Salzburg, July 29th, 2019

Zion Market Research reports the global wine market was just over $300 billion in 2017, growing at a healthy annual rate of 6%. By 2023, the wine market will be $423 billion (the GDP of Belgium or Argentina). In other words, the wine market is crushing it.

According to MarketLine’s Spirits Global Industry Guide 2013-2022, the global spirits market had total revenues of $677 billion in 2017, representing a compound annual growth rate of 4.0% between 2013 and 2017. Wine and spirits represent a trillion-dollar market when combined, or blended, if you will.

Both markets are unusually attractive to industrial counterfeiters and nefarious refillers in this shady world of bogus bottles. Why?

Wine selection and a wine collection can be markers for status, while premium whiskey signals your success in a single-malt shot. High rollers are even more susceptible. Some wine collections are luxury assets.

Counterfeiters can play into all types of “estate bottled” and “Grand cru” forms of vanity.

Would you like a red, a white, or perhaps a gray market vintage?

Is that a top-shelf vodka, or a top-notch rip-off?

“I think it’s spelled ‘Bulleit’ not ‘Bullet,’” you remind the bartender as she pours you a glass of rye, neat.

How can you tell if your treasured pinot noir came from Napa or Nampa in  Idaho? Counterfeiters are having a field day with designation of origin.

Addressing the challenges of that faux Frontenac Gris will require a measured amount of technology and ingenuity. Sussing out valid wine and spirit brands will benefit from innovators like Authentic Vision providing instant verification of authenticity for distributors, retailers, and consumers via any smartphone, deploying a highly secure, unique Holographic Fingerprint™ tag that immediately identifies counterfeits.

What’s available now is precise geolocation of wine and spirits counterfeiting attempts. This will increase effectiveness and efficiency of enforcement efforts and will help to detect and geolocate imposter imports in real-time.

Armed with real-time market data and insights on channel and buyer behavior, brands can accelerate mobile delivery of product information and ease product registration. Consumer communication, engagement and up/cross-selling leads to an efficient way to inspire consumers with smart packaging features like Instant Win campaigns, loyalty programs and augmented reality.

The time is ripe to uncork this new and proven technology.