145 Legacy Ct, Napa, CA, United States of America, 94559
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Making Wine Is an Art, but Filing Forms Is Not
Making wine is an art, but filing forms with regulatory agencies is not.
Having worked in the wine business for many years, we saw that wineries struggle with paperwork and regulatory requirements every day. But the wineries we knew were interested in making great wine, not in dealing with the government. These requirements upon them were at best distractions, and at worst, serious hindrances to creating wine and running a wine business. Over time we saw that we could help wineries by taking away this burden and giving them peace of mind that paperwork obligations were being taken care of professionally and carefully.
How exactly do we help our clients?
We prepare alcohol reports, process license renewals or first-time applications, complete audits involved in reporting to state and federal alcohol agencies, and review current recordkeeping practices. We can also recommend ways of streamlining processes, reporting, train staff in compliance issues and act as a liaison to the TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau). When a client needs time prior to disclosure of a problem situation requiring TTB or ABC notification, we maintain strict anonymity.
For example: If a client suspected that records hadn't been properly prepared, we could review their data and create any supplemental documentation that might be required in an audit.
If a client was aware of previous reporting errors but was unsure how to resolve the discrepancies, we could review data, establish critical supporting documents as needed, and submit corrections with explanations to state and federal agencies, putting our client's business back on track.
We know which documentation and filings to prepare if a client is updating or changing their business entity status. The client would then have reassurance of accurate submissions.
We see the big picture
Our wide range of industry knowledge allows us to see the bigger picture and understand how seemingly minor changes can affect a wine business in significant ways. We can advise on or execute the processes needed to ensure our clients will be in full compliance with state and federal alcohol agencies.
At WineCompliance.com we're a tight-knit team of experienced professionals. Together we provide some of the best service you will find in the wine business.
Are you ready for us to take away your paperwork burden?
Please contact us.
Be Prepared for TTB Audits Before Harvest Begins & Reduce Your Chances of Being Selected
Ever been audited? The thought of it send chills down most people’s spine. Whether it’s for you personally or your business, no one likes to be audited.
But sometimes your number is picked and you have to endure the process. Hopefully by the end of the experience, you are all the wiser and on the straight compliance road.
So if you want to learn the secrets to reduce your chances of being audited, here are some good basics to follow.
- Realize that all activity, whether it is cellar additions, pumping, topping, barrel movement, bottling, and evaporation; it all needs to be documented. TTB's website has some basic formats within their seminar guides that are acceptable to use for record keeping.
- If you don’t like computers (and by now you should because it really can make it easier to keep track of your records) hire someone who does and who can enter your data in a consistent format that YOU will be able to understand and explain to a TTB agent, should you need to three years from now.
- The FDA requires that all ingredients added to your wines be logged as part of your weekly process and can be traced back to the manufacturer, purchase order and driver’s name that delivered the product.
- Once a year you should take an actual physical inventory of your wines in bulk or bottled. This inventory should be reconciled against your book ending inventory for the same period. At least once a year declare your gains and losses.
- If you find that you reported losses and paid taxes due on the losses, only find the missing wine the following year, you can amend up to three years back and recoup the taxes paid.
Note: It’s always better to take a credit for the taxes over paid than wait 3 or 4 years for a refund from TTB.
- Rack your fermented “juice” and declare your wines as “produced” after racking to stay within the allowed percentages of processing losses at the end of the year.
- If you receive or transfer bulk wines or bottled wines from an Alternating Proprietor under the same location or from another winery at a different location, ALWAYS have a bill of lading or receipt showing that the wines were moved in bond or tax paid, the wineries bond # and your bond #, all pertinent information about the wine (vintage, varietal or percentages if a blend, appellation, special designation if applicable, alc%) so that this information can be tracked to the vineyard if needed.
- When you blend wines and cross over different alcohol tax classes, be sure to remove volumes from the correct tax class and add the volumes into the correct tax class. Remember, all changes need to be documented.
- Keep copies of all paperwork justifying wine activity for each period you report with your copy of excise tax returns and operations report.
Contact us if you are looking for assistance with your compliance.
info@winecompliance.com www.winecompliance.com 707-252-4725
Be Prepared for TTB Audits Before Harvest Begins & Reduce Your Chances of Being Selected
Ever been audited? The thought of it send chills down most people’s spine. Whether it’s for you personally or your business, no one likes to be audited.
But sometimes your number is picked and you have to endure the process. Hopefully by the end of the experience, you are all the wiser and on the straight compliance road.
So if you want to learn the secrets to reduce your chances of being audited, here are some good basics to follow.
- Realize that all activity, whether it is cellar additions, pumping, topping, barrel movement, bottling, and evaporation; it all needs to be documented. TTB's website has some basic formats within their seminar guides that are acceptable to use for record keeping.
- If you don’t like computers (and by now you should because it really can make it easier to keep track of your records) hire someone who does and who can enter your data in a consistent format that YOU will be able to understand and explain to a TTB agent, should you need to three years from now.
- The FDA requires that all ingredients added to your wines be logged as part of your weekly process and can be traced back to the manufacturer, purchase order and driver’s name that delivered the product.
- Once a year you should take an actual physical inventory of your wines in bulk or bottled. This inventory should be reconciled against your book ending inventory for the same period. At least once a year declare your gains and losses.
