UK: Tesco Redefines Social Drinking With Community-Created Wine

(AdAge) - Wine’s reputation as a social drink is being taken literally by Tesco, the U.K.’s biggest supermarket chain, which is launching a “socially created” wine selected and designed by Tesco’s social-media community.

The wine, which will be made with grapes from South Africa, will also help the Enaleni Community to build a sustainable future by using grapes from the region.

The first step was inviting wine bloggers and members of Tesco’s social-media community to a wine- tasting event June 26, where they were given a choice of five wines to judge. The three red and two white wines are all made with different grapes picked by the Enaleni community. The community grows grapes but has never been able to afford to produce and market its own products, and until now has had to sell all its fruit to local wine producers.

Tasters were asked to vote on which of the five wines they think should be sold in Tesco stores. A social-media campaign begins today for the selected grape that asks people to think up names for the wine and suggest designs for its bottle.

An app, created by agency We Are Social, will appear on Tesco’s Facebook page, through which ideas can be uploaded for the online community to vote on. The originator of the winning name or design will win a trip to South Africa, courtesy of wine importer, Enotria. The winning wine will be on sale in store and online from October.

“This campaign is not just about producing a bottle of wine, it’s about supporting a community," said James Griswood, product development manager at Tesco. "It provides the Enaleni Community with the opportunity to get their amazing wine onto the shelves in the U.K. without using a third-party producer, which wouldn’t have been possible without an intitiative like this. I can’t wait to see what the social media communities suggest and select – I’m sure this wine will be a best seller by the end of the year.”