One of the major additions to the website a little over a year ago was Plan Your Trip which provides similar functionality as the Texas Wine Lover mobile app that was released at the same time. That’s because the two pieces work together. If you’re on a computer, Plan Your Trip can be used on a larger display to find Texas wineries and local businesses. Any trips you plan in Plan Your Trip can then be used within the mobile app while you are traveling.
Let’s dive deeper into the Plan Your Trip feature. For this post, we’ll reference the website’s Plan Your Trip. Using the mobile app is the same as if you clicked Plan Your Trip, and we’ll point out any slight differences.
At the top left of the website is the Plan Your Trip icon. Clicking that will show the menu at the top left of Plan Your Trip. The mobile app’s menu is at the top left by clicking on the hamburger menu (the three lines).
Wineries
The first menu item is Wineries. This is a list of all Texas wineries. They are grouped alphabetically by the different memberships they have Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal, and unclaimed listings. A winery can claim their listing and update it whenever they have changes.
Clicking on a photo for a winery will show the listing. This is only some information that is provided in the website’s Guide’s listings for wineries and local businesses. Clicking “Website” (“More Info” in the app) on a listing will bring you to the website’s Guide listing. The Guide has all the information for a business.
Depending on the membership for a winery, there may be a “Shop Wines” button which will bring you to the winery’s wine shopping page where you can purchase their wine. The “Map It” button will bring up the map of Texas and show where that winery is located.
On the right side of the screen are the filters. There are many different filters that can be used to find the particular features of a winery that you may be looking for. Play with the filters to see the many different search options available. The search filters will differ between the different menu items.
Right below the menu is another filter for Region. The default is All but can be changed to Northern, Central, High Plains, Southeastern, and Western to make your selection smaller.
The mobile app has a middle filter called Order which lets you change the listing of wineries to A to Z (alphabetical), Nearby (the closest wineries to you), and Reset to set it back to the default.
There is one thing to note. Since the map is next to the listings, they work hand in hand. So, if you have zoomed in tightly to an area on the map, those businesses in that area will be shown. If you want to ensure you see all listings in Texas, zoom the map out so more listings will be shown.
Wines
The Wines menu may look similar to the list on the Wineries menu, but the difference are the filters on the right side. If you’re looking for a particular style of wine, spirits, cocktails, mead, cider, etc., or even a specific type of varietal such as Aglianico, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Viognier, you can use the filters to find the wineries that have it.
Trips
The Trips menu has both Wine Trails and special Winery Trips. A Wine Trail listing will have a description of the wine trail and also the list of members on that wine trail. Clicking on a winery will show that winery’s listing.
Clicking on a Wine Trail or Trip’s “Map It” button will show just those businesses on the map making them easier to see.
Not sure what wineries you may want to visit? Texas Wine Lover has that solved! Some of our writers provided suggested trips that you can use or modify to your liking. Are you visiting East Texas or Southeast Texas? Or perhaps you’re looking for wineries that have Sangiovese. We have trips ready for you to use. Clicking on the Trip will show a description of that Trip and like Wine Trails, the list of wineries on that Trip. There may also be some suggested restaurants or shopping you should check out too.
Services
Perhaps you want to visit some wineries, but you want to be safe and use a designated driver or tour company. The Services menu lists those types of businesses plus other businesses that support the Texas wine industry. You can see many types of businesses by using the right filter.
Eat
Most likely visiting wineries will be a day trip or overnight trip. That means you need to eat, and we have restaurant listings that will help satisfy your hunger. The Eat listings work the same way as the other listings. The filter on the right has a large selection of types of food.
Drink
At the end of a day visiting wineries, you may still be thirsty and want some nightlife. That’s what the Drink menu is for. Find wine bars, breweries, and more. The filter on the right has different background colors if the business is in a Drink or Nightlife category.
Stay
If you are on an overnight trip, you’ll need a play to stay, and you can find those places here. Support the establishments that are looking for visitors to wineries.
Shop
Shop away with businesses on the Shop menu. The filter on the right can help find the businesses you are looking for.
Events
Maybe you’re not sure what winery or business you want to visit, and that’s where the Events menu comes in. These are listings showing upcoming events you may want to attend. We’re sure you can find an event you like!
My Plan
The My Plan menu item is the menu that ties all the other menu items together. Say you want to visit a few wineries, but you’re not sure what order you want to visit them or how long it will take you to visit those wineries.
You may have noticed that each listing has a plus (+) sign on it (+ Add button at the bottom in the mobile app). Clicking on the plus sign will add that business to your plan. Once you have at least one business added to your plan, switch over to My Plan.
The businesses you added are listed and you can drag around the different businesses in the list to be in another order for you. The map will show you where those businesses are and that may help you decide on your correct order.
Other items in the My Plan menu are the name of the plan and a starting point. Do you have an exciting plan you want to share with others who may be going with you or will be interested in what you are doing? Click the Share button and share it!
When you have the ultimate plan, you can click the Start Plan button to start your trip. This is the beauty of the mobile app because it’s always with you in your purse or pocket. Directions from the first business to the second are given including an estimated time between those businesses. How cool is that? Are you done with the first business and ready to go to the second one? Click the right arrow on the directions and the next leg of your plan will be given. It works the same way if you have more businesses in your plan.
Summary
We hope you have a better understanding of what Plan Your Trip and the mobile app can do for you. There are more features within and we’re sure you can find those by just using the website and mobile app.
To learn how we use Plan Your Trip and the mobile app to plan our trips, please see our recent blog post.
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