- If you find that you reported losses and paid taxes due on the losses, only find the missing wine the following year, you can amend up to three years back and recoup the taxes paid.
- Note: It’s always better to take a credit for the taxes over paid than wait 3 or 4 years for a refund from TTB.
- Note: It’s always better to take a credit for the taxes over paid than wait 3 or 4 years for a refund from TTB.
- Rack your fermented “juice” and declare your wines as “produced” after racking to stay within the allowed percentages of processing losses at the end of the year.
- If you receive or transfer bulk wines or bottled wines from an Alternating Proprietor under the same location or from another winery at a different location, ALWAYS have a bill of lading or receipt showing that the wines were moved in bond or tax paid, the wineries bond # and your bond #, all pertinent information about the wine (vintage, varietal or percentages if a blend, appellation, special designation if applicable, alc%) so that this information can be tracked to the vineyard if needed.
- When you blend wines and cross over different alcohol tax classes, be sure to remove volumes from the correct tax class and add the volumes into the correct tax class. Remember, all changes need to be documented.
- Keep copies of all paperwork justifying wine activity for each period you report with your copy of excise tax returns and operations report.
Contact us if you are looking for assistance with your compliance.
info@winecompliance.com www.winecompliance.com 707-252-4725
Making wine is an art, but filing forms is not
Making wine is an art, but filing forms with regulatory agencies is not.
Having worked in the wine business for many years, we saw that wineries struggle with paperwork and regulatory requirements every day. But the wineries we knew were interested in making great wine, not in dealing with the government. These requirements upon them were at best distractions, and at worst, serious hindrances to creating wine and running a wine business. Over time we saw that we could help wineries by taking away this burden and giving them peace of mind that paperwork obligations were being taken care of professionally and carefully.
How exactly do we help our clients?
We prepare alcohol reports, process license renewals or first-time applications, complete audits involved in reporting to state and federal alcohol agencies, and review current recordkeeping practices. We can also recommend ways of streamlining processes, reporting, train staff in compliance issues and act as a liaison to the TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau). When a client needs time prior to disclosure of a problem situation requiring TTB or ABC notification, we maintain strict anonymity.
For example: If a client suspected that records hadn't been properly prepared, we could review their data and create any supplemental documentation that might be required in an audit.
If a client was aware of previous reporting errors but was unsure how to resolve the discrepancies, we could review data, establish critical supporting documents as needed, and submit corrections with explanations to state and federal agencies, putting our client's business back on track.
We know which documentation and filings to prepare if a client is updating or changing their business entity status. The client would then have reassurance of accurate submissions.
We see the big picture
Our wide range of industry knowledge allows us to see the bigger picture and understand how seemingly minor changes can affect a wine business in significant ways. We can advise on or execute the processes needed to ensure our clients will be in full compliance with state and federal alcohol agencies.
At WineCompliance.com we're a tight-knit team of experienced professionals. Together we provide some of the best service you will find in the wine business.
Are you ready for us to take away your paperwork burden?
Please contact us.
Estate Bottled means what? We answer this question.
Many people ask about the use of "Estate Bottled" on a label.
They justify it by saying something like “the wines are from our vineyards 20 miles away from the winery and it’s our estate. The grapes are harvested at our vineyards and are directly processed at our winery.” Unfortunately this doesn’t qualify for using “Estate”.
To use Estate Bottled on a label means that the grapes were harvested on the same property as where the winery is located. The property may be owned or controlled by the winery if the property is adjacent to the winery. In order to legally use "Estate", as required by TTB, means that the wine, at no time, leaves the premises until the wine is finished and corked.
The winery and the vineyards must be within the same approved AVA.
If you have your estate wines bottled off site, you automatically lose the privilege using "Estate" on your label so consider carefully your options or you may devalue your wines in the process.
Birth Of A Brand - A Guide to releasing a new brand or label
In my 35+ years of working in compliance for the wine industry, one obstacle is time. There never seems to be enough of it which translates to additional costs to your products.
So how much time is really needed to launch a new brand or new label.
Once you have determined your product, target market, price point, image of your brand, etc. the nuts and bolts process for approvals can seem daunting.
Coordinating between artwork, final label images and all mandatory label compliance, TTB label submission, printing schedule, bottling, labeling, state registration and approval, before being able to ship your product is like a dance; where everyone has to work together to meet each deadline.
Communication is key. Everyone should understand that their part of keeping the project moving may be coming up and to be ready or that the next person is counting on them to stay on target.
I've come up with a guideline that I continue to use in my own business for projects and clients.
An overall guideline for the compliance portion of launching a brand is allow at least 6 months time from your final label images to the release date. Listed below are timelines for different parts of compliance;
Working backward from your release date, here is the guideline
- Price posting states take 45 to 60 days. Posting is usually effective the first of any month, however some posting states require that you post two months or 45 days prior to the effective date.
- Product registration and distributor appointment 30 days prior to Price Posting. All other non-posting states can receive price changes or new product pricing at this time.
- Label / Bottling 10 days prior to registration
- Label printing 30 days prior to labeling / bottling.
- TTB approval 30 prior to label printing. You can allow more time in case you need to make label corrections
- Final label design 7 days prior to TTB submission.
Imports
- Importing wines; add about 6 weeks to your release date for shipping into the U.S.and clearing customs.
- The biggest mistake that import wines make is to print prior to having TTB approval. There is so much at stake that it is never worth printing labels before TTