Wines & Vines

TECHNOLOGY customer to the winery's e-commerce site. For winery and supply chain users, the code can offer production history and date of consumption. Hagman explained that wine labels undergo a second pass through the printer, which supplies them each with a unique QR code. The partners took the technology and launched a wine brand that Hagman uses both socially and in business circles, Capitol Cellars, made by Napa, Calif., brand-creation company Diablo Dragon Wines. Tracking features eProvenance began its wine-protection efforts by focusing on proper transportation environments to protect the quality of wine arriving at market. More recently it has added anti-tampering capabilities to its technology. Well-known wine writers Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker have praised eProvenance's efforts. "Overheating or freezing clearly damages wine," Parker said, "yet wines are too often shipped around the world with less care than car- An opportunity for Tasting Room Suppliers A new eNewsletter from Wines & Vines: Tasting Room Focus Sell to your target audience Contact us for more details (866) 453-9701 • winesandvines.com 38 W in es & V i ne s AU G U ST 20 13 tons of lettuce. eProvenance has a proven technology solution to help remedy this industry-wide problem." Eric Vogt, CEO of eProvenance, explained, "When wine is exposed to high temperatures for extended periods, chemical reactions begin to degrade color, aroma and aging ability. Analysis of over 1 million eProvenance temperature measurements shows an aggregate of 12.9% of wines shipped from France to the 20 most important markets in the world were exposed to temperatures in excess of 82ºF, which could cause permanent damage to the aroma of the wines. While the temperature is typically stable during ocean voyages and in the hold of an airplane, wide temperature fluctuations often occur as the shipment is consolidated or during offloading, customs and local transport. Transporters do not generally provide end-to-end temperaturecontrolled conditions. An effective monitoring system that provides feedback to the many global participants is critical to identifying and correcting these damaging conditions." Vogt began consulting with an expert in radio frequency identification (RFID) in 2006, and less than a year later, in January 2007, he had developed and launched a multi-part system consisting of a sensor inserted in the wine case that reads the temperature several times daily, a bottle tag that is discreetly mounted inside the punt of the bottle, a special tamper-evident neck seal embedded with an invisible code on the capsule and an eProvenance authenticator, a hand-held tool that reads the code on the neck seal, enabling retailers and auctioneers to confirm provenance. The components on each bottle correspond to one another and are accessible to winery clients via a high-speed, password-protected, web-based data interface. The system has a tracking period of four to six months and reads more than 700 data points to provide authentication and proof of proper transport conditions. eProvenance established Wine Provenance Collaboratives in Bordeaux and Burgundy, France, as well as California that are mapping the performance of the global wine distribution channels in order to understand and improve conditions, share best practices and provide the ability to authenticate high-quality provenance. With data gathered from

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