The Leo Fuchs winery is probably the first German winery to provide its labels with a „Zapcode“. This allows grape juice lovers to take a digital journey to a wine tasting at the producer.
Just under 21 litres Wine is drunk by every German every year. Many wine lovers buy their grape juice directly from one of the more than 40,000 local wineries, according to the German Wine Institute. Winegrower.
But how do fans of pressed delicacies find their favourite producers? In viticulture, too, customers rarely come by themselves. This can also Kathrin Fuchs whose husband Ulrich and father Bruno run the Quality Winery Leo Fuchs in Pomerania on the Moselle. She knows: „It's about positioning the winery as a brand and differentiating it from other suppliers. The most important thing, of course, is the quality of the product.“
The business has been in family hands since 1624
To this end, the winery, which has been in family ownership since 1624, uses its own Vinotheque or the recommendations of satisfied customers. Recently, some bottles of the 2018 vintage, which is just ready to drink, have featured a „talking label“ inviting customers to „digital wine tasting“, as the marketing graduate calls it.
According to the family's creative streak, this concept does not yet exist in Germany. But the idea is obvious. Every wine lover appreciates listening to the winemaker at a wine tasting as he explains the subtleties of flavour of the grape juice as it flows down the throat. They now want to offer this experience to those who are unable to visit the winery.
Zapcodes bring the winemaker to your smartphone
Tech-savvy drinkers can access the digital wine tasting via their Smartphone, on which the app „Zappar“ must be installed. They use it to scan the so-called Zapcode on the back label. This works in a similar way to a QR code and opens a short video in which Ulrich, Bruno or Kathrin Fuchs explain interesting facts about the respective wine for about a minute. „On the nose, it smells of ripe quinces and local fruit,“ says Ulrich Fuchs, for example, about a Chardonnay. Kathrin Fuchs finds the flavour of the „Sinfonie“ cuvée to be „creamy, soft and melting on the palate“.
The Fuchs winery became aware of the technology via the „Erfa Food Service“, which is aimed at manufacturers, suppliers, service providers and potential customers in the catering industry. Network founder Michael Möhring brought the Fuchs family together with the film production company „maximinimum“, with whom the multimedia idea was then developed.
„Kathrin Fuchs emphasises that the speaking labels offer “real added value". She imagines consumers who are unable to come to the winery but who, when tasting an appropriately labelled wine - in addition to the varieties mentioned, a Riesling a speaking label - nevertheless want to benefit from the producers' explanations.
Table displays and bottle tags as a supplement
Above all, however, the short videos help caterers and wine merchants to present Fuchs products. With a specially produced Information sheet they will be Tap codes pointed out. The winery also presents Table display and Bottle tag with references to the Zapcodes.
The current vintage with the first Zapcodes was labelled in March. The Front label The label is still adorned with an unmistakable logo designed in the style of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, which Kathrin Fuchs‘ mother-in-law Brunhilde created back in the 1990s. At the beginning of May, the winery presented its Value-added labels at the industry event „Wein im Schloss“ in Koblenz: „Many people have approached us about it,“ says Kathrin Fuchs, pleased with the encouraging reactions.
[infotext icon]You can find more information about the winery's entire range on the winery's homepage.
http://www.leo-fuchs.de
