By Clotilde Chenevoy | the | Data
The Casino group’s wine merchant is innovating in the sale of high-end wines by adding NFTs. The operation, carried out with Maison Bouey, starts on September 8th. Explanations by Gaspard Randon de Grolier, CEO of the Nouvelle Cave.
This Thursday, September 8, La Nouvelle Cave, the Casino group’s wine merchant located in Paris rue Turbigo, invites its customers to a wine fair. An exceptional offer has been created with Maison Bouey, which offers grands crus classés. For 290 euros, wine lovers will be able to leave with a wooden board stamped Maison Bouey and a QR Code… The latter is symbolic, behind this transaction, customers are actually buying an NFT (Non Fungible Token) which corresponds to a bottle or a case of a grand cru, which is stored by Maison Bouey.
A project to facilitate the resale of grands crus
This is a first in France, assures the manager, and this project is part of the group’s more global approach of experimenting with the various possibilities with Web3 (Metavers, NFT/Blockchain, cryptocurrency, VR, etc.). “We have been thinking about the subject of NFTs since 2021 and we have studied many scenarios, explains Gaspard Randon de Grolier, CEO of La Nouvelle Cave. Our goal was to find a use that brings value to wine-loving customers and justifies using this technology. With this first drop of 15 NFTs, produced in partnership with Maison Boué, we are offering a new way to buy Grands Crus Classés with a view to keeping and reselling them. »
Indeed, the 30 bottles that will be sold for this first operation are between 25 to 30% of their aging time. They will increase in value even more in 5 years or more. If the customer wishes to taste this wine, the Boué house will take care of delivering his property in exchange for the NFT. And if the customer wishes to resell his bottles, via the NFT, he can provide the future buyer with complete traceability, with details on the date of purchase and the storage conditions. The latter may even not touch the products and maintain custody within the Boué house. Storage is free until January 2023, then the cost is 5 cents per month per bottle.
Polygon’s choice for the blockchain to limit costs
Regarding the technical aspect, La Nouvelle Cave has decided to go through the Polygon blockchain, “significantly cheaper than Ethereum but usable under the same conditions with possible resale on OpenSea”, specifies the CEO. The purchase will be made in euros on September 8 and the La Nouvelle Cave teams will actually create the NFT at the end of the sale in order to offset the volatility of the cryptocurrency.
Beyond providing traceability, the NFT also makes it possible to manage the remuneration between the different actors during resale. Indeed, La Nouvelle Cave, Maison Boué, and the winegrowers will receive royalties for each transaction, defined by smart contract. Gaspard Randon de Grolier was able to benefit from the group’s expertise to financially manage the collection of crypto-currencies.
This first drop will follow next year another scenario around wine allocation. Thus, customers will be able to buy NFT even before the production of a cuvée to reserve bottles. “Currently, everything is done manually,” emphasizes Gaspard Randon de Grolier. The technology would therefore bring a benefit for traceability and resale. It remains to be seen whether wine lovers will be, like art lovers, receptive to NFTs…