Most winery owners rely on their tax return to find out the cost of the wine. This could be a fatal error because there is often a huge difference between the “tax cost” and the “true cost.” Furthermore, you don’t even see the tax return for months, sometimes even a year after the wine has been bottled and sold. In this course, you will learn what expenses to include in the cost of the wine and how to allocate those costs among the bulk wines, so that you can calculate the true cost as soon as the wine is bottled.

This course is designed for the Reluctant Bookkeeper (aka the owner doing it all), Winemakers, and Office Managers who handle the day-to-day bookkeeping, and Bookkeepers who want to learn some shortcuts. It is also useful for accountants new to the wine industry because it gives an overview of some issues unique to wineries.

What makes winery costing so difficult is that most of the costs are indirect (like salaries and supplies) and must be allocated to all of the different bulk lots in the cellar. Some of these bulk lots are in the cellar for as long as three calendar years, and the costs accumulate over time. I show you the industry approved method for allocating those costs.

If you have ever split a check at a restaurant, you have done an allocation. Naturally, the numbers for winery costing are more complicated than a restaurant check, so I will show how to use Excel to do the calculation.