The Stairway To Heaven
One of the businesses that urgently needs the help of technology is fine wine. Why? The issue of fake wine has become so acute that some experts estimate that 20% of fine wine is counterfeit.
Today, the only places where you can count on finding genuine bottles are in the cellars of the great producers, like here at Château Lafite Rothschild.
There is a special place, deep in the cellars of Chateau Lafite Rothschild in Pauillac. In July ‘21, a winemaker guided me through the Lafite cellars using old lights that look like candles, and in the almost-dark, I could see a broad set of stairs ahead. He says, "We call this the Stairway to Heaven". I never tire of listening to the greatest rock and roll song of all time. I even tried to learn how to play it on the guitar as a teenager. This real-world version is even better! For wine lovers, this experience is Nirvana.
Dusty old Lafite Jeroboam bottles line both sides of the stairs like a welcoming party, enticing me up. The stairs are steep, and I reach the top a little breathless with both exhilaration and effort.
My guide explains that we’ve arrived in the cellar where the oldest bottles are kept. To our left are the Lafite bottles from the 1700s. When he turns on a dim light to show me what's there, I peer longingly through the sturdy, locked metal gates at the dusty, musty bottles. Ooh, and it makes me wonder (I had to write that phrase), that this is the only place where I know with certainty that I am looking at the real thing. This thought makes me melancholy, and if you're wondering why I'm thinking and feeling this way, I recommend that you read The Billionaire's Vinegar. And for additional colour, a New Yorker article called The Jefferson Bottles, How Could One Collector Find So Much Rare Wine?
In 1985, the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold was offered for auction sale at Christie’s in London as a 1787 Thomas Jefferson Bottle etched bottle of “Lafitte”. It turned out to be fake. The issue of counterfeit wine is rife and the solution must lie with technology.
This historic visit inspires me to work harder on developing anti-counterfeit technologies to bring certainty back to wine collecting and consumption. Stay tuned.