Will tokenization change the way we understand fine wine? Theoretical layout and future prospects

The role of fine wine as an alternative investment has been in recent times subject to increasing academic interest. Wine investment, albeit being a principled option in different types of portfolios, presents a set of barriers and limitations that hinder its overall performance. This paper explores fine wine tokenization – representing fine wine through blockchain tokens – as an alternative to the current model where investing mainly takes place in auction houses and wine exchanges or funds. Ever since 2021, a still small but growing amount of initiatives have explored tokenization in the fine wine sector, yet it is early to talk about any form of widespread adoption. We aim to lay down the theoretical framework behind tokenization and analyze the dynamics emerging from current fine wine token collections. We propose winery-based tokenization as a promising disruption in the fine wine market, where an uncertain legal framework, technical restraints and information asymmetries could entail short-term challenges meriting further research efforts.