Blockchain Wine, a Singapore-registered company that sells vintage wines primarily in markets like China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore said its working with Ernst & Young (EY) to build a blockchain-backed platform to facilitate the sale of wine while guaranteeing its authenticity and quality.
The technology lets buyers trace the wine back to the vineyard its grapes grew on, as well as all other touchpoints from scheduling, shipping to delivery. The firm target hotels, restaurants, cafes, and individual buyers. It will also facilitate C2C sales for investment-grade wine collectors and will enable these types of transactions with smart contracts.
Wine consumption in Asia today stands at USD 57,372 million and is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4% annually over the next four years, according to data from Statista.
With a global vision in mind, Blockchain Wine wants to add more than 5,000 labels, including wines from France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, and California, and scale the service worldwide.
It’s hardly the first endeavor to apply blockchain tech to wine traceability. It’s a premium product that can sell at immense prices where collectors might value this additional security layer.
There’s a startup in Shanghai called VeChain doing something similar, Israeli technology startup Vinsent, and one simply called Wine Blockchain from an Italian company called EZLab
EY has put considerable effort into designing supply chain traceability products. The wine trade is just one way to apply to put it to use. The consulting firm has collaborated with companies in a number of sectors where authenticity and traceability is of the essence.