Pernod Ricard New Zealand has announced the launch of a smartphone application for its wine brand Brancott Estate following the release of a new packaging style across the company’s entire range.

The application, named ‘World’s Most Curious Bottle’, allows wine lovers to transform a bottle of Brancott Estate into a portal for both entertainment and wine-focused education.

Consumers can scan the quick response (QR) code from the back of Brancott Estate’s new packaging and receive an invitation to download the World’s Most Curious Bottle app on their smartphone.

Once downloaded, the application allows smartphones to interact directly with the Brancott Estate bottle and prompts consumers to focus their smartphone’s camera on different parts of any new-label Brancott Estate still range bottle to enable the experiences.

The experiences range from virtual visits to a Brancott vineyard in Marlborough, to an augmented reality flight with a native New Zealand falcon, tasting notes and food-matching information, and an interactive guide to Marlborough’s weather across the seasons.

The new labelling has a number of triggers that the app will recognise, including the front label, QR code and back label map.

According to the wine maker, the free application has been designed for Apple and Android smartphone platforms and can only be accessed from online app stores.

The World’s Most Curious Bottle app, which can be used with all Brancott Estate still range bottles carrying the new packaging, will be available from early February 2012.