Champagne houses use smart cap to deter counterfeits

Leading champagne producers in France will add new 'connected' caps to bottles, allowing them to be authenticated and tracked through the supply chain.

The General Syndicate of Winegrowers in Champagne (SGV) has contracted Advanced Track & Trace to supply the CLOE caps (see image), which feature a unique serialised code and hologram and are the result of a three-year development collaboration between the organisations.

A QR code customised to the champagne house's visual identity - which appears on the exterior of the cap - offers customers who scan it with exclusive information about the bottle, including a "presentation video, history of the vineyard, tasting advice etc," says ATT.

An easy tear-off opening gives access to each bottle's unique information, concealed on the inside of the cap. That includes a serial number, signature, message and illustration of the brand, as well as the ability to check the bottle's origin.

"CLOE is the first cap able to convey information between the different market players," notes ATT.

"Its certification by the SGV, representing 99 per cent of winegrowers of champagne, promises to mark durably the packaging practices in the Champagne region."

Earlier this year, Italian police uncovered 9,000 bottles of fake Moët & Chandon champagne worth an estimated €350,000 at a location in Padova. The counterfeits were discovered when police found a bottle without a serial number on the label.