Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for wineries.
A checklist built from how wineries work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Vineyard blocks and harvest intake
- Vintage and lot records
- Tank and barrel register
- Bottling and work orders
- Cellar stock and allocations
- Cellar door, bookings and club
- Trade orders and invoices
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- Winemaker
- Vineyard and cellar staff
- Cellar door and club team
- Owner and trade desk
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Vintage yield by block and variety
- Vessel contents and fill levels
- Tasks overdue in the cellar
- Dry goods stock and reorder list
- Stock and allocation by wine and vintage
- Club shipments and failed payments
- Sales by channel, wine and customer
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Web shop
- Card payments
- Courier and shipping labels
- Accounting software export
- Email and SMS
- Barcode and label printer
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this winery software or general stock software?
- Is a blend traceable back to its vineyards?
- Are barrels managed?
- How does the wine club work?
- What about online sales?
- Does it handle custom crush clients?
- Can we import our past vintages?
- Who owns the data?
- What does it cost?
- Does a small estate need this much?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Lot history is hard to rebuild
- Barrel and tank contents are not visible
- Dry goods run short at bottling
- Club and cellar door lists drift apart
- Trade orders and stock disagree
Prefer to talk it through? See the wineries page.