Last year I wrote about QR codes that were being used by Ralph Lauren. I recently discovered two Portuguese wineries that have just started using QR codes on their wine labels. If you take a look at the back label here you will notice a normal bar code and also a funny looking square next to the bar code - that is the QR code.
The idea behind QR codes is that you can embed information in them that can be easily scanned with a cell phone camera. The most common use of QR Codes is to embed a web site URL, so you can direct the person to a specific web site when scanning the label.
In the case of these Portuguese wineries they are directing wine consumers to Adegga, an online community of wine lovers that dubs itself as a "social wine discovery" service. This is how it works. You scan the QR Code on the wine label and you will be taken to a special page on adegga.com dedicated to that particular wine. You will be able to read other people's comments about it, check wine prices, read comments from the winemaker and much more. Adegga is undertaking a very ambitious project attempting to catalog all the wine of the world with something called an AVIN, which will be a unique wine identifier (similar to ISBN numbers for books).
Obviously there is not broad use of QR codes yet in this country. But in Japan and Europe they are becoming more common. I expect we will start to see broad adoption of this kind of technology here within 2-3 years. If there are wineries out there that would like to become part of this project then we will be happy to print your wine labels with the QR codes.
Hat tip to Jose Eduardo at the Cortes de Cima Winery in Portugal for informing me about this.
Should you collect vintage wines, you happen to be undoubtedly aware that light, heat, humidity and vibration can all aversely affect wines and probably spoil them. This really is why folks have traditionally kept wine in cellars below the home.
Thanks Terre, I didn't know about the Microsoft offering. I will check it out. It is great they are using color because you can embed much more information into a color 2d barcode. There is even the possibility of scanning a color barcode and running a short movie on your phone. Very cool.
Have you checked out Microsoft Tags? I like their looks better than QR and have already placed them on some printed materials. Anyone with an internet-enabled cell phone can take a photo of the tag, which will open a website. http://www.microsoft.com/tag/
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the post about the subject. Actually Cortes de Cima and Quevedo are the 1st ones to use the QR Codes this way around the world. Soon you will have this wines in the USA with the codes on them. Let your readers know that the wine ratings and reviews at adegga.com are in english and other languages like french and spannish.
Cheers,
Mark,
Thanks for your comment. QR codes are really cool technology that I think in a few years we will wonder how we ever managed without them.
Peter
I have to say that's really amazing. I didn't know QR codes existed - I have my research cut out for me!
Thanks for this tidbit and for leading the pack on this one here in the US.