Australian Winemaker To Track Wine Bottles Using VeChain Blockchain

VeChain, which offers blockchain platform for public enterprise, has collaborated with Penfolds, a winemaker from Australia, to introduce a case of wine bottles tracked with blockchain, under the Wine Traceability Platform (WTP) program.

In particular, unveiling Penfolds Bin 407 in July underlines the start of VeChain’s WTP phase 2, according to VeChain’s media release.

The bottles from this case are offered at the Waigaoqiao International Alcohol Exhibition & Trading Center, D.I.G.’s Flagship Store and the Sen Lan Shang Du in Pudong New District.

Each bottle within Bin 407 has a NFC chip encrypted in it. This chip contains information regarding the product in the bottle and can be read using a chip reader. Notably, a blockchain is used to store the information.

The chip also includes the information on the bottle’s origin, verified by third-party auditing firm.

Several companies have started using blockchain verification systems for wine. E&Y, the big four audit firm stated that its Ethereum-based blockchain solution will be deployed to authenticate European wines sold in Asia. The deployment will be carried on the e-commerce platform Tattoo and will be used by Blockchain Wine Pte. Ltd.

By the end of last month, the Chinese alcohol wholesale and marketing firm stated that it would use a blockchain solution to validate its products. This solution utilizes custom designed anti-counterfeiting laser recognition for authenticating and blockchain technology for monitoring.

Notably, retailer Overstock disclosed its interest in blockchain powered wine futures in October 2018. The company also aimed to battle wine fraud by through the use of an electronic trading platform for wine futures. That would supposedly create a safe supply chain that validates wine industry products.

Patrick Byrne, Overstock founder and CEO, had the following to say on the company’s strategy:

“Like any economy, the wine industry has difficulty scaling its middlemen-heavy systems in parallel with the growing demands of an increasing global market. VinX’s steps in tokenizing wine futures while allowing wine enthusiasts to know without a doubt that the bottles they purchase are filled with authentic wines will position the entire industry as a model of a new global economy that replaces old boys’ networks with frictionless trust through technology.”