AFRICA’s first fine wine nonfungible tokens will be auctioned this month, with well known South African vineyards such as Meerlust Wine Estate and Klein Constantia taking part.
The sale, organized by auction house Strauss & Co. from 18 April to 25 April, will offer wines from five producers, with each NFT holding between 20 and 50 vintages and between 66 and 288 bottles.
“Nonfungible tokens are a highly efficient way to package a collection of wines for trading and investment,” Strauss & Co. said in a statement on Monday.
“The digital contract, stored on the polygon blockchain, includes all the provenance, pricing, transaction, sensorial and ageing information.”
The sale joins a global trend of using NFTs to sell luxury beverages ranging from wines to whiskies with the novel method providing a certificate of provenance and providing publicity for the winemakers.
NFTs have soared in popularity in recent months, with caricatures of monkeys and lions commanding prices in the millions of dollars.
Sports clubs, prestige automakers and even pop stars are among those getting into the nascent trading business, which uses blockchain technology to authenticate unique ownership tokens.
Each bottle within the collections on sale will carry its own NFT, allowing the drinking or trading of single bottles.
The NFTs on sale and their estimated prices:
- The Strauss Rubicon 80-34 NFT includes the first 50 vintages of the Meerlust Rubicon Stellenbosch wine in varying quantities to total 288 bottles. Estimates at R550,000 rand ($37,741) toR 750,000 rand.
- Strauss Vin de Constance 86-27 NFT offers the first 40 vintages of Klein Constantia’s sweet wine made from Muscat de Frontignan. Estimates at R550,000 to R750,000.
- Strauss Series C 03-27 NFT consists of a 6-bottle case from each of the first 25 years of Vilafonté. Estimates at R550,000 to R750,000.
- Strauss Olerasay 1-20 includes the first 20 iterations of Mullineux Olerasay, a chenin blanc solera-style sweet wine. Estimates at R250,000 to R350,000.
- Strauss Paul Sauer 00-25 spans all vintages from 2000 to 2025. Estimates at R150,000 to R250,000.
BLOOMBERG
