New NFT Wine Tokens Announced

Non-fungible Wine Tokens

My nephew, Justin, and I mused over the applications of cryptocurrencies and blockchains to the wine industry a few years ago —after, of course, I got him to explain to me what a blockchain and a cryptocurrency was.

After all, the younger generation was born with no other purpose in life than to explain things to the older generation wasn’t it? Sure it was.

And now, behold, we have wine NFT’s.

Like I could explain what any of those things are.

Other than that they are computer thingees involving really complicated software, people inexplicably mining things without a mine, and really rich persons of the wine persuasion.

But, you, dear reader, probably already know at the very least that a non-fungible token (NFT) is a way of establishing ownership of limited edition digital art, antique toys and autographs of famous athletes and musicians on wildly varying objects of indefinite half-life like baseballs, footballs, photographs of signed body parts and all manner of ingenious ways to make something rare—and, therefore, more valuable.

It’s a lot more than that, but that’s a place to start and all you need to know to enjoy what Mr. Xavier Garambois, formerly of European Union Amazon retail sales, has done with the advantage of a million dollars at his service.

I know. Why should you care what some pretend bookstore guy does with wine from Europe?

If indeed you are a lover of wine (and why would you be reading this if you weren’t?), you will now be able to buy wine in a way you never have been able to before. All thanks to the Winklevoss twins, formerly of the Harvard rowing team.

They are the ones that didn’t start Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea) but did manage to invent Bitcoin anyway.

Mysterious, isn’t it?

Fear not. All shall be made clear momentarily.

“Former Amazon executive to launch NFT fine wine platform”

“Winechain is set to launch by the end of 2022 and aims to build new connections between top wine estates and consumers, its founders have said, in the latest example of technological innovation in the sector.” —Decanter Magazine, by Chris Mercer, June 1, 2022

Cofounded by Xavier Garambois, the former vice-president of EU retail at Amazon, Winechain.co is set to go live by the end of this year with its first ‘wiNeFT’ offering – its term for a fine wine linked to a non-fungible token (NFT). —Decanter Magazine

Mona Lisa

Imagine for the moment that you are in possession of a rare painting—let’s say the Mona Lisa —which actually resides physically behind bulletproof glass in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It’s true. I’ve seen it hanging on the wall there.

They wouldn’t let me touch it, though.

In 1962, it was valued at the equivalent of $870 million today.

Leonardo de Vinci, in his infinite wisdom, could only paint one Mona Lisa. But what if he had created it digitally like today? He could turn out infinite Mona Lisa’s, all neatly numbered from 1 to infinity.

More to the point he could have turned out 1 to 200 and sold them for something more than $870 million dollars. Even though the original is worth the most, the others all have value (depending on who’s buying them). Assuming, they have an NFT.

NFT’s were invented to prevent illegal copying and selling of digital art.

But, how in the world can such collectors know for sure which is real and which are copies made by some unscrupulous Tasmanian forgers?

Why, by recording the chain of ownership from the creator (Leonardo da Vinci) to you in a way that can’t be stolen or faked. That’s the blockchain part.

Blockchains handle the money, record the provenance of the piece and become the contract for each sale.

Digital Wine, sort of

So now, imagine that instead of the Mona Lisa, it’s Chateau Lafite 1961. Instead of an original painting, it is a bottle of wine with its entire history of shipping, storage and ownership recorded in the software of the blockchain.

This means at least three things:

(1) Your bottle of wine just got a lot more valuable because you know its whole history. You don’t have to wonder if it was stored next to the heater in Safeway’s back room or if Uncle Bob watered it down a little like his whiskey and then re-corked. (Yes, people have actually done that and then resold the bottles.)

(2) You can buy directly from Lafite with the NFT it issues, which at the moment you can’t do unless you’re related to somebody and even then, they probably wouldn’t sell it to you. They have a world market to protect. They don’t want precious bottles going out willy nilly all over the place. Of course, digital copies of wine aren’t worth much unless somebody famous drew them.

