Online wine retailer Naked Wines has introduced a new service that allows its 150,000 connoisseur customers to order their favourite vintages via text message.

Majestic Wine, which acquired Naked Wines earlier this year, has called the ‘text for wine‘ service a first of its kind for the world of wine.

Customers can be as vague or specific as they wish when placing their order, with the option to filter by brand, year or simply preferred colour. They can also specify an occasion and budget which Naked Wines will work from and, for no extra charge, prepare a personalised order to be delivered straight to the customer‘s door.

“Initial uptake has been very encouraging and it’s easy to see this service being particularly useful for busy customers who don’t have time or access to the website,” said Naked Wines UK Managing Director Eamon FitzGerald. “Now these customers are only ever a text away from ordering a case of delicious wines.”

If the UK pilot programme for ‘text for wine‘ proves successful it could be rolled out to Naked‘s US and Australian operations.

The idea for the service came from an employee at Naked Wines which, according to Majestic CEO Rowan Gormley, is “testament to Naked’s strong entrepreneurial culture, which we are working on bringing across to Majestic.”

Naked Wines itself is a crowdfunded business that gives customers, who use the moniker ‘angels‘, exclusive access to wines at wholesale prices, and uses donations to fund independent winemakers.

Phil Gallagher