NFC, wine, logistics and consumers sounds like a great evening

NFC, wine, logistics and consumers sounds like a great evening with a twist thanks to eProvenance and Near Field Solutions

eProvenance and Near Field Solutions have got together and combined NFC, humidity sensors and wine together in a MacGyver style project to create a new value added service for consumers, and a tracking and environmental tool for the winery. NFC has more applications than any one person can imagine. We continue to be amazed and impressed with use cases and innovative projects that are finding new ways to use Near Field Communication with other sensors. It is projected that the internet of things concept that adds NFC to many other sensor types will become commonplace within the next few years. eProvenance and Near Field Solutions are making the internet of things happen today, and this could be the first step in how luxury perishable products are sold globally within the next few years.

If you are or know a wine connoisseur, you will know how many variables change the flavor and overall quality of a good bottle of wine by the time you uncork it and pour that first glass. Everyone knows that the grapes are an important step in judging the quality of a great bottle of wine. We posit that many consumers outside of aficionados do not think about how the route traveled from the winery to the table affects the quality of that luxury item.

Since eProvenance takes this part of the logistics chain very seriously, they took on Near Field Solutions to help build a system that would not only help the firm track temperature and humidity throughout its journey, but would also allow consumers who buy luxury wines to check that same data as they decide whether or not to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a case of wine.

David Pearson of Opus One said, “Starting with our 2008 vintage, we have an NFC tag on each bottle under the back label, which connects consumers to a video of our winemaker. Now we envision adding an eProvenance sensor inside each case to monitor the temperature for 15 years, allowing consumers with an NFC phone to read the entire temperature history with one click. The potential to connect with our consumers and to safeguard their wine is tremendous.”

How Near Field Solutions built a better wine case for eProvenance using NFC and sensors

The NFC based solution is the second generation of sensors that eProvenance has used. The first generation worked with RFID and handsets. However, because NFC is set to be ubiquitous both firms thought it would be a great idea to allow consumers to check ratings or share information they could read off wine cases with their NFC smartphones. We caught up with Glenn Needham, Director at Near Field Solutions Ltd, over at WIMA NFC USA where he took us through how the system works. The system even won the “Audience Award” and a Silver award while at WIMA.

“With a 15‐year battery life, the new 2G (second generation) eProvenance sensors can be embedded in the wooden wine case to provide continuous, long‐term temperature monitoring, which creates a record of provenance over time that adds to the value of the wine. eProvenance customers can choose either to convert the temperature data into a provenance rating or simply share the data, allowing the importer or customer to make their own judgment about the temperature conditions,” eProvenance said about the NFC solution.

Considering what eProvenance and Near Field Solutions have developed, it isn’t that hard to imagine that we will soon have intelligent refrigerators that use NFC to give us information about what is inside, expiration dates, and then connect to the internet for re-ordering supplies, and recipes for ingredients that need to be used soon.

“eProvenance customers are looking for ways to connect with their customers via social media. Our technology opens up the potential for a higher level of consumer connection and brand interaction,” commented Eric E. Vogt, eProvenance founder and CEO. “Making this provenance data available will motivate importers to verify quality conditions, give retailers more information to share at point of sale, and lead consumers to check the quality of what they are buying,” concluded Vogt.

Wine fans will enjoy being able to share information about their collections, recent purchases and quality of shipments of wine. Using social media, consumers will be able to connect with the actual winery that they purchase from and share their passion with other interested consumers using NFC smartphones. NFC again proves its versatility in blending the online and offline worlds with value added services that have never before been available to consumers. We just can’t wait to see what the third generation of the eProvenance and Near Field Solutions project brings to the wine industry and how NFC might connect to other sensors.