Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/144804
TECHNOLOGY The Proof Is in the Packaging Authentication features on bottles track wine for sellers and communicate with buyers By Tina Vierra A surprising number of companies have entered the business of protecting products from tampering and counterfeiting. Anyone who has ever seen a street vendor pushing a knockoff Louis Vuitton purse, Apple device or Rolex watch can understand why these brands have moved to protect their products from losing value in the marketplace—not to mention sales—due to these predatory practices. It is a natural transition for companies offering such protections to turn their efforts to helping producers of highend wines. For wine, some solutions for counterfeiting and other infringements on intellectual property rights can also enable producers to track products through distribution and connect better with trade and consumer buyers. The technological solutions can provide three legs of support, and the most effective systems combine multiple techniques. 1. uthentication or anti-counterfeiting A technology answers whether or not the product is genuine. 2. rack-and-trace capability requires T additional infrastructure and can reveal where a wine goes. 3. arketing is the third leg, and it M enables customers to access multimedia content by scanning a code on the wine package. One function of anti-counterfeiting is the public recognition feature that is Chateau Palmer employs the latest eProvenance technology to ensure safe transport and storage conditions, which consumers can verify at bars and restaurants using mobile devices. visible to the naked eye and aimed at consumers (e.g. watermarks, tamper-evident seals and holograms). These markers offer some confidence that security measures are in place; they also send the message that the wine is of high quality if it is worth protecting. Highlights • his article explains the functions of authentication and tracking technologies for T wine and introduces several leading supplier companies. • hese technologies can prove whether a wine is genuine, enable a producer to track T it and deliver custom marketing content to the consumer. • any authentication options exist for wineries, and most can be accommodated by M packaging-supply companies and bottling line operations. 36 W in e s & V i ne s AU G U ST 20 13 Consumers and the wine trade can detect other features using mobile devices; the technology makes it possible to give each individual bottle of wine a unique and distinctive "fingerprint" for irrefutable proof of its authenticity. Typical features can include bubble tags, deformation sensors, invisible pigments, DNA markings, taggants (microchips and radio frequency identification or RFID tags), rare pigments and even NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy. Wine trade members and consumers who scan one of these markers can typically confirm a wine's authenticity through a linked website where some services offer information, photos and even videos about the winery, the winemaker, food pairings, etc. A third functionality is aimed at those who need to track the wine and see how it is faring with transport companies, customs agents, distributors and