With annual global wine production hovering around the 30 billion litre mark it is inevitable that brand theft, counterfeiting and other types of abuse should be as endemic here as in other markets. Wine authentication is a topic often discussed in the wine trade press but it appears to attract little activity among wine producers and little interest among brand authentication providers. But this quiet situation turns out to be illusory with much recent activity evident below the surface.

Authentication News has mentioned wine authentication in some recent reports on particular technologies, and here we bring together that information, with much new information, for an overview of this rapidly growing authentication market. The market was ripe for targeting. Of course, wines retailing at over $150 a bottle are targets for counterfeiting but with wines retailing at $8-11 a bottle constituting a $2.5 billion market, it is not surprising that this sector also has authentication needs.

There are over 1,000 wineries dotting California's North Coast, and yet, to date, relatively few have taken measures to protect their products from counterfeiting. The problem here is that most of them are small and with the traditional approach to anticounterfeiting (e.g. holographic labels) geared to large volumes, some creativity of approach is needed.

However, in July, 2010, Britain’s Sun newspaper reported that supermarket giant Tesco sold two bottles of counterfeit Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé, distributed by Hatch Mansfield. The bottles were on sale for £5, down from a usual £14.49 and reportedly had photocopied labels. This is an unusual but significant report of counterfeiting in the low-to-midrange wine market, which in turn the New York Times also reported and observe: ‘In that market, the trick might be a lot easier to get away with, for at least three reasons: first of all, evidence from psychology and neuroscience indicates that the end consumers of inexpensive or mid-priced wines probably aren’t paying as much attention to the wine’s sensory qualities as they would if it were expensive. Second, consumers’ quality expectations are clearly lower when they pay less, so they’re less likely to complain even if the wine doesn’t meet those expectations. Third, and perhaps most importantly, there’s little incentive for any individual to sue for fraud’. Thus this incident sparked general media coverage and some eye-opening in the wine trade and the authentication industry.

Several companies offer systems to fight wine counterfeiting and several different business models are being adopted to approach this large but fragmented market.
One of the earliest adopters of an overt, anticounterfeit security feature for wine was the Rioja wine region of Spain. The implementation of the holograms on the origin guarantee labels (the ‘contra etiqueta’ on the back of the bottle) took place in 2000. Rioja sells over 330 million of bottles annually, a market that the Regulatory Board of Denomination of Origin Rioja wanted to protect, thus adopting the hologram to avoid any confusion in the perception of consumers. That is why the security element was designed as a stripe, which was a natural evolution from the previous design.

The sophisticated security measure of this OVD served a dual purpose: to ensure the authenticity of the label of guarantee and to show again that Rioja is at the forefront of quality wines worldwide.



The launch of the OVD was accompanied by a training program for the Rioja inspectors so that they could recognize the genuine security label by checking all security measures.  An information booklet for the general public and a large press campaign also facilitated the understanding of concept. To avoid any confusion in the market it was clearly communicated which vintages and categories would bear the new security label.

The guarantee label are printed/converted by approved printers in Spain, subject to semi-annual physical inventories and commitments of accountability to everything that has to do with this matter. The foil is supplied by Leonhard Kurz who describe the OVD as ‘a combination of colourful text and grey level images.’

In general, the margins made on wine sales are relatively low and so it is difficult for producers to budget for a security label. However, Rioja wines, like many whiskies, are blended at a central collection point servicing many growers. This has the benefit of ensuring consistency of product from year to year but it also reduces the cost of label application because the volume of bottles going through a single labeling process is so high.

Kurtz’s high-end brand-protection solution, Trustseal®, differs from a standard hologram in that it is based on Kinegram™ technology but is visually distinct from it. The Trustseal, proprietary to OVD Kinegram Corp. a member of the Kurz Group, is a synthetic, computer-controlled, diffraction-graphic element that is created by using special, proprietary equipment, materials and knowledge.

In the case of Spanish winemaker and exporter Domecq Bodegas, a part of Domecq PLC, a pressure-sensitive Kurz Trustseal label verifies that its Campo Viejo Rioja wine is from the prestigious Rioja region of Spain, which is said to produce some of the best red wines in the world from the tempranillo grape. This distinction is important, as Rioja was the first of Spain's wine-producing regions to obtain the government's official appellation designation, or ‘denominación de origen’ in 1926. But Domecq Bodegas is not the only vintner to employ this label. More than 400 manufacturers of Rioja wine use this label, which includes sequential numbering and other Rioja certification graphics in addition to the Trustseal OVD stripe.

A completely different technology from France is being used for wine authentication. Developed by Prooftag, headquartered in Montauban, France, The company was privately funded with over 10 million Euros over a 10 year period and is now able to offer a complete technical solution to integrators comprising Bubble Tags, readers, software and everything needed for a quality authentication platform (see Authentication News May issue).

The Bubble Tag™ is based on the fact that bubbles in plastic are generated in an entirely random and unpredictable way. The Computer Research Institute of Toulouse helped to develop a reliable recognition and authentication algorithm.

