There are three ways to convince people to buy a bottle of wine. First, the most difficult and expensive is to let potential buyers taste the wine. This approach involves labour, product, and retail expenses. Second, the buyer sees an advertisement or favourable review from a source they trust (like No Snob Wine). Third, and perhaps most importantly is the wine label. I stumbled upon the greatest wine label I have ever seen.

I have met many people who quickly confess they buy their wine based on the label. This is well understood by winemakers who spend tremendous amounts of time and money to design an appealing label. Whether it’s an old world winery with a classic label complete with shiny gold cursive text and vineyard image to a modern wine with a creative name and colourful splash. They are sending you a clear message about how you should feel when buying the wine.

Not just any old wine label – the greatest wine label

During a recent shopping trip, I couldn’t resist spending just over $20 because I like wines from the Paso Robles region of California and they don’t sell for under $20 in my part of the world. The sommelier training in me is not easily influenced by the label but this wine label caught my eye. It is bold, detailed, and large. I put it in my cart and happily continued shopping. I was in for a big surprise when I got home.

Technology meets a wine label – and it’s good

At this point, it is important to know that I do not read the back label of wines before I have tasted them. The same goes for reviews, tasting notes, advertisements, store signage, etc. I do this because I do not want to be accidentally influenced when tasting the wine. If I read that a wine is “bursting with bananas” I’m going to be looking for banana flavours instead of conducting my independent assessment.

After I tasted the wine and made my notes I read the back label and learned that there is an Augmented Reality (AR) app that works with the label. Having worked in tech for years I was immediately intrigued and ran to my phone.

Very simply, AR overlays virtual information (text, images, signals) over a real image. Once you install the app on your phone you point the phone camera at the physical bottle and the magic begins.

The label comes to life and a stunning animated scene of a volcano erupting and raining terror down on the village below. This includes a soundtrack of the chaos being unleashed. I have included a short visual clip below.

Rabble Wine Company

The genius winery, Rabble Wine Company, has done a remarkable job of updating the wine label. This is a truly innovative and creative way to market wine. If you check out their wines you’ll see they have several different labels that feature this marriage of design and technology. I should also note that if I could include a review of the wine on No Snob Wine it would have garnered five stars, easily. Get your hands on a bottle and try it for yourself.

P.S. 

Augmented Reality is a hot and growing topic in technology. If you have seen or played Pokéman Go you have experienced a great example of AR. If you are interested in learning more about AR here is a great explainer by Apple.