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New Wine App to be launched at Hot Red Hawke's Bay event in Auckland

Thursday 5 July 2012, 9:22AM

By Kite Communications

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QR Code Hawkes Bay Wine App
QR Code Hawkes Bay Wine App Credit: Hawke's Bay Winegrowers Inc

HAWKE'S BAY

There will be more than wine and winemakers on offer at the next Hot Red Hawke’s Bay’s event to be held in Auckland on July 31; a new wine app for phones and androids will be on show as well.

Described as a pocket food and wine guide, the wine app http://wineapps.co.nz/  has been developed by a young winemaker, Graeme Bott, and Hawke’s Bay is the second wine region behind Waiheke Island to be available to users.

Lyn Bevin, executive officer for Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Inc., organisers of the Hot Red wine show says she is keen to support the entrepreneurial venture of Mr Bott.

“This is a great way to get the Y generation into wine.  They can find out anything from opening hours of individual wineries, to upcoming events, directions with GPS, or wine tasting notes. It’s right there accessible in a format they want to use.”

The 300 guests booked to attend the four hour Hot Red expo being held at the Viaduct Events Centre were also likely to be interested in the wine app for their own use or in the case of the trade representatives, to promote to their customers, Ms Bevin believes.

Mr Bott, who is based in Auckland but travels overseas frequently to work in wineries in New Zealand and overseas, has developed the wine app and has been working on his interactive content for an intensive three month period.  The app has since added wineries from the Martinborough and Central Otago regions.

In addition to factual information, wineries can use Wine Apps to offer vouchers for discounts and special promotions that then can be promoted via social mediums such as twitter and Facebook.

“As consumers increasingly move online and seek information about products and places while they are on the move, this can only add to the visibility of Hawke’s Bay wine tourism and Hawke’s Bay wineries,” says Ms Bevin.

“We produce hard copy brochures and maps and have these available on-site at wineries and it’s great someone with wine industry knowledge has taken the next step to develop the wine app.  I’d encourage everyone to try it out and wineries to get involved.”