"room to read" news and stories

Twitter's latest product isn't celebrity tweets, but wine. "Fledgling" is the name of the label which, so far, offers two wines: 2009 vintages of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The Fledgling Initiative -- a project of Twitter Inc. -- is on a mission to benefit Room to Read, a non-profit organization which provides literacy opportunities to children in developing countries. Based in Uttarakhand, India, the outreach is not limited just to that region; an estimated 4 million children in nine countries have been served. Five dollars from each bottle (which retails for $25) sold will benefit this organization.

Like any good culinary find, it's not always a straight path to acquiring it. The wine can only be purchased via Fledglingwine.com. (The wines are made by Crushpad -- based in Napa, it's an innovative model where organizations and small groups of people alike can use the state-of-the-art facility to make wine.)

We had a chance to sample the Fledgling 2009 Pinot Noir, California. Its smoky nose and intense bright cherry notes are fantastic; its tannins are soft and silky. And each time you order a bottle, you're teaching people how to read. What's not to like?

The folks behind social media site Twitter are expanding their empire to the wine business.

Beginning Thursday, Twitter is selling its own "Fledgling" wine, with the proceeds benefiting the nonprofit literacy group Room to Read, according to Jenna Sampson, a spokeswoman for Twitter.

San Francisco wine company Crushpad is helping Twitter make the vino. The company, which enables wine enthusiasts to make, sell and design their own wine, is providing everything from the grapes and equipment to expertise and advice for the social networking site.

"We gradually started meeting people [from Twitter]," and the idea of a outreach collaboration simply "kept growing and growing and growing," said Noah Dorrance, marketing director for Crushpad.