AbleGrape.com - Wine Search Engine Unlike the Rest

The wine industry is witnessing a boom on the internet. The web’s democratic, inclusive nature is being put to service to make wine more accessible. You’ve got wine search engines, networks, and you can even make your own wine all courtesy of the net. AbleGrape is joining the crowd in an attempt to be the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative wine resource out there. Although this search engine is still in beta, it’s got over 10 million pages. You’ll notice that AbleGrape has some noteworthy navigational elements—results aren’t displayed in the same manner as Google or Yahoo. First of all, AbleGrape indicates languages provided on each site listed, rather than filtering out non-English results, as many of the best sources aren’t in English. Secondly, the whole left side of the screen forms the navigational panel—to see more results click on the box which says Next. You’ll find regional filters along with topic filters as well—e.g. producer, tasting notes, and research. Additionally, next to each link is an arrow—AbleGrape shows two results from each site, hitting the arrow lets you drill down to see all results from one site. Soon users will be able to create profiles and personal search preferences. A translation function is also in the works.

“Able Grape is a wine search engine. We aim to be the world's most complete, authoritative, and up-to-date online source for any wine, enology, or viticultural information. Please keep in mind that Able Grape is currently a beta test version, meaning that there are still some rough edges and incomplete features, and though our database is nearly 10 million pages strong, it's still growing. As you use the beta, we welcome your ideas and suggestions.”

AbleGrape does provide a range of features for finding the best results. Its unique navigational options make it easy to narrow and filter topics—it’s much simpler than using a regular search engine. All results are geared towards wine, so you need only type in one main keyword.

AbleGrape tries to improve upon navigation, but one still gets the feeling that it needs work. The left hand filtering options seem clunky and less streamlined than would be ideal. Besides that, Able isn’t the only wine search engine out there, it does have significant competition.