Vinitag is a division of Prooftag specialized in the wines and spirits sector, developing customised versions of Bubbletag for and with the producers of wines and spirits, their distributors and the consumers. This market was the launch pad for Prooftag and the technology is now being used by 28 châteaux and key vintages (60% Bordeaux, 20% Burgundy, 10% Rhône Valley and 10% Napa Valley in California); a total of 4 million bottles.

An early adopter was the Comtes von Neipperg group of vineyards in the Bordeaux region in France. In July, 2009, Château Montelena in Napa Valley became the fourth Californian domain to adopt Prooftag. For its 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Prooftag developed a special tamper evident seal to go over the bottle tops. Claude Blankiet, owner of Blankiet Estate on Yountville's Westside, is also using Prooftag. Originally from Dijon, Burgundy, he said he had long been aware of the growing problem of counterfeit s among the premiere crus of Burgundy and Bordeaux. ‘We needed to find something that would work without it being cost-prohibitive,’ he said.  Hartwell Vineyards, of Yountville, California, began using the Prooftag system in 2006 after their consultant recommended it to them. Presently they are applying the Prooftag process on their Hartwell Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

While Hartwell is having it applied by their bottling company, Ryan-McGee Bottling in Napa, Blankiet said he is applying it himself at the winery. ‘You can put the tag anywhere you want on the bottle,’ he said. ‘We apply it where the bottle-neck and the capsule meet.’ He estimates his cost to be between 50 to 60 cents per bottle, or about one fourth the price he pays for the cork.

One of the attractive features of the Prooftag system is that the random array inherent in each Bubble Tag can be ‘read’ with a cell phone with an xhtml internet navigator and the appropriate database accessed to provide instantaneous verification (or otherwise) of the product.

In May, 2010, the British company Payne Security, a leading supplier of brand protection, document authentication and personal ID solutions, announced that its anti-counterfeiting solution has been selected by one of the ten largest wine producers in the US. This California winery selected Payne Security to protect its finest high-value wine range, retailing at over $150 a bottle.

Payne’s solution makes use of a proprietary taggant – also known as covert or forensic markers. These are microscopic or molecular particles and can be either organic or inorganic in composition. They exhibit specific and unique properties that are used, with corresponding readers, to authenticate the products to which they are applied, often in the form of ink, vanish or in the substrate itself. Payne’s solution is based on rare earth compounds and each compound has a unique signature. The taggants can be applied via all standard printing processes and are read by a specially- developed hand-held reader which can be programmed to hold multiple signatures. According to Richard Burhouse, Business Development Manager at Payne Security in England, this contract with a wine producer reflects part of a strategic direction for the business and is within an important market vertical for Payne.

Kodak has been working with a number of high-end Napa Valley wineries since 2007, deploying its Traceless™ technology which is based on an inert powder comprising compounds derived from synthetic minerals. A handheld reader detects the compound, which has a dual function: in basic use, the reader will detect the presence or absence of the compound to give ‘yes/no’ verification. Additionally, the random pattern of the particles on the surface of the item – eg the label - can be recorded and converted into a unique code that is printed back onto the items and/or recorded in a database for subsequent and additional verification. Kodak Traceless Imaging Readers are leased to clients for an annual fee. The readers can also be rented when needed. Costs of the entire system depend heavily on volume and can vary from a few cents per bottle up to a dollar.

In 2009, Kodak strengthened its position in the wine business by securing the Kosta Browne Winery in Sonoma County, California, as a Traceless customer. Kodak and Kosta Browne Winery worked with the label printer Tapp Technologies to develop the solution, which is applied invisibly without any additional production steps or costs and is detected with special pen readers.

Established in 1992, Tapp Technologies is a privately owned company. Bill Knopka, Vice President and General Manager, Tapp Technologies, says they ‘simply incorporate Kodak’s technology into our labels’ to give wine producers a solution which doesn’t interfere with the careful design of branded wine bottle labels.

Other wine producers to adopt the Traceless system include Colgin Cellars, Herb Lamb Vineyards, Vineyard 29 and Staglin Family Vineyards. Ann Colgin commented that ‘I liked (Traceless) because it doesn't upset the look of our bottle. It's there, but the human eye can't see it. We feel we have an elegant label, and this method retains that image.’ Beyond that, Colgin was cautious about describing the process her winery is using or how long they have been using it; after all, her wines leave the winery at $275 a bottle and the prices rise from there.

Hewlett Packard is another major technology provider that has teamed up with a supplier local to the wineries. Based in Petaluma, California, close to Sonoma County, MPSDigital Label is manufacturing digital labels through Collotype Digital based in Napa Valley, the North Bay’s largest commercial and wine label printer.  They have an Indigo WS4500, fully variable digital press system ideally suited to small wineries. Dr Steven Simske of HP explained that their Indigo Ink technology evolved out of brand security in the highly complex pharmaceutical industry. ‘We provide custom ink sets and work with local print service providers like MPSDigital Label.’

