How are wines sold as NFTs?
It may seem unusual to combine wine and NFTs at first, but the idea makes sense since NFTs are unique and inimitable, just like premium wine. Wine NFTs, like other NFTs, are minted, traded, sold, and bought on exclusive Wine NFT marketplaces. Each NFT is linked to a physical wine product, ensuring its originality and uniqueness.
This connection allows wine producers to showcase their entire winemaking process on the blockhain. Every step, from planting the grapes to bottling, can be recorded within the NFT collection listed on the marketplace. Buyers not only own a digital token but also gain insight into the craft behind the wine.
To purchase a Wine NFT, collectors connect their crypto wallet to a Wine NFT marketplace, select the collection they are interested in, and complete the transaction using cryptocurrencies. The NFT may come with a physical wine bottle or barrel depending on the collection, which will be shipped to the buyer after purchase. Some Wine NFTs also include artworks or digital illustrations to enhance the collectible experience.
Pros and cons of a wine NFT
Wine NFT has some benefits that may help your business grows in the most creative way, while the drawbacks may defer your choice of investment. Let’s take a closer look.
Pros
Prevent faux purchases
NFTs are known for their originality. Therefore, when incorporating these tokens into a wine-related product, businesses can prevent users from investing in fake items. Since every token is linked to the blockchain and is confirmed with a smart contract, wine NFTs will always be protected from fraud or counterfeits.
Also, when buying wine NFTs, users are buying both digital tokens and physical products, so the provenance of authenticity is labeled on both the on-site and online wine NFT marketplaces – something that regular wine distributors lack.
Total transparency
As mentioned earlier, every step and every ingredient of making a wine bottle or a wine barrel is listed on the blockchain, so the transparency of a product is well secured. Like any regular winery, each bottle will have a list of used ingredients and the steps of manufacturing, yet this can be easily replaced. With the infusion of NFT, the originality of which is kept safe.
Reach more potential markets and customers
By putting wine NFTs onto the marketplace, businesses and corporations can be able to connect with more groups of customers, most of which are techies and youngsters who have a deep interest in both wine and blockchain. These customers will likely purchase something new and modern rather than extravagant and traditional, so wine NFTs can be of their concern.
Have a better marketing strategy
There’s no better way for wineries to advertise and market their products than having NFTs installed onto their wine bottles and barrels. When posting a product onto a wine NFT marketplace, businesses are already separating themselves from the traditional market. Moreover, NFTs can be varied, so wine distributors can attach digital paintings or virtual vials as exclusive bonuses.
Venture for a secondary market easily
By using blockchains – mostly Ethereum – winemakers can reach a secondary market without encountering obstacles. To be more specific, the NFT will undergo the process of alteration that should be profitable for each business, as they can be monetized through copyrighted fees on each secondary-market transaction.
Moreover, the role of a third party is excluded when using wine NFTs, so downtime and counterfeits are exempted completely.
Cons
Stolen/Scam wine NFTs integrated
While having a smart contract means that the products should be protected, the owners’ identities may be hidden or transferred. Therefore, NFTs can be stolen or faked by others, mostly scammers. This happens in all kinds of NFTs, and the wine-related ones are of no exception.
No statutory law issued on wine NFTs
The term NFTs is fairly new to the world, not to mention the absent regulations related to blockchain transactions. Therefore, traders can never be sure whether their digital tokens can be converted into real money or not. Also, the value of which is always fluctuated as governments and authorities are not responsible for all cryptocurrency transactions.
Moreover, NFTs are limited in some parts of the world, as 40 nations had issued a statement that defers blockchain-related actions.
Environmental-related issues
The energy that each digital token produces can be a problem, as minting and mining them can cost tons of electricity. To be more specific, with each digital-related product, the energy required for manufacturing can be similar to a Europe household using electrical devices for a year.
For the time being, natural resources and nuclear energy are the main sources of electrical production, so it’s inevitable that creating and distributing NFTs can cause some major consequences to the environment.
NFT wine offering by wineries
In recent years, a lot of wineries are offering their wine-related products on the wine NFT marketplaces, to mention a few:
Yao Family Wines
(Source: Yao Family Wines)
As one of the pioneers in the NFT industry, Yao Family Wines has been offering wine NFTs for several years. On April 14th, 2021, “The Chop”, a limited edition NFT of 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, was released and auctioned. Only 282 assets were issued, each labeled with an NFT to ensure authenticity. This offering allowed collectors to own a unique digital token linked to a physical bottle, combining the worlds of fine wine and digital collectibles.
