Château Lafite Rothschild produces some of the world’s most expensive wine, making the product an attractive target for counterfeiters. Fighting these counterfeiters has proven difficult for the Château as the traceability in the wine supply chain is insufficient and stakeholders have different interests and capabilities in identifying fake wine. As traceability is the key to preventing counterfeit wines from entering the wine supply chain, how to use advanced technologies to fight counterfeiters has received increasing attention.

Besides existing technologies such as barcodes, Quick Response Codes (QR codes), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Electronic Product Codes (EPC), blockchain as an emerging technology has also come into play. The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the benefits and limitations of using different technologies, especially the emerging blockchain technology, to improve traceability in the supply chain. Students will learn how to assess the feasibility of using blockchain in supply chain management and discuss different blockchain strategies.