A Treasure Map for Winos

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

If you're a wine lover (AKA wino), then it's time you meet Dr. Vino. Also known as Tyler Colman, Dr. Vino pretty much has the coolest job in the world; he teaches, talks about and tastes wine for a living. As a professor at NYU and the University of Chicago, he tastes about 2,000 wines a year (an average of almost 6 wines per day)!

But what makes Dr. Vino especially cool isn't just the fact that he's authored two books about wine and has been featured in the New York Times. What truly makes him fabulous in my opinion is that he shares his wealth of knowledge as a wine expert on his blog that's choc full of fabulous wine tips, featured picks and, to my particular delight, wine maps!

A treasure map for winos and travel enthusiasts alike, Dr. Vino's wine maps unlock a realm of delicious possibilities just waiting to be discovered! While the maps are made with Google Maps, don't be fooled by their seemingly simple appearance.

A Parisian Wine Map

Take note of the different colors for each destination. Red points of interest are favorite bars while purple ones are wine bars that also sell bottles to go. The green points of interest are new destinations that bear some attention while the blues are "tried-and-trues."

If you click on each of the dozens of pushpins featured on each wine map, the name and address will pop up in addition to colorful facts, Web sites and phone numbers. With major metropolises such as New York City, Chicago, Paris and LA currently featured on Dr. Vino's list of wine maps, I'm hopeful that this list will continue to grow! Until then, Dr. Vino has plenty of "study material" for me to peruse on his blog.