Method and device for improving the quality and traceability of alcoholic beverages, in particular wines

A method, notably a computer-implemented method, for managing and/or monitoring at least one factor *fx* selected from a set of factors comprising:

• *f1* the agricultural production of a raw material for producing an alcoholic beverage, preferably wine;
• *f2* the production of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f3* the storage of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f4* the maturation of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f5* the consumption of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f6* the quality of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f7* the authenticity of this alcoholic beverage relative to a reference selected from the group comprising, advantageously formed by:
• the names of the wine and the domains, the appellations of origin;
• the geographical indications;
• the traditional specialties guaranteed;
• the labels;
• the trademarks;
• and the combinations thereof;
• *f8* the traceability of this alcoholic beverage;
• *f9* the selling price of this alcoholic beverage;
• said method mainly involving:
• (a) collecting at least one, preferably at least two, samples of the alcoholic beverage, placing each of them in an inert container relative to the alcoholic beverage and sealably closing said container with an equally inert stopper;
• (b) assigning data to each sample relating to the alcoholic beverage, which data is selected from the group comprising, advantageously formed by:
• data relating to the origin, data relating to the vineyard site, data relating to production, data relating to storage and maturation, data relating to consumption, physico-chemical data, qualitative data, in particular organoleptic data, economic data, commercial data, and combinations of these data;
• (c) optionally storing at least some of the samples collected in step (a) under determined conditions;
• (d) analyzing each sample in order to determine at least one mineral profile, preferably a metallic profile;
• (e) forming a database relating to the samples and derived from step (b) and step (d);
• (f) optionally, completing and/or updating the data assigned in step (b), at least once, over all or some of the samples;
• (g) optionally, completing and/or repeating the analyses performed in step (d), at least once, over all or some of the samples derived from step (c);
• (h) processing these data by means of a statistical analysis, advantageously by means of automatic or semi-automatic methods based on statistical processing, and even more advantageously by “datamining”, preferably using artificial intelligence tools and/or other “datamining” techniques;
• and
• (i) using the processed data for managing and/or monitoring at least one of the aforementioned factors *fx*.