eProvenance in new wine provenance collaboratives

eProvenance, a Franco-American company applying advanced technology to monitor the temperature of fine wines in the supply chain, has formed two wine provenance collaboratives in Bordeaux; Napa and Sonoma; with another soon to follow in Burgundy, reports James Graham

“Our goal is to create an environment of co-operative and continuous improvement in the global wine distribution channels. We cannot manage, nor can we influence a complex system without first measuring the current conditions,” said Eric Vogt, founder and CEO of eProvenance.

“We will accomplish this by mapping distribution temperatures in the major world markets, pooling individual information, identifying areas for improvement, and then speaking with one voice to bring about positive change.”

The collaboratives map the performance of the global wine distribution channels in order to understand and improve conditions, share best practices, and provide the ability to authenticate high-quality provenance.

They are comprised of wine producers, merchants, and logistics providers who are committed to ensuring wine made with great care arrives in the same condition to be enjoyed by the customer. Shipment temperatures are monitored throughout the entire distribution channel using the eProvenance-designed system that incorporates high-tech RFID (radio-frequency identification) sensors and a secure, online global database.

The resulting data is stored and analysed in the eProvenance Online Monitoring System (OMS). While all data is confidential and can only be accessed directly by each account holder, Provenance Collaborative members receive reports that aggregate the information anonymously and provide an overview of present conditions in the wine supply chain.

During the past 18 months, over 2,500 cases equipped with eProvenance temperature-tracking RFID sensors have been sent out from Bordeaux, Burgundy and California to a variety of locations in the US, UK, Brazil, China, Singapore and Japan.

June 09