About ELID

The Problem

Wine identification is broken. The same wine appears with different names across shops, restaurants, and databases. "Dom Perignon Brut 2012," "Dom Pérignon Champagne Brut 2012," and "Champagne Dom Perignon Brut Vintage 2012" are all the same wine, written differently.

This makes price comparison impossible, scatters reviews across systems, creates inventory chaos, and makes technical integration difficult.

The Solution

ELID (Easily Legible IDs for Wine) gives every wine a single, standardized identifier:

• FR — Country (France)
• CMP — Region (Champagne)
• DOMP — Producer (Dom Pérignon)
• 01 — Wine number
• 2012 — Vintage

One wine. One ID. Always.

Why It Matters

• Universal Identification — No more guessing if two listings are the same wine
• Price Comparison — Instantly compare prices across any platform
• Hierarchical Structure — Geographic and producer context built into the ID (country-region-producer)
• Inventory Organization — Sort by country, region, or producer
• Search and Filtering — Find all wines from a region or producer instantly
• Error Detection — Invalid vintages and misspellings become obvious
• AI-Ready — Structured, predictable format machines can understand

Technical Details

ELID follows a formal specification with strict formatting rules. The system handles everything from prestigious Bordeaux first growths to small natural wine producers.

Each component uses specific character limits and maps to established wine classifications. Countries follow ISO standards where applicable.

It is designed with every wine producer and wine region in mind, today and forever into the future.

Learn more in the full technical documentation.

Author

ELID was created by Rijnard van Tonder, PhD & Certified Sommelier.

Contact: [email protected]