News

Eprovenance, a technology company specialising in the wine sector, has launched its Intelligent Bottle tracking system for wines.

The system includes a semi-active RFID tag placed inside the case to monitor temperatures, and a passive RFID tag with a unique bar code attached to the base of the bottle to automate tracking and inventory management.

It also features a proprietary tamper-proof neck seal, with a covert code to authenticate the wine inside and stop counterfeiters.

The three components are linked with their unique identifications numbers in a high-speed, encrypted online database.

The company said the system was being used by nine leading Bordeaux Châteaux and it had supplied equipment for more than 1,200 cases in the past six months sent to the US, UK and Japan.

The cost of establishing an automated monitoring system is EUR5,000 (£4,000) a month for five months, plus the cost of hardware and tags, which it did not disclose.

Eprovenance founder and president Eric Vogt (pictured) said: "Similar to the Japanese automotive industry in the 1980s using Statistical Process Control to achieve continuous improvement, eProvenance aspires to start a positive trend with respect to fine wine."

The Franco-American company, which was founded in January 2007, raised more than $1m (£500,000) in start-up capital from its founders and advisors.