A new Australian-developed technology suite called eBottli has been launched, with the potential to protect the wine export industry against the booming global trade in counterfeit wines.
Developed with the support of the South Australian Government, eBottli delivers a new set of new tracking and blockchain data technologies, geolocating services for bottles or containers, and unique identifier labels to help guarantee the full provenance and authenticity of the wine.
Founded by Nathalie Taquet, eBottli is now working with 12 clients across Australia, including vineyards in the quality wine regions of McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley in South Australia.
The issue of brand trust for Australian exports is in quite a state. Especially in the Asian market, premium artisan wine labels are particularly vulnerable to export fraud. Some dodgy bottles contain no grapes at all, and even have harmful substances added – such as lead acetate, which is a sweetener.” said Nathalie.
Currently, Australia’s wine exports to China alone are valued at $1.25 billion; but fake plonk is even bigger business. Potential losses to the global industry due to counterfeits are estimated to reach $4.3 trillion by 2022. In China alone, experts claim around 50 per cent of wine over $35 is fake, and up to 70 per cent of bottles sold are fraudulent. This is a major problem for our wine exporters, who are already reeling from bush fires, drought, and the threat of a post-COVID trade war.
There are a certain number of anti-counterfeit technologies available to the Australian wine industry to help address these problems, but eBottli is the most comprehensive, cost-effective and reliable compared to the other products.
Apart from the multiple tracking and geolocating technologies, eBottli also allows wine drinkers to connect with the vineyard and see the story behind the bottle. “Our ultimate plan is to have wine bottles arrive overseas, and the customer can use their smartphones to scan the label and read about its Australian story of origin,” said Nathalie.
References:
1.https://www.foodmag.com.au/new-australian-technology-defends-local-wine-exports-against-global-fraud/
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