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New fine wine NFT platform partners with logistics

A new NFT platform specialising in fine and prestige wine DTC sales has signed a partnership with a global logistics chain that it says demonstrates its long-term ambition for the company. 

Bottles of old aged wine collection in a row in winery cellar

Global logistics provider CMA CGM Group has taken a minority shareholding in Winechain alongside its founder, CEO Rodolphe Saadé.

Winechain’s co-founder Xavier Garambois said the move was not only an important one for the long-term strategy of the company, but also its customers, by enabling Winechain to take care of the logistics as well as sourcing of fine wine.

“This worldwide partnership with the CMA CGA Group is a mark of confidence in the future and our strategy that enables us to look to the long term,” he said.

“Although the acquisition of NFTs will be the first thing that enthused buyers will do on Winechain, the day will come when the owner of the wines will want to have them shipped to their homes, wherever that might be in the world, and in the very best conditions.”

“We will be able to benefit from the expertise and experience of CMA CGA and the major support that they can bring in terms of sea and air transport and logistical services,” he said.

Winechain was launched in April as a “new generation marketplace” that will enable direct contact between brands and consumers to attract a different kind of wine buyer, using blockchain technology and Web3 to ensure authenticity and traceability across the chain. Garambois said these tools were “destined to become essential, revolutionary tools for big names in wine”.

It claims to be the first independent NFT platform for fine wine estates, a “wine-meets-technology project, designed to create direct links with new generations of wine consumers around the world”.

Customers will be able to store the wine at Winechain’s dedicated warehouse until they require it to be shipped, and will able to manage their personal cellar and sell their NFTs via Winechain.

Participating winemakers can choose which wines they chose to sell on Winechain, and build their own direct-to-consumer distribution channel, which will allow them to interact with Winechain’s community of buyers.

The company was founded by three Frenchmen, Garambois, the former head of Amazon Europe, Guillaume Jourdan, CEO of VitaBella in Paris, and Nicolas Mendiharat, CEO of the San Francisco Palate Club and has already raised ready more than $1 million in backing from wine estates and wine lovers.
The platform is due to go live, issuing its first NFTs or ‘wiNeFT’ at the end of 2022.

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