Domaine Ponsot adopts new authentication measure

Before his sudden departure last month, Burgundy producer Laurent Ponsot adopted a new authentication system for his family domaine that allows consumers to check a wine’s authenticity and whether or not it’s been opened.

The system is called ‘InTact’, it was created in partnership by Amcor Capsules and Selinko and was launched in November last year. According to Selinko, Ponsot had been involved with the project for a year before the announcement because he wished to integrate the system with the eProvenance Intelligent Cases already being used by the domaine. The InTact technology is also being used by Burgundian producer Henri Rebourseau.

InTact is a tamper-proof chip inserted into the capsule that can be scanned and read with a Near Field Communication (NFC) smartphone or device that verifies the authenticity of a bottle of wine or spirit. The chip is of the same design as those used in the banking industry and in e-passports.

As well as verifying a bottle and gathering additional information on the producer and vintage, etc. InTact also reads whether a bottle has been opened before or not, and is therefore specifically designed to counter the problem of refilled bottles.

Having already introduced eProvenance ‘smart’ cases in 2014 to help monitor temperature and storage conditions, Ponsot reportedly approached Selinko to implement this new system into the packaging of wines from his family domaine.

The InTact chip has also been tailored to work with the temperature monitor so customers will be able to not only check any particular bottle’s authenticity but also receive an impression of the conditions it has been subject to within its case.

Patrick Eischen, CEO Selinko: “We are particularly proud of this collaboration with Laurent Ponsot, probably the finest ambassador when it comes to protecting against counterfeiting in the wine industry. Laurent Ponsot estate produces a wine which expresses continuity of excellence, and which we must protect at all costs.

“A devotee of IT and new technologies, he was heavily involved in the selection of a solution that meets his many criteria in terms of security, ease of integration and use of the technology which, in his opinion, must be in step with the world in which we live. NFC technology was quickly identified as the best solution that could meet all of Laurent Ponsot’s requirements and that could naturally combine respect for tradition and innovation.”

Ponsot has been particularly alive to the problem of counterfeiting since his much-talked-about and dramatic intervention at a 2008 auction in New York, which helped rumble the infamous Rudy Kurniawan.

Despite subsequently introducing a number of measures of which InTact is the latest, he told the drinks business Hong Kong last year how unprepared most producers in Burgundy had been in the face of mounting counterfeiting.

Having introduced the measure at his family domaine, Ponsot of course then split from the estate in early March and announced he would be setting up his own négociant business.

However, Selinko confirmed to db that it is currently working with Ponsot to provide a similar system at his new project.

For more information on InTact click here.