Social Wine to Support South African Community #thesocialwine

Last week I spent Wednesday evening at gorgeous London venue, Vanilla, sampling a small selection of wines for a new project in conjunction with Tesco. I couldn't tell you for sure what the wines were, as we tasted blind, but I and am excited to be part of this venture which aids the Enaleni community in South Africa.

Later this year, supermarket giant Tesco, and leading wine wholesaler, Enotria, will be launching two brand new bottles of wine, selected and designed by a handful of press peeps, bloggers and wine enthusiasts from Tesco's social media community - including me! 

This 'social wine' campaign is being launched to help the South African community build a sustainable future. Until now, they have only been able to sell their grapes to other wine makers, as they cannot afford to produce, make and market their own product. Through this project, the brainchild of Harry Fawkes at Enotria, these two drinks industry powerhouses are creating a wine brand for the community with a launch in the UK that they would never have been able to achieve otherwise. All involved hope that sales of the wine in the U.K. through Tesco stores, will create a sustainable revenue stream for this growing community with part of the profits invested back into the infrastructure. As James Griswood (colleague and Tesco Wine's Product Development Manager) said, "This is not about the money; it's about the people".

We were asked to vote on which of the five wines we think should be sold in Tesco stores. We tried three whites (1,2 &3) and two reds (A & B) before voting for a favourite of each. The votes are in and will be revealed very soon - though I'm hoping it will be white wine 2 and red wine A - at least I think that's what I voted for....forgive me, the wine was flowing at this point!

Once the varieties are revealed, a social-media campaign now begins for a wine name and label design. An app, by We Are Social, will appear on Tesco’s Facebook page, where ideas can be uploaded for the online community to vote on. The winning designer will win a trip to South Africa, courtesy of Enotria - I sure hope it's me!!

As we all know, wine is a glorious liquid that brings people together, creates discussion and forges friendships; the definitive of a social drink. This project really takes it to the next level and makes wine social from the very beginning, not just the finished product.The winning wine will be on sale in store and online from October so will keep you updated on any progress!