The history of wine production is as old as the world itself. The first traces of wine production can be found around 6000 BC. Now, the global wine market is worth $364.25 billion, and is predicted to reach $444.93 billion by 2027.
Apart from being a delicacy and trophy for the collector’s community, fine wine is also an excellent alternative investment option. It shows impressively stable prices and is less volatile than other assets.
Sponsored
However, participating in the trading might be complicated for smaller wineries.ย
Everyone is competing in the same pool – big wine producers and small boutique wineries. The already fragmented and archaic market was hit recently by the pandemic, primarily affecting smaller wineries who depend mainly on tourism and wine fairs.ย
Could crypto change the way the wine market functions? In search of a more inclusive market and more straightforward wine trade, WiV Technology introduces non-fungible token (NFT) technology to the wine industry.
NFT Technology
WiV Technology partners with wine producers, distributors, and merchants worldwide and introduces a platform for selling fine wine as an NFT.ย
Tommy Nordam Jensen, CEO & Co-founder at WiV Technology, believes this new platform will lead to a more inclusive and fair wine market with more opportunities. In an exclusive interview with DailyCoin, he said:
"WiV's mission is to enable everyone in the wine industry...to make wine trading and investing more accessible for everyone. We're turning fine wine into NFT, but also looking at a bigger picture in terms of assisting and helping the whole industry with both finance and trading as well.โย
On the blockchain-based WiV platform, each bottle or case of wine is associated with a unique non-fungible WiV Token, just like each bottle of wine. These tokens are quickly and transparently tradable in NFT marketplaces.
New Markets, Fair Trade, and Low Fees
Blockchain technology introduces changes in the way the wine trading process is managed. Blockchain doesn’t have a central authority that needs to maintain its integrity, reducing associated trading fees. Also, blockchain technology makes wine fraud-proof.
This way, expert wine producers worldwide get the opportunity to sell their wine at a fair, transparent price without incurring significant fees.ย
Crypto technology and WiV’s platform offer the wine producers cost-efficient solutions, transparent online sales opportunities that protect provenance, and provide producers with a safety net from rapidly changing economic conditions.ย
The wine trade is still a very archaic market and digitalization is slow to come. According to Jensen, only 5% of all wine is traded online. This means that the market is incredibly vulnerable in the presence of pandemic situations and the tendencies of massive digitalization of all services.ย
Worldwide Reach and Marketing
A digital trading solution is a chance for wine producers to reach bigger audiences worldwide and expand their businesses.ย
"Too many vineyards find themselves left behind because their skills are focused on producing exceptional wines rather than getting them in front of the right consumers. WiV lets producers focus on creating superlative wines while we make it simple for them to adapt to the constantly evolving sales ecosystem,"
notes Jensen.
Jensen emphasizes that for smaller wineries, it is challenging to find the right clientele to invest in their production because they lack resources to market themselves. At the same time, big wine producers have entire marketing departments dedicated to that.ย ย
"That's part of our system. We try to help them in terms of both marketing and trading sides. Also enabling them access both finance, but also volume as well,"
states Jensen.ย
NFT solutions and WiV Technology give wine producers an open worldwide trading platform, inclusive to all players in the market despite their size and resources. WiV has been experimenting with different projects, such as selling NFT fine wine combined with art or acquiring land in the virtual crypto-based metaverse called Sandbox to build a wine ecosystem there.ย ย ย
"Some of the wine producers we have collaborated with have been able to promote their wine in the NFT world. We try to do interesting stuff and introduce them to the world they are completely unaware of. We try to create a platform where they can create a new market for themselves."
Bulletproof System For Wine Transportation And Storage
When wine is resold, only the NFT gets moved. NFT solutions for the wine trade are removing this obstacle to make the processes of wine trade faster and more progressive.
In buying wine through the WiV platform, buyers are purchasing the physical wine. However, neither buyers nor producers need to worry about transportation and storage of the wine assets.ย
WiV stores wine in independent, centralized, professionally managed storage facilities, which are insured so all sides can feel confident about the protection of their investment.ย ย
Jensen is feeling optimistic about the future:
"In a few years, the metaverse could become an important part of the wine industry, and we are striving to become a trusted partner in the new landscape."ย
On The Flipside
- The main challenge that WiV faces is the archaic market, which might not be ready to go digital.
- Big players in the wine industry are resistant to using WiV platforms.
- The platform still has some work to do to make the whole process easy and user-friendly.
Watch the entire interview here: