Read the book, section by section
Pick a section to open it as a PDF. Subscribe to unlock all sections.
Wine Business Series
The Vineyard
The grapevine's annual cycle from dormancy through veraison to harvest, vineyard development and redevelopment, management companies versus in-house, labor and farming, blocks and yields, AVAs and grape contracts, the CDFA grape crush report, crop insurance, vineyard technology, and the Williamson Act.
Winemaking
The cellar's annual cycle and winemaking styles — red, white, rosé, and sparkling — varietals and AVAs, consultants, winery labor and fixed assets, wine sourcing and yields, a map of the winery, CA ABC and TTB compliance, in-bond versus tax-paid inventory, cased-goods reporting (As-Packed vs. 9LE), third-party warehouses, and barrel leasing.
Sales, Marketing & Public Relations
Inside and outside sales, control versus open states, the role of distributors, discounts and depletion allowances, bonus structures, sales metrics and margins, forecasting demand versus supply, the marketing mix and pricing, gross margin by SKU, wine scores and Wine-Searcher, why people choose a wine, brand identity, and public relations.
Accounting & Finance
Controller and CFO roles, charts of accounts and the period-end close, AICPA report levels, best practices from AP and payroll to fixed assets and bank reporting, banking and the three C's of lending, interest-rate swaps, harvest cash need, income tax and entity selection, acquisitions and divestitures, internal controls, ratios and dashboards, and the risk areas that catch wineries out.
Wine Inventory Cost Accounting
Inventory & Cost Accounting
Costing methods from absorption to activity-based, byproduct and rosé cost accounting, direct versus indirect costs and the UNICAP §263A rules, vineyard and winemaking charts of accounts, actual versus standard costing with bulk-wine roll-forward examples, excess capacity, barrels, pricing, and profitability by SKU.
Wine Budgeting and Forecasting
Budgeting & Forecasting
Strategic planning from vision statement to action plans, forecast versus budget and the timing of each, a step-by-step build of the budget and forecast file — actuals, production, sales by vintage year, income statement, capital expenditures, inventory, balance sheet, and cash flows — zero-based budgeting, IT solutions for forecasting, and the harvest cash need.