Blockchain technology is changing the rules in many industries for its high potential. It has already modified our concept of currency, but have you ever thought about it in correlation with wine? Some entrepreneurs and start-ups have done it by finding new ways of creating value in the wine market.
As a matter of fact, the provenance of the product, certification and control of the quality are all fundamental aspects of the agri-food sector. Indeed, it is very difficult to assess the authenticity of a bottle of wine because it may occur that after an inspection carried out by an expert it could be refilled or altered. By some estimates, almost 20 % of the total wine production in the world is counterfeit with huge losses in terms of revenues for the top wine estates.
These are all issues that the implementation of a Blockchain process can quickly remove. In fact, this technologic ledger fits perfectly: it is timeless, immutable and independent. These databases could enable the customers to be informed about the journey of their bottles from vineyard to table. According to that idea, some companies have been founded with the aim of using Blockchain to track the entire production process. For example, the Israeli VinX or the Wine Blockchain EY, born from the collaboration of EY Italy with the startup EZ LAB. The latter has developed an app that permits to scan the barcode of the bottle in order to know everything about the product.
In addition, according to some surveys, over 70% of the customers would be willing to pay a premium price if the transparency was higher. Given that, the adoption of Blockchain databases could potentially expand the market. Indeed, the producers would be able to demonstrate that their wine is certified and controlled, while the consumers would trust more and consequently recognize more value to their purchase.
To conclude, Blockchain is likely to modify the wine industry over the next years. In fact, this technology enables the winegrowers to overcome several issues that looked unsolvable so far.
References:
Hey Alberto, thanks for your post, very insightful!
Transparency in supply chain models is exactly an area where blockchain might help! You might be interested to know that several big projects are currently underway with exactly this goal in mind.
For example, IBM has recently announced the release of their blockchain based Food Trust Network; a supply chain system aimed at giving full transparency to food product supply chains. The idea is that the full journey from producer to retail can be tracked on-chain. you can find more info here:
https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2018/10/08/ibm-announces-general-availability-of-blockchain-based-food-supply-chain-network/
A similar idea is also being developed by Canadian startup DMG for the canadian cannabis industry. The company has a similar concept to IBM and the wine application in that it wants to track the cannabis supply chain. Being that one of the cited reasons for legalization was to keep profits out of the hands of criminals it is a perfect application of blockchain tech:
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/10/18/perfect-use-canadian-crypto-startup-puts-marijuana-on-blockchain/
Thank you for your replay Jan! Yes, Blockchain is becoming increasingly important in different markets. Both your examples are very interesting, especially the second one for the “legal” aspects that you mentioned