Collotype installed its HP Indigo WS4500 digital printing press and finishing line in January 2010, hired a six-person sales and graphics team for the new digital division in February and started rolling out labels from the press early in March 2010. Dan Welty, a spokesman for MPS, indicated an interesting business model for approaching the wine industry. He explained that the cost is mainly in the set-up of the system. ‘The labels don't cost much more than regular labels,’ he said. ‘Our earnings come from the consultation fees and the use of our equipment, inks and other products.’ He added that the set-up fee could be ‘as little as $200 to $500.’

Applied DNA Sciences, is supplying its solution, which uses the complex codes derived from botanical DNA, to Paumanok Vineyards, a US East Coast vineyard, for its wine labels. It has successfully concluded a pilot study with two ‘boutique’ wineries on Long Island to incorporate SigNature DNA into the inks used to print the labels, and is now working on a similar project for tamper-evident foil capsules and screw-on bottle tops. It sees the global wine industry as a key sector for the company.

And the taggant technology of another US-based supplier, InkSure Technologies Inc, is being used in eProvenance, a three-part tracking and authentication system for the wine industry that utilises RFID labels as well the markers in the tamper-proof neck seals. In May, 2008, InkSure announced that it had signed an agreement with eProvenance LLC for exclusive distribution of InkSure's authentication solution into the fine wine market in major wine producing countries in the world. The system, developed in 2008, is being used to track, monitor and authenticate wines produced in Bordeaux, Burgundy and California.

Founded in January 2007 by Eric Vogt, eProvenance applies advanced technology to assure the provenance of fine wines from producer to consumer using its Intelligent Bottle™ and wine temperature tracking system, which ties to its web site (see below). The company is currently implementing programs with nine leading Bordeaux chateaux, including several first growths. Among its customers are Chateau Bauduc, Chateau Lynch Bages, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Palmer. The Franco-American team is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in the USA and in Bordeaux and Paris, France.

EProvenance has exclusive rights for its technology as applied to the global wine industry, and has four U.S. patent applications for its technology certifying provenance and authenticity of alcoholic beverages using RFID, covert ink codes and multiple points of measurement coordinated by a secure, online database through all stages of the distribution channel. (These four applications are consolidated in to WIPO application WO2008106329, titled Methods and systems for certifying provenance of alcoholic beveragesi.

Sciacca Piccolomini d’Aragona, one of Tuscany’s top wine producers, has implemented a tracking system offered by the Italian company Certilogo S.P.a. Buyers of its best Brunello di Montalcino, said to be one of the most counterfeited wines in the world, can use a mobile phone to verify the authenticity of the wine by sending the code via SMS or calling an interactive voice service. Each bottle has a unique code printed on its neck. Certilogo calls this code Digital DNA.
The application was created by Certilogo, an Italian start-up which now claims to protect €2 billion worth of branded goods in over 80 countries. Besides protecting products and reputation, Ciacci Piccolomini sees the application as a way to communicate directly with the consumer. It’s simple but useful when you’re paying $60 or more for a bottle.

Advanced Track & Trace® is a French company, subsidiary of the LAMY Energies & Technologies Group which is actively engaged in the tracking and authentication of wines with Seal Vector, its system of invisible digitised branding which is built into the bottling line. Seal Vector is its wine-specific branding of its Secure Tracking and Authentication through Matrix Printing and Scanning method, more easily known as STAMPS.

Recently, the company gave a presentation of its system at Château Carignan, a Bordeaux Supérieur estate located in the town of the same name. Alain Foucou, ATT’s vice-president, gave an explanation of how this system prevents counterfeiting. Seal-vector can be integrated either on a small label which ATT supplies, or on the producer’s own label. ATT is also capable of including information, visible or invisible, on the cap or in the glass of the bottle, a method initially developed for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. The cost varies from 1 to several cents per bottle, depending on the formula required.

Seal-vector is another technology that exploits the capabilities of smart phones, in particular the iPhone. A consumer can use the phone to check the legitimacy of a bottle they have bought or are about to open, while the producer or exporter will be able to find out where the bottle finishes its journey and how a fine wine sold in the United States has ultimately ended up in China. As a way of combating counterfeiting, Seal-vector also enables the control of distribution circuits.

ATT is also negotiating with eProvenance. Foucou told Authentication News® that the company is also developing a system to track the grapes from vineyard to bottle and he hinted at a new application that will tie in the bottle cork.

ATT will be presenting a case-study on authentication in the wine trade at the Product Authentication + Security Summit in New Jersey in September (see page 11).
Contacts: www.kurz.de, http://graphics.kodak.com, www.prooftag.com, www.payne-security.com, www.hp.com, ww.mps4digital.com, www.adnas.com, www.inksure.com,
www.eprovenance.com, www.certilogo.com, www.att-fr.com.