NFTs and Traditional Life Series: Wine

NFT and Wine: The Establishment Offerings

Chateau Angelus has produced first-rate Bordeaux wine for over a hundred years and this century; they’ve expanded into NFTs. As with Nike’s shoes and Hublot’s watches, buying an Angelus NFT entitles the owner to some of the brand’s products. In the case of Angelus, purchase includes a barrel of wine plus a virtual tasting with Angelus’ CEO and co-owner. Cult Wines, the organization Angelus collaborated with for this offering, will store the wine until it’s ready to drink.

Robert Mondavi Winery has collaborated with high-end porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud to create their own distinct package. Every package includes: an NFT of generative art that authenticates a Bernardaud-made porcelain magnum of the Mondavi brand’s 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from its To Kalon (Greek for ‘the beautiful’) vineyard. For thos unfamiliar, a magnum is a wine bottle two-times the size of a standard 750 ml bottle. This NFT offering from late-2021 is limited to 1,966 bottles which references the year Robert Mondavi Winery was founded.

Five years into its existence, Yao Family Wines led the Non-Fungible Token charge into fine spirits. The winery’s 2016 Chop (Chinese for ‘seal’) included another seal in the form of an NFT. That collectible NFT’s design features the number 11. This represents the year of the wine’s release as well as the jersey number Yao Ming wore during his eight-year career in the National Basketball Association. Yes, it’s that Yao Ming!

The future of wine and NFTs?

If you found the layered approache of the previous three projects intriguing, consider wine futures. In the same way that affluent individuals trade stock and commodities, they also trade wine futures. Buying a future means buying a wine while it’s still maturing in the barrel. And now they do so through NFTs.

The supply chain associated with traditional wine-trading marketplaces tends to absorb significant revenue from sellers and ups prices for buyers. Vinsent provides a block-chain powered marketplace that brings wine-lovers closer to their desired tipple utilizing the security of Non-Fungible Tokens.

The on-chain marketplace also sidesteps the multibillion dollar counterfeit wine industry. If the proprietary code on the bottle fails to authenticate via a smartphone app that connects the code and the corresponding NFT, a potential buyer knows they’re far from the real thing.

Metaverse integrated from the start

Hello Fam is a winery that builds in NFTs from the start. Their team combines traditional winery know-how with 21st century marketing and cryptopanache. Their first release — Genesis Vintage 2021 — was only available via an initial NFT offering late in 2021. One Grape Fam NFT of the vintage corresponds to ownership of a 6-bottle case, enough to fuel a Karen for an entire weekend.

Unlike the above projects BitWine is simply digital art backed by… nothing. The pixel art draws upon the same elaborate classification schemes applied in the real wine world minus the bottles and alcohol content. BitWine loops back to NFTs roots in digital art and relies on wine’s history as much as its creators’ bona fides for success. The BitWine team includes an accredited sommelier, Lauren Vaile, and well-recognized pixel artist, Stephen Osborne.

Conclusion

Fine wine, like fine art, achieves its lasting richness through layering. NFTs have added one more layer that allows innovators and established wineries alike to expand into the metaverse. We’re curious to learn what new projects will ripen from the fresh blend of 21st century technology and millennia-old tradition now that creators and their audience are closer than ever!