It is often discussed whether the alcohol industry can be influenced by new emerging techonlogies such as AI or blockchain. It is even often concluded that technology is taboo within the industry since it is one of the oldest product producing industries that seems to have the most straightforward processes. However, through own experience, I know that within the beer industry innovations across the industry are seen in fields like bottling, sourcing of materials but also efficiency processes and how production can be optimized across the entire company. Something I am less familiar with is the impact emerging technology has on the wine industry, a product that requires a time consuming process before the final product is given and efficiency may not necessarily be a goal. After reading the blog post posted on Forbes, I was shocked at how even NFTs are making their way into the industry. Most of us are probably already familiar with the fact that QR codes on bottles can give us insights into the origin of the wine and also the time and process it went through. Or the possibilities that AR gives us by giving similar information that QR codes do. What surprised me is the fact that NFTs can be linked to actual bottles of wine that are safely stored somewhere around the world and can be exchanged through the NFT medium. The NFT can com in the shape of an authentic label of the wine or proves its origins and can be sold as a collectible. If the owner desires to drink the wine he/she can choose to swap the NFT for the bottle, or simply sell the NFT for profit. I think what amazed me the most, seeing as I still don’t have a full grasp of the metaverse and all the possibilities it will create for humankind in the future, is that a professional sommelier created a wine collection of a 1000 bottles that can be stored in the metaverse (AKA BitWine). Furthermore, blockchain is now also being adapted and used to store ledgers about the production processes and the resources used to make the wines. I’m curious to see whether there will be a growing market for an online wine or if blockchain will completely take over the data storage aspect of the wine industry.
Wine industry impacted by blockchain and NFTs
12
October
2022
Sounds interesting, and I feel like a lot of people are underestimating how much impact these technologies will have in the future. One thing I am still not sure about is the link with physical items like wine you described. I feel like that is not the way that the technology should be used, as there are better alternatives to trading physical items.
It’s refreshing to read about a NFT implementation in a whole new industry. Wine and technology sound very unrelated which is also what intrigued me to read your blog. However, after reading your blog it suddenly sounds like this relationship is quite normal. In my opinion, it also shows the true nature of humans. We only want to have something so we can show off that we have it instead of really caring about the product. After all, you don’t even actually possess the bottle.
Hi thanks for sharing how the NFTs is applied in the wine industry for the current stage. I can see it is indeed an interesting topic under the context of the emerging technologies, especially when the disruptive effects the technologies bring to the traditional industries is quite promising. What do you think how the wine trading process would be affected by the new trend? Will it benefit more to the producers or the customers?
Interesting topic! I think that the wine industry is a very interesting industry that could definitely feel the impact of these emerging technologies. However I also think that it is very different from for example the beer industry. As you say, the process of making a wine is very time consuming and the outcome of the quality of the wine differs a lot. This makes it very hard to incorporate all the data. Take for example the fact that the distinction between a very good wine and a medium wine is caused by the degrees on which the vine stands on the hill and the amount of sun it gets per time period. This is of course extremely difficult to predict (by technologies), let alone act on for winemakers.
So in my personal opinion it would be very difficult to incorporate all the data, but definitely to a certain extent. I am curious to hear your opinion on this.