New system claims best protection yet against wine fraud

Counterfeit wine expert Maureen Downey is set to launch a new system to combat the growing issue of wine fraud.

In partnership with diamond-certifiers Everledger, the Chai Wine Vault system promises to secure wine’s provenance and authenticity by storing it in a digital ledger that uses a ‘blockchain’ system – essentially a database where each record is marked with a timestamp and can not altered once it is sealed. It is the format used by bitcoins and other cyber currencies.

Fine wine forgery – highlighted in the recent film Sour Grapes – is hard to quantify by its nature but has been increasingly in the public spotlight following the trial and conviction of Rudy Kurniawan in the US in 2013.

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