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Tracking Bordeaux Across Borders
By Robert Farmer
It seems fitting
that on the heels of news recently that Robert Parker is still of the mind that
European wines, on balance, are superior to American wines, that the Europeans
might be more inclined to pursue remarkable and innovative ways for dealing
with fraud. Yes, there is a racket in which swindlers endeavor to dupe would-be
wine buyers into buying something that is not what it seems. And while it might
not seem a big deal to the pedestrian wine buyer, when it comes to, say, buying
a $7,000 bottle 1947 Cheval Blanc, the buyer is keenly interested in getting
what he or she paid for. That’s why news recently of fraud prevention innovations
isn’t so surprising.
For instance,
the fact that twenty-five members of the Italian military police have qualified
as sommeliers so that they might better detect wine fraud would probably seem
wasteful to Americans. But in Italy, where wine is a way of life, it makes
perfect sense. And in France, some of the top chateaux in Bordeaux have turned
to technology to combat fraud. The so-called e-provenance method of tracking
wine from bottling through distribution and storage is catching on with such names
as Lafite, Margaux, and Latour. Simply, the technique uses microchip technology
to monitor the constant whereabouts of a bottle, from producer to consumer. The
tracking process is capable of not just detecting fraud, but also potentially
damaging temperature swings or other harmful handling during shipment.
It’s all useful information to the interested collector or investor, and it’s likely to become the norm in Europe. Which means, look for it in the United States before long.
It seems fitting
that on the heels of news recently that Robert Parker is still of the mind that
European wines, on balance, are superior to American wines, that the Europeans
might be more inclined to pursue remarkable and innovative ways for dealing
with fraud. Yes, there is a racket in which swindlers endeavor to dupe would-be
wine buyers into buying something that is not what it seems. And while it might
not seem a big deal to the pedestrian wine buyer, when it comes to, say, buying
a $7,000 bottle 1947 Cheval Blanc, the buyer is keenly interested in getting
what he or she paid for. That’s why news recently of fraud prevention innovations
isn’t so surprising.
For instance,
the fact that twenty-five members of the Italian military police have qualified
as sommeliers so that they might better detect wine fraud would probably seem
wasteful to Americans. But in Italy, where wine is a way of life, it makes
perfect sense. And in France, some of the top chateaux in Bordeaux have turned
to technology to combat fraud. The so-called e-provenance method of tracking
wine from bottling through distribution and storage is catching on with such names
as Lafite, Margaux, and Latour. Simply, the technique uses microchip technology
to monitor the constant whereabouts of a bottle, from producer to consumer. The
tracking process is capable of not just detecting fraud, but also potentially
damaging temperature swings or other harmful handling during shipment.It’s all useful information to the interested collector or investor, and it’s likely to become the norm in Europe. Which means, look for it in the United States before long.
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