"VINTAGE 2014" Interactive Documentary to Capture Growing Season in California Vineyards with Help of Crowdfunding Campaign
Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) November 21, 2013 -- Central Coast Wine & Food launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of VINTAGE 2014 with support from well-known Santa Barbara County winemakers and growers like Clarissa Nagy of Riverbench Vineyard & Winery, Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe Estate Vineyard & Winery, and Peter Cargasacchi of Cargasacchi Vineyard & Winery. The interactive documentary will be the first ever to follow a vintage in real time from the flowering of the vine to the moment the juice is barreled.
"Wine is the only time machine that works, because a vintage truly represents a time and place," said Wil Fernandez, founder of Central Coast Wine & Food and executive producer of VINTAGE 2014. "We want to capture that experience, to give people access to see the entire vintage in real time or to dial back the clock and follow the story of the grapes from the dirt to the bottle."
Using an innovative technique called "transmedia storytelling," the project hub will be an online interactive 3D map of the Central Coast AVA that can be explored both by place and time. Rather than a feature film shown in one 90-minute sitting, the project will create multimedia episodes shared throughout the year, allowing viewers to follow one vineyard’s changes month-by-month, or to see what is happening at different vineyards simultaneously.
"If you follow an entire vintage, it will change the way you look at wine," said Hagen. "2014 could be a dramatic vintage, I suspect we’re going to get some challenges that are going to make it worth watching."
To meet the year-round demands of aerial videography, time-lapse footage, audio podcasting, and web development, the production launched a Kickstarter campaign to recruit support from their nearly 20,000 email subscribers and fans from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Within 48 hours of launch, the campaign has already raised more than 25% of its minimum goal.
"This is uncharted territory for the agricultural wine industry," said Fernandez. "We are bringing proven digital media channels together with experiential marketing to change the way people connect with the wine in their glass."
To enhance the interactive and immersive experience, participants at events in major cities will be able to taste wine, ask winemakers questions, and watch recent footage from the vineyards. The project will also hold vineyard screenings throughout the summer in Santa Barbara County where local chefs, musicians and artisans will become part of the story.
VINTAGE 2014 combines the most successful aspects of the recent national pop-up tasting tour by Central Coast Wine & Food, including cross-country events, digital media, and live simultastings on social networks. The dynamic campaign recently hosted a live Twitter simultasting of Wes Hagen’s 2009 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir with more than 250 participants making #DirtDontLie a trending topic reaching more than 300,000 followers in a single hour.
About Central Coast Wine & Food Pop-Up Tasting Tour
Founded by intrepid traveler and photographer William Fernandez in 2013, this digital marketing campaign and pop-up tasting tour brings wine tastings, food sampling and art exhibits from California's Central Coast to cities across the United States. More information at Facebook.com/CentralCoastCA.
Dale Thomas Vaughn, Central Coast Wine & Food, +1 817-846-6121, [email protected]
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