A WINE tasting with a difference saw guests use an augmented reality app to enhance the experience.

The app allowed guests to learn about the wines, where they came from and how best to taste them.

It was devised by Bournemouth digital agency Dorset Creative, which makes apps and software, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences.

The wine tasting was for Barclays Premier Rewards customers. The opportunity to create the app arose when Dorset Creative was based at the Eagle Lab, the co-working space at Barclays’ offices at County Gates.

Rowena Revill, who runs Dorset Creative with husband Nathan, said: “The idea was to give a wow factor.

“The thinking behind it was bringing AR to a mainstream audience. Mobile phones and the tech that people have these days have all this functionality and it’s a way to introduce the general public to the idea that their phone can do this sort of thing.”

Guests at the tasting were encouraged to download the app on their phones . Each guest then went to one of three “country stations”, where they sampled two wines from that particular country while viewing the app.

Rowena said: “You had to scan the bottle and it would bring up this guide so you could still see the bottle but it gave extra information.

“They were quite wowed by it and found it really fun.”

Nathan said the app was now being developed for wider use.

“We made it for eight wines but now we’ve got our guys working on creating a content management system so it could go to a bigger wine supplier,” he said.

“You could add wines to it and then when you’re in Tesco or Waitrose, you could get more information by scanning the bottle label.

“With Apple and Samsung and Huawei, phones are built now with some level of augmented reality. It’s the next step in perceiving the world around us, being able to hold it up, point it at something and you can do extra things and engage.”

Dorset Creative had three staff when it was at the Eagle Lab and has expanded to 12 at its current Lansdowne base, with three vacancies.

Nathan said: “Another really exciting project we’re working on is a medical simulator to help teach doctors how to work with robotic assistance while doing hip operations.”