May 4, 2022
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
A collection of five of South Africa’s finest and most historic wines have been sold as NFTs, marking a new first for the South African fine wine industry.
Here’s what we know:
Collections of fine wines made by some of South Africa’s leading producers have been sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in what has been described as a first for the country’s wine industry. The auction, which was conducted by fine art auctioneer Strauss & Co, saw some lots, like Klein Constantia’s Vin de Constance vertical collection from 1986-2027, being sold for $79,000 (R1,251,800).
Other lots that exceeded estimated prices include winemaker Meerlust’s “50-year vertical of their famous Rubicon,” which reached $68,000. Vilafonté Series C 2003-2027 topped $36,000, while Mullineux Olerasay 1-20 is reported to have garnered $20,000. The collection from Kanonkop Paul Sauer, 2000-2025, fetched $16,000.
Successful bidders now hold the NFTs in a custodial or private wallet which can be viewed on the blockchain, a public peer-to-peer ledger of consensus-based transactions.
While each collection is an NFT, the individual bottles are also ‘minted’ as NFTs and can be drawn or traded at any time on any NFT platform around the world.
Two of the lots were paid with Bitcoin immediately after the sale, as the lots attracted a host of new buyers to Strauss & Co along with successful international bidders.
“It shows that collectors value the ability to own and trade fine wines through these new ownership certificates,” Fanfire Web3 CEO Gert-Jan Van Rooyen said.
“We envision a future where collectors can hold an entire portfolio of wines from across the world in their crypto wallets.”
Image credit: Wikimedia commons
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.
