Wine grape growers in the northern San Francisco Bay area are promoting “augmented reality.” And they’re not talking about how you might feel after drinking several glasses of their finest.

The Sonoma County Winegrowers (SCW) want consumers to know about the environmentally friendly practices they use in their operations. This year, the group’s leaders are setting up a smart phone application that will read the “augmented reality” labels being placed on wine bottles from the region and provide production information to consumers while they’re at the market.

The group asserts that Sonoma County is the first wine region in the world to use the unique technology to reach consumers about its quest to become the industry’s first “100 percent sustainable” area.

“This coming year, as we strive for 100 percent participation in our sustainable winegrowing program, we will be focused on sharing that commitment with wine lovers all over the country,” Sonoma County Winegrowers president Karissa Kruse said recently when announcing the project’s launch.

“We will be utilizing augmented reality to break through to consumers in a most memorable way,” Kruse says. “We’ve tested this, and the response has been fantastic. We can’t wait to get these special bottles into the market.”

Augmented reality app

The winegrowers’ group is making a smart phone app available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. From there, they can place their phone over a “Sonoma County Sustainably Farmed Grapes” label and see stories, video and other information on conservation efforts in the region’s wineries and vineyards, according to a news release.

“This is a unique wine label that is a great way to draw the attention and engage consumers at the point of purchase, especially those who are seeking to purchase sustainably produced wines,” Kruse says. “The shopping experience is changing rapidly, and Sonoma County Winegrowers want to be at the forefront of successfully reaching consumers with our story to help motivate more purchases of sustainable wines from Sonoma County.”

The labels will first be seen on selected wines from Ferrari-Carano, Dutton Estate, Dutton-Goldfield, Cline, Francis Ford Coppola and Lynmar as the wines are released in 2019. Additional brands will add the labels later, SCW officials say.

The project comes as wine industry representatives have sought ways of reaching millennials – a critical demographic that has been challenging to reach. A recent survey by the Nielsen Research Co. found that 66 percent of millennial consumers around the world are willing to pay more for sustainably produced goods, making them the most willing generation to do so, SCW notes.

Augmented reality has exploded in popularity among consumers, and especially millennials, the group asserts.

Sonoma County Winegrowers began its overall sustainability push in 2014, and as of January 2019, 97 percent of the county’s nearly 60,000 acres of vineyards have gone through the group’s self-assessment and 89 percent have completed or are completing certification by a third-party source, according to the organization.