VinoVeritas app simplifies access to award-winning wine and brandy

Dubbed VinoVeritas by CTP, the app is described as "a giant leap" for the country’s top wine competition. It's been made possible by a collaboration between the Veritas organisers – the SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) – and its long-standing financial partner CTP Packaging (through its divisions SA Litho Label Printers and CTP Cartons & Labels), with the well-established Getwine portal for online services and the Johannesburg-based Cognition FoneWorx app-developer.

A timeous sales solution

The development comes at a most opportune time, when the South African consumer has shown a swing in favour of online purchasing, including wine, as a result of Covid-19 restrictions and realities, and at a time when there is a need to recover the wine industry’s lost sales momentum.

“This is a proud moment in the 30-year history of Veritas that we can launch such a unique app that will benefit both the South African wine industry and the consumer,” said SANWSA chairperson Christo Pienaar.

“This milestone has been achieved despite the difficulties that the wine industry has encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic and there will already be a direct sales benefit for all the cellars and their Double Gold and Gold award-winning wines and brandies this year. The focus of Veritas from the beginning was to provide the consumer with a guide to the top wines and brandies entered in the competition and the top achievers can now be ordered from the comfort of their home.

“We have thus succeeded in changing a negative situation into a huge positive that will greatly benefit the South African wine industry during these trying times, also with long-term benefits for all concerned,” added Pienaar.

Immediate ordering

The wine- and brandy-buying public can download the dedicated VinoVeritas App on their smartphones or PCs, access the results and immediately order any of the 198 products that won Gold or Double Gold at the 2020 Veritas Awards.

A prerequisite to entering for Veritas by wineries is that a minimum of 300 bottles of wine and 120 of brandy have to be available for purchasing – but access to these has often been logistically challenging through liquor outlets countrywide. The collaboration with Getwine and its streamlined distribution network will now radically improve this situation.

A prospective wine buyer will henceforth be able to simply download the app, register and then place orders from 20:00 on the evening of 14 November – when the Veritas results are released at a scaled-down awards luncheon at the Val de Vie residential estate’s polo complex in Paarl.

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The online purchasing transactions, for wines and brandies that will feature the relevant Veritas bottle stickers, are deals between the consumer and Getwine. This with regards to the price, payment and delivery involved in the transaction. Free delivery countrywide is part of the deal for orders of 12 bottles or more.

An attractive accompanying promotion for wine and brandy lovers that register on the VinoVeritas app is that on a daily basis from 4 - 14 November, one lucky winner will win a six-bottle case of the Veritas winners, as well as a grand prize of two seats for the Veritas award luncheon on 14 November.

In view of the Covid-19 restrictions on public gatherings, the usual countrywide public tastings of Veritas winners will not take place this year. At the same time, the full Veritas results will be available online on various sites of the various role players – Veritas, CTP/SA Litho, Getwine and Cognition – supported by information in widespread social and other media. These channels will replace the customary results booklet published over many years through sponsorship by SA Litho – which remains a generous financial partner of the Veritas Awards.

The VinoVeritas app is available via Google Play and the Apple App Store.