Brief: Apps authenticate Australian wine in China

Chinese IT firm Invengo has joined forces with Deloittes and a company co-owned by retired Australian basketball player Andrew Vlahov to develop an app to authenticate Australian wines.

The app-based system - which authenticates codes placed on wine bottle labels and allows the bottle to be traced back through the supply chain - is being road-tested by Australian winery Ferngrove.

Vlahov told the ABC news network that Chinese consumers will pay a small premium for wines that they can guarantee are authentic, adding that the labels will be tested at up to a dozen 'checkpoints' along the supply chain from vineyard to retail outlets.

Earlier this month, Linkar Group and Guangdong Guangxin Information Industry Development Co revealed details of a similar app-based tracking platform that is being trialled on wines produced by Australia's McHenry Hohnen winery.

Australia is the second most prolific exporter of wine to China after France, which has just signed an accord to collaborate with the Chinese authorities in the fight against counterfeit wines and spirits.