(3) People can buy and sell the bottles as many times as they want to without actually having it leave the Chateau, or the designated storage facility, which makes it even more valuable. It can be traded 1000 times to 1000 different people and never shipped or taken out of storage. Only the wine token changes hands.

“This is a Non Fungible Token of a real 1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. The original bottle will be given to one of the buyers of the token. This bottle's label was done by BERNARD SÉJOURNÉ a legendary artist. The wine is also one of the greatest wines of the century with a perfect 100 rating. We have 3 layers of artistry here, the label maker, the winemaker and now me putting it on the blockchain permanently and making it immortal.” —WizardofSoho

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1986

13 owners, view_module50, total visibility 443, views favorite,12 favorites

Make offer

This is from OpenSea.io , a marketplace for NFTs

WineChain

Mr. Garambois (he who was, until recently, employed by Amazon in Europe), calls his company, “Winechain.” see https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2022/05/31/launch-winechain-co-the-global-nft-platform

“There has been a growing amount of innovation around NFTs in the wine world, from limited-edition winery offers to the ways in which blockchain technology could provide a digital guarantee of ownership history.

Winechain said its goal is ‘to build dynamic and interactive relations between prestigious estates and demanding consumers with a passion for wine.’ It said it has raised more than $1m in backing from wine lovers and prestigious wine estates so far.

Wineries will be able to choose which wines they sell via the marketplace, while forging direct links with collectors in the community, the group said.

Customers will be able to access rare wines, with guarantees of authenticity, and bottles will be stored at a dedicated Winechain facility until being shipped, it said. Collectors will also be able to sell certain wine NFTs if they wish to, it added.”

—from Decanter, June, 2022

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/former-amazon-executive-to-launch-nft-fine-wine-platform-481513/

I guess Justin and I could still get rich being number 2 or 3 in the market but it would take at least $2 million —and a lot of calling and visiting winery owners. Not to mention the Press. Oh, God, the Press.

But, Justin has his own life involving big tractors and really expensive grapes and I—well, I don’t have $2 million. Maybe something like a REIT (real estate trust) would work—only it would, of course, be a wine trust.

(That’s what the younger generation calls an “Easter egg.” You have to be an insider to know that “Wine Trust” is the name of the first company I started in the wine business. Who says I’m out of touch?)

If you know somebody, don’t hesitate to show them this and give them the chance to lose everything with that idea if it goes wrong somewhere.

Or become a legend in the wine business. Whatever.

Turkish Delight Waffle

“Turkish Delight has an illustrious past. It is one of the most ancient sweet dishes in the world, dating back 230 years.”—from http://thewafflewizards.com/.

As far as I know, these people have absolutely no connection to the woman below who bought 1992 Dom Perignon for $4, other than the name. But, I thought it meet and right to remind you that technology doesn’t always take you where you think you’re going.

The Waffle Wizard

The buying and selling of rare wine is part of the great fun of following the wine business. Just today I saw a Tik-Tok video made by a woman, known only as “the waffle wizard,” who bought a 1992 Dom Perignon at an estate sale for $4 which is, she says, worth $1,200.

(Ha! You didn’t think I knew what Tik-Tok was did you? Actually, I don’t. It’s a very short video thingee I think, used especially by younger people for a purpose I don’t completely understand.)

She may be overestimating its value a tad, but it is 30 years old and probably worth more than 200 times $4. But, no NFT, no guaranteed provenance, and as it happens, no problem because she just drank it anyway.

Ernest Gallo, whose winery used to sell one out of every three bottles of wine in the United States, would say, “Wine is not for drinking. Vodka is for drinking. Wine is for selling.”

Maybe, he was right.

But, the waffle wizard apparently disagrees.

Blockchains and NFTs can do a lot of things, but they still can’t tell the drinkers from the sellers. Only people can do that.

It’s just as well, it keeps the wine business more interesting anyway.