Message in a bottle (140 characters or less)

Twitter is launching a wine label.

The micro-blogging social media site is venturing into wine making as a side project and charitable endeavor. Twitter has partnered with Crushpad, a DIY winery and Bay Area neighbor to produce a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay. Bottled under the label Fledgling Wine, $5 from each $20 bottle sold will benefit Room to Read, a non-profit organization that extends literacy and educational opportunities to children in the world’s poorest regions.

It’s not as much of a stretch as it appears. The Twitter platform has fostered countless groups of wine enthusiasts who tweet each other their tasting notes and impressions, often through organized remote tasting events. And the company itself is full of wine-loving employees; distinctive varietals and vintages are the norm at corporate gatherings, and Fledgling Wine was originally intended as an employee team-building exercise.

The crush, fermentation, and bottling will take place at Crushpad’s facilities, but Twitter’s imprint will be all over the process. You can follow the wine making play-by-play through regular tweets to Fledgling Wine’s Twitter account, participate in barrel tastings in San Francisco or at your own location with a mailed samples, and join in other contests and events in the works.

The wines won’t be released until next summer, but you can preorder now. Every case sold will support the efforts of Room to Read with funding to purchase 60 more local language books.