Australian winemaker taps YPB for NFC protection

Australian winery Seppeltsfield is turning to a technological solution to fight counterfeiting in the form of a near-field communication (NFC) tag provided by YPB.

Seppeltsfield – which is one of Australia’s oldest winemakers based in the Barossa region – is the first brand owner to sign a supply agreement for YPB’s new NFC Vintail label, which spans the closure and neck of the wine bottle and incorporates an NFC microchip.

The label provides tamper-evidence, and allows a customer to check the authenticity of a bottle, as well as other information about the wine, using an NFC-enabled mobile phone.

It can determine if the product has been opened, and provides users with a 360-degree experience including wine provenance information, as well as a tour of the Seppeltsfield Barossa Village and surrounding vineyards.

A similar approach has been taken by other winemakers, including Burgundy’s Domaine Emmanuel Rouget which in 2017 started using an NFC-powered tag – provided by Selinko and Toppan – intended to guard against the problem of bottle refilling.

The Vintail has been embedded into the neck of each bottle of The Westing and The Northing Barossa Shiraz, giving each bottle a uniquely serialised identity. Seppeltsfield has signed up for a three-year supply agreement to begin with, which will cover a monthly subscription fee for the platform along with volume-based sales of tags.

“As we begin to expand our luxury wine collection, we are proactively investing in technology to guarantee wine authenticity,” said Seppeltsfield’s executive chairman Warren Randall.

“Through the Vintail and a customised technology platform, every bottle of our newly-released Shiraz range can be authenticated.”