I spoke to you last year about a virtual reality project on which VitaBella Luxury Wine was working. Other ventures of this nature are already underway although we are, of course, dependent on technological progress. The fact is that things move so fast these days that, since that post appeared, many new opportunities have arisen in the wine world. And first iOS apps developed and now available for iPhones demonstrate the enormous advances that have been made in the space of 12 months.
Virtual reality is the storytelling of tomorrow in a totally immersive version. It is a visual, auditory and sensory experience – a real journey in real time. It takes people on a virtual tour of the private world of a great wine, of the brand’s universe so they can grasp its very essence through a unique experience: total immersion. In terms of content they can, for example, visit an estate and its cellars, discover its vineyards and surroundings and meet the owners and those involved in making their favourite wine. All this is accompanied by an audio track such as the noise of barrels being rolled, a tool falling to the floor or simply the sound of their footsteps on the earth between the rows of vines. All that without leaving their armchair, hundreds or maybe thousands of kilometres away, whilst sipping the wine in question.
We are not talking about the distant future; this is already possible. And even if the world of virtual reality still needs to find a way to render the technology more accessible, the wine world needs to wake up now to the new opportunities that are opening up to it. It is time to grasp the way new technology will impact on how people purchase and consume wine. Numerous businesses in the sector are working on making this technology accessible to as many people as possible. Oculus Rift has been bought up by Facebook, Google has acquired Cardboard…Things move very fast in the world of virtual reality. And the wine world needs to take advantage of what it has to offer because, all of a sudden, with virtual reality, your bottle of wine takes on a whole new dimension. The bottle in front of you is no longer just a simple nectar that you have heard about and thought you would try. In just an instant it becomes a wonderful voyage in time and space.
(*Since 2003, Guillaume Jourdan has been advising more than 200 prestigious wine estates for their international marketing & communication strategy incl. Chapoutier, Hugel, Dr Loosen, Famille Perrin, Cos d’Estournel, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Miraval…Write to info@vitabella.fr)
