlign in December but launched new features on Wednesday. “It’s a series of tools that helps people make smarter buying decisions when they walk into a store,” Denise Fawcitt, the firm’s vice president of marketing, said Wednesday. “It’s available through two different channels — on the web and through a mobile device — and it brings it all together.” Bryan McCaw, a Toronto entrepreneur and president of Uncork Solutions, created WineAlign after buying an expensive bottle of Shiraz to celebrate a special occasion. He expected the wine to be wonderful but was disappointed when it did not deliver. McCaw said in a news release that WineAlign answers that important question that consumers face when standing in an LCBO store: “What wine should I buy?” WineAlign helps to answer that question by allowing users to find a wine, match it with a certain food, preview new releases and access a personal shopping list. The mobile service is part of what the company calls premium services, which cost $40 for a year, $70 for two years and $100 for three years. Registration on the website is free, and the premium services are also free for the first two months. Access to reviews Its premium services include previews of new wine releases and reviews by noted wine critics, including David Lawrason of Toronto Life; Anne Martin of Canadian Living; Rod Phillips of the Ottawa Citizen; Gordon Stimmell of Toronto Star; Margaret Swaine of the National Post; Vic Harradine of winecurrent.com and Michael Pinkus of the Ontario Wine Review. According to Fawcitt, up to 3,000 wine reviews are available on the service. WineAlign’s free services available on the web include a find wine function, food match suggestions, a shopping list, a virtual wine cellar, wine forums and a wine blog. It also includes a store inventory function that enables consumers to find out if a particular selection of wine is available at a specific LCBO store. In a news release, Lawrason called WineAlign a money-saving tool. “Most people have no idea when they go to the LCBO if they’re choosing good quality wine for good value,” he said. “Consumers can make smarter wine-buying decisions with WineAlign, which saves money in the long run.” At present, the service is only available in Ontario, Fawcitt said, but the company plans to expand to other provinces soon. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/03/11/wine-align.html">Link to article</a>