Winery management software?

[RonObvious]

We finally have been granted all our permits to become a winery! Just waiting on the COLA and then we'll finally be able to sell. So now, since this is getting real, so to speak, I guess it's time for me to start thinking about a better way to manage our growing winery. Right now it's all paper and I'm struggling to keep track of it all. Anybody have any recommendations? We don't have a tasting room yet (I plan on selling to restaurants and local liquor stores), so I'm NOT looking for a point of sale solution. I'm more interested in something that will help me keep track of equipment and ingredients, quantities, sales figures, taxes, and anything else I'll eventually need to report to the TTB, FDA, state, etc. There are a bewildering number of choices on Capterra but I'm not sure where to begin. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Brigitte]

Looking for the same thing. Found your post. Wondering if you found a solution ?
Congrats on the startup!

 

[user 36973]

I'm sure you'll tailor your solution to your own specific needs, budget and scale.

My solution for the tracking and reporting was to use various spreadsheets in which I wrote formulas and macros to automate the use of ingredients and process.

In my mind at least the making of the wine, bottle quantity sales, and tax compliance are all separate tasks. So I have separate excel files for each.

As far as making the wine, the spreadsheet tracks the inventory, lot number and specific usage of each ingredient in every lot of wine. It tracks everything up to the bottling time where it captures the COLA, fill test, and gallons bottled. This covers most the info needed to fill out the 5120.17 for your TTB report. It also captures ingredient lot numbers for FDA compliance.

My second spreadsheet tracks bottle inventory and sales on a monthly basis. What was sold; what was added; what was used for tasting, etc... This completes the info needed in part 2 of the TTB report.

The last spreadsheet just handles the monthly sales for state tax, local tax and food&beverage tax.

 

[KevinL]

I track everything in excel sheets. I have formulas for a lot of the things that I need, but its basically a glorified piece of paper. My operation is tiny right now. I'm growing though, and I'm wondering if things are going to start falling through the cracks. Would you be opposed to sharing your spreadsheets jgmillr?

I know my TTB report takes me entirely too long, because I'm digging back through my notes and sheets. It'd be good to have a look at another system.

 

[Brigitte]

I'm sure you'll tailor your solution to your own specific needs, budget and scale.

My solution for the tracking and reporting was to use various spreadsheets in which I wrote formulas and macros to automate the use of ingredients and process.

In my mind at least the making of the wine, bottle quantity sales, and tax compliance are all separate tasks. So I have separate excel files for each.

As far as making the wine, the spreadsheet tracks the inventory, lot number and specific usage of each ingredient in every lot of wine. It tracks everything up to the bottling time where it captures the COLA, fill test, and gallons bottled. This covers most the info needed to fill out the 5120.17 for your TTB report. It also captures ingredient lot numbers for FDA compliance.

My second spreadsheet tracks bottle inventory and sales on a monthly basis. What was sold; what was added; what was used for tasting, etc... This completes the info needed in part 2 of the TTB report.

The last spreadsheet just handles the monthly sales for state tax, local tax and food&beverage tax.

Sounds impressive! Good ideas. I bet that took a lot of time to do all those spreadsheets!

 

[Brigitte]

I track everything in excel sheets. I have formulas for a lot of the things that I need, but its basically a glorified piece of paper. My operation is tiny right now. I'm growing though, and I'm wondering if things are going to start falling through the cracks. Would you be opposed to sharing your spreadsheets jgmillr?

I know my TTB report takes me entirely too long, because I'm digging back through my notes and sheets. It'd be good to have a look at another system.

You could be describing our operation!
Jgmillr I would also be interested if you decide to share. Totally understand if you don’t like this idea

 

[user 36973]

You could be describing our operation!
Jgmillr I would also be interested if you decide to share. Totally understand if you don’t like this idea

I don't mind sharing the spreadsheets. The macros are written to run on LibreOffice not Excel, so they would have to be rewritten to run in Excel anyway. I'll clean up the spreadsheets, add a few explanatory notes and post them.

 

[1d10t]

Oh no! They'll have to 'invest' in new software!
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

 

[Desolus]

I'd also love to take a look at them, would be an excellent starting point for a full fledged program and I've got some free time. Would be cool to have an open source software solution for this.

 

[user 36973]

Oh no! They'll have to 'invest' in new software!
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

Here are the spreadsheet and library I use for the winemaking logs. I had to ZIP the files to upload them to this site. Once you download and install libreoffice, you need to import the macro library by going:
Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros -> LibreOffice Basic...
Click "Organizer" button on the right of the dialog box
Click the "Libraries" tab
Click the "Import" button

I placed comment balloons on the pages of the "WineLogsTemplate" file to describe how I use the sheets. The macros and the spreadsheet evolved as I began using them extensively so I apologize if the coding or organization isn't overly clear. I have a number of TODO items I could code in there, but hey, I've been spending more time in the vineyard or winery these days.

My goals for the spreadsheet and macros were to:
1) Make my note taking while making wine easy, consistent and accurate
2) Collect the info needed for when the TTB or FDA want to see the records (lot numbers, ingredients, COLAs)
3) Let these work out the bugs for the foundation of a more integrated database down the road
4) Manage inventory so I don't run short on labels, ingredients, etc...

Feel free to make changes, corrections, updates and tailor it to your use.