Chateau Angelus
The cooperation between Chateau Angelus and Cult Wines has given the world one of the most unique and exotic wine NFTs out there. With a price of over $110.000, the winner will get:
- An exclusive barrel of Chateau Angelus 2020 Bordeaux En Primeur (225 litters – 30x bottles)
- A 3D digital illustration of the wineries
- A virtual tasting sequence with the CEO of Chateau Angelus
- A VIP session with a Michelin-star chef
- An exclusive stay during the harvest season in Bordeaux
Chateau Darius
Chateau Darius, a newcorner to the NFT scene, recently offered a collection of wine NFTs exclusively on BakerySwap. Each NFT was auctioned at $417.38 and included a digital painting, two original bottles of wine, and the opportunity to store the wine. This collection allowed collectors to enjoy a unique combination of digital art and physical wine, demonstrating how wineries can innovate in the NFT space.
PenFolds Australia
In early 2022, Penfolds Australia collaborated with the BlockBar NFT platform to release 300 exclusive wine NFTs, each priced at approximately $130,000. Each NFT included a digital artwork and a physical bottle of wine, with all bottles labeled based on their unique number. The physical wines were securely stored at BlockBar’s facility in Singapore and were delivered to collectors in October 2023. This historic NFT drop demonstrated how a prestigious winery could combine digital collectibles with tangible wine, offering collectors a unique experience that blends art, investment, and the enjoyment of premium wine.
Robert Mondavi Winery
If you are joining the world of wine NFT for quite some time, then the NFT collection of Robert Mondavi Winery x Bernardaud may sound familiar. With a price of $3500 each, you will get a bundle of three magnum-sized porcelain bottles, which contain a one-of-a-kind wine blend recipe, ranging from Napa Valley to Kalon Vineyard and a Clay Heaton’s digital art piece.
Solomone Winery
In order to increase the popularity of Georgian wines and keep up with blockchain-related trends, Solomon Winery launched the auction of over 170 NFTs of 2020 Dzelshavi (Qvevri Red) vintage, each of which had a price ranging from $150 – $300. Each collectible is infused with a digital painting and a bottle of wine exclusively from Solomon Winery.
Skipstone Winery
A collection of wine NFT has been launched on OpenSea – one of the most popular NFT marketplaces – due to the collaboration of Skipstone Winery and Yahyn. Each of the assets in the collection would include a 6-liter bottle of the highly rated Oliver’s Blend Cabernet Sauvignon, patched with a QR code linking back to the NFT listed in the marketplace.
Invivo Graham Norton Wine
The HE-DEVIL wine brand by Graham Norton has been taken up a notch when collaborating with Invivo Wines in New Zealand to release a collection of HE-DEVIL wine NFT, each of which cost about $300.
With 10 HE-DEVIL digital tokens released, each of which includes an exclusive-released HE-DEVIL wine bottle and a physical painting that has the signatures of Invivo founders. Moreover, one of the 10 tokens will have an exclusive, real-time virtual tasting session with Graham Norton himself.
Grape Fam by Hello Fam
With the reputation of aiding over 100 wineries on sales volume, Hello Fam has made itself on the world map of wine distributors. Recently, this estate has just released its wine NFT called Grape Fam – which is comprised of both a wine community and a digital winery.
Grape Fam NFT can be purchased via wine NFT marketplaces, which would include a Syrah-Blend-produced bottle and a membership allowance to the community and the winery. Also, purchasers can receive smart copyrighted ownership of six 750ml 2021 Genesis Vintage Edition bottles, all comprised in one case.
Top 4 wine NFT marketplaces for digital wine collectibles
When wine NFTs become a thing on the internet, so will the wine NFT marketplaces. Let’s see some of the most imminent ones out there.
BitWine wine NFT marketplace
Taking inspiration from the cultural stories and historical events of wine in general, BitWine has been popular with wine enthusiasts due to the distribution of digital assets and pixel-like artwork of wine on OpenSea. Customers can trade on the collection of 1,000 unique digital wine NFTs listed on this wine NFT marketplace, each is divided into age, grape types, production regions and of course, rarity.
The most expensive BitWine collection is set at a price of $300.000 on the auction, which will be such a deal for huge investors and treasure hunters.
WiV
By collaborating with wine distributors, creators and investors, WiV has released a platform that only listed luxury wine products as NFT assets. To be more specific, digital wine-related products have been programmed to represent the actual ones, while preserving the originality of the products. Therefore, the digital token is completely linked to the physical wine bottles.
NFT and wine enthusiasts can trade their assets as buying an actual wine bottle on this wine NFT marketplace. In addition, the downtime of checking the authenticity, rarity, and even storage time and location is exempted, while trading fees are reduced to the minimum.
Farandole
This wine NFT marketplace allows purchasers to explore the world of extravagant wine and wine-related bonuses without having to register for a specific community. With the offering of vintage editions and acceptance of both AVAX tokens and fiat payment methods, Farandole will be the future of wine NFTs as a whole.
BlockBar
Another wine NFT marketplace that assists users in trading wine-related tokens, BlockBar has been trusted by loads of different wineries out there. Traders can mint, sell, buy and trade their assets on this platform, with each type of token embedded in each physical wine bottle. Those bottles can be shipped at the request of the customers.
Is wine NFT such a potential investment? Should you invest in wine NFT marketplaces?
If you are a wine enthusiast and you have a sheer interest in the world of NFT, then yes, wine NFT is such a deal. Wine – in general – represent wealth and religion, therefore when combined with digital tokens will lead to high potential investment.
Therefore, if you want to invest in wine NFT marketplaces, the only thing you may have to consider is the blockchain platform. In most cases, Ethereum (ERC-721 protocol) will mostly be chosen, due to the ease of use and integration. Yet, a higher transaction fee and traffic, with loads of energy consumption will defer your investment.
The alternatives of development would be Flow, Solana or Binance Smart Chain. Though these platforms may not be familiar and less user-friendly than Ethereum, lower electricity consumption and transaction fees, as well as faster trading will encourage investors to participate.
Moreover, it’s crucial to find and collaborate with an experienced unit of NFT marketplace and smart contract development like Synodus to boost your business and make your wine NFT investment worthwhile.
FAQs
NFTs are the representation of ownership and authenticity, ranging from digital assets to real-world products. Therefore, anything can be listed on the blockchain as an NFT, even wine.
A wine NFT – like any other NFT – is the myriad of data comprised in the blockchain. Therefore, there will be no exact representation of each wine NFT. It can be an exclusive painting, a key for unlockable secondary content or just physical wine bottles – depending on the release of each winery.
– These are the steps to properly acquire wine NFTs, let’s take a look.
– Set up a crypto wallet (MetaMask and Coinbase are preferred, but you can use Crypto.com and Electrum as alternatives).
– Purchase some tokens, preferably Ethereum or Bitcoin.
– Connect your wallet to the related wine NFT marketplaces.
– After securing your connection, you can have access to the collectibles listed on the marketplaces. – – You can purchase those assets using cryptocurrencies if you want.
– The NFT will be transferred directly to your wallet after purchasing.
In fact, there will never be the best marketplace for everyone to sell and trade wine NFTs. Depending on your personal liking and your experience in the world of NFT, you can take note of some of the most popular general or open-sourced marketplaces that may sell wine NFTs, or you can check out our list of wine NFT marketplaces for exclusive investment.
In order to build a proper NFT platform for wine in particular, you can check out the steps of how to build a regular NFT marketplace that we have listed right here: How to build an NFT Marketplace?
Still unsure how to tailor these steps for the wine industry? Synodus can help. With over 6 years of experience and 30+ blockchain projects, we specialize in building NFT platforms for real-world assets like wine. Our team delivers end-to-end solutions that are secure, scalable, and market-ready. Contact us at contact@synodus.com to get started.
Wrapping up
The wine world is developing every day, from both physical and digital aspects. Therefore, the integration of NFTs onto wine-related products is inevitable. The future of wine lies temporarily in the emergence of wine NFT marketplaces, and vice versa. Yet, only time may answer if NFTs may complete the history of wine. If you want to explore more interesting blockchain-related information, you can follow our blog for daily updates.
Also, if you are struggling on building an NFT marketplace, we’re here to help.
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