Pardon the silly title, but with all the buzz on Bing (“Bing Is Not Google”) I just couldn’t help myself. And please, no silly questions about whether or not I’m going to change Able Grape‘s name to “Aging…”
It’s been unbelievably busy here at Able Grape central, and I’ve been quite remiss on my blogging. Hoping to get back to a more regular pace soon! In the mean time, here’s a quick update on recent changes.
This morning, I put live Able Grape’s largest — and, hopefully, best — database ever, clocking in at nearly 20 million pages of wine information from just shy of 41,000 websites. Lots and lots of new sites, and lots of improvements across the board.
Here’s a smattering of examples. Try them — they’ll open in a separate window — and compare to Google (or to Bing, for that matter) – I hope you’ll be pleased.
- Lots of info on 2008 Bordeaux (page through the results – there are many pages of great references)
- We’re doing an even better job of returning official information for wine terms and appellations like Wine of Origin or Beaune Cents Vignes or Ribera del Duero.
- Hundreds of new producers, from K-J Thul to the Cave des Vignerons de Tavel. Nearly 200 new producers from Beaujolais alone, from Alain Passot to Clos des Garands or Domaine de la Ronze.
- More, deeper scientific research content. For example, find research on Albariño (the query “Albariño” with the “Research” filter applied).
- Improved language detection, and recognition of more languages – Catalan, Croatian, and Slovenian.
- Better handling of Eastern European accents, so we return better results for things like the grape varieties Žilavka or Hárslevelű, or the producer Ščurek.
- Lots of good new information on the wines of Herzegovina.
- We’re doing an even better job of returning the producer’s own page as the top result for wine searches, always a key goal: try 1995 Ducru, 2001 Angélus, 1996 Veuve Clicquot Rosé, Hill of Grace, 1996 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, or the hot hot 2004 Grange.
- The default font has changed, and query terms are now highlighted in the titles of search results, making it (hopefully) easier to find relevant results, and also making the experience more consistent across Macs and PCs.
This is just a smattering of new stuff – there’s lots more “under the hood,” as it were. Should you find anything missing, or have suggestions, comments, or questions, as always, please let me know! I’d like to make Able Grape the best it can be.
Great stuff, keep up the good work.
I’ve always thought you were better than Google – Complimenti!
You are always my first “go to” choice for research – keep up the great work!
I quite agree with Ceri. Able Grape is far better for wine-related searches than Google.
Aw, thanks, Terry, Ceri, and Steve! I much appreciate your kind words!
thank god there’ll be better results for harslevelu
Yes, life without good information on Hárslevelű is a bit… harsh.
my experience confirms that the quality of an especialist will be always superior to any generalist.
good job.
Absolutely amazing progress, and all in little over a year!
Thanks, Matt! Welcome any feedback you might have, or that your users might have, from the Australian perspective…
I was reading your “how it all started” piece and I was surprised how similar your motive for starting Able Grape was to ours for starting BoozeMonkey here in Oz : we went to a big wine show a couple of years ago and when we left we wanted to find out ALL about Aussie wine, but while we knew the information must be out there somewhere, we quickly realised that you had to have a very clear idea WHAT you wanted to know and you also needed to have a good idea WHERE to look for it.
So BoozeMonkey was born out of the frustration of there being no central source of information to kickstart our discovery of new wines. I suppose it’s a common way for new ventures to start though — you find a way to scratch your itch.
One thing I can say though: if Able Grape had existed at that time, we may never have come up with the idea to set up a wine community at all.
Ain’t fate strange?!
Matt
[BTW – this probably isn’t the right place to ask, but do you think we could snag a place on your blogroll? There is a link to Able Grape posted on BoozeMonkey here : http://www.BoozeMonkey.com/links.php ]
Doug, you are ever the most professional!