Nicolas Feuillatte redefines immersion wine tastings

hat better way to illustrate floral character in a wine than to take a stroll through a garden? Or to try to spot hidden fruit by dipping your nose into some floating bubbles? To take its customers right to the heart of its wines and their brand universe, the Centre Vinicole-Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte has opted for virtual reality with four productions matching as many labels. “We sell Champagne and increasingly, new experiences around it”, sums up Olivier Legrand, head of marketing and communication for Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne.

To create a feeling of immersion in the brand universe, the company decided against producing a 3-D documentary to portray its vineyards and cellars, but instead chose a more fantasy-world approach. Using ‘tilt brush’ techniques, where an artist paints directly in three dimensions, the imagery is animated and follows a predefined scenario – for instance a hall of mirrors opening out onto space. The set-up needs 9m2 of floor space so that users can move around for the 6 to 7 minute-long experience, which allows plenty of time for them to learn how to use a virtual reality headset whilst sipping a glass of Champagne.

“The experience, which uses all five senses, activates other emotional resources but does not replace a conventional tasting”, points out Olivier Legrand. After an initial presentation during the annual evening event at the Centre Vinicole-Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in Chouilly in June, the system was used at a tasting for the English media in July. It will be used again in New York this autumn for American clients and in Berlin over the winter for the German media.