Wines & Vines

TECHNOLOGY retailers. At this level, the winery or its agents can follow the paths of pallets, case boxes and even individual bottles by knowing when and where they were scanned by a shipper, trade member or customer. The technology can reveal when a product has been diverted to a parallel market, for example. Below are summaries of what several leading providers of anti-counterfeiting, tracking and authentication technology offer to wineries. Wines & Vines chose to focus on companies that already have North American winery customers as well as those that have international winery customers and are now launching operations here. Unique ID marks Advanced Track and Trace, based in Rueil-Malmaison, France, has worked with the space industry, manufacturers of valuable spare parts, perfumes and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and now beverage companies. Its technology is called Seal Vector, and it stamps each product package with a unique, digitally created ID mark and traces it via scanners during the journey to the end user. The square, pixilated codes are affixed either visibly, invisibly or both on packages to prevent thieves from repacking bogus goods in the original containers. If a counterfeiter tried to reproduce the codes, they would be unreadable to scanners. The unique, centrally stored Seal Vector codes for each product ensure that counterfeiters cannot produce "legitimate" brand-packaging IDs for their knockoffs. Digital label printers produce the ATT QR codes and vector seals, which are then applied to capsules of individual wines using existing winery machinery. A consumer or anyone else along the supply chain can check the authenticity of the wine by reading the code with a smartphone. ATT began marketing in the United States this year, and it is well established with customers in France such as the Alliance des Cru Bourgeois de Medoc. Sleever International, with business units in seven countries, makes heatshrink package sleeve labeling; its early benefits were decorative and served to protect wines from ultraviolet light damage and show tamper evidence. Now the company's sleeve products also include anti-counterfeiting measures. Sleeves that can cover a whole bottle are in use with international brands such as Castel, Chandon do Brazil, Georges Dubœuf and Boisset. The Piper Heidsieck group has a sleeve-labeling facility in Epernay, France, that is devoted exclusively to Champagne. The most recent Sleever level of protection is the Holosleeve, developed in partnership with a European leader of high-security holograms, Hologram Industries. The heat-shrink plastic label integrates holograms. Holoptica of Belmont, Calif., offers DNA SmartMarks, developed by an Australian company and used at the Sydney Olympics to protect brands throughout the games, marking official Olympic consumer goods. The synthetic DNA material (a unique DNA sequence marker that does not occur in nature), combined with Holoptica's holographic markers, can be used in security holograms and hotstamping foils, holographic HRI laminate overlays, security inks, paper and foils containing holographic micro particles, holographic security tapes, security "track and trace" asset-marking systems, secure printing, brand protection and recognition, inventory management and antitampering seals. Holoptica has just developed and is patenting a product called Authentic Wine QR, which has a holographic QR code (holoQR) embedded in the hologram. The stock hologram works on any Cru Bourgeois de Medoc wineries employ Seal Vectors, digitally unique markers for each bottle, from Advanced Track & Trace. Belmont, Calif.-based Holoptica released its new Authentic Wine QR holograms this year. VIEW VIDEO: Blankiet Estates was the first winery to implement the Bubble Seal security solution in California. Claude Blankiet discusses the importance of protecting your brand. To access, scan this mobile barcode with your phone. Or see the digital edition at winesandvines.com. security or standard printed matter and packaging, and it comes with several covert and overt security features. The two hologram products are available in silver or gold. Genuine Technologies LLC began when California state assemblyman Curt Hagman approached his old college roommate Brad Larkin with a challenge. Hagman had become aware of a growing counterfeiting problem—specifically wine counterfeiting—during his travels between California and Asia. "Knowing that Brad is a software and tech genius, I asked him if there wasn't some kind of authentication marker he could develop," Hagman said. Larkin developed QR codes for wine labels, which work in conjunction with web and database technology to provide a clearinghouse of information between manufacturers, distributors and consumers. Using only a smartphone, a consumer can get fast and reliable confirmation that the product in front of them really came from the brand on the label. Information is provided in the consumer's native language, and site branding sends the Capitol Cellars wines, made in Napa, Calif., for a state assemblyman, use WineGenuine QR codes by Genuine Technologies. Win es & Vin e s AU GU ST 20 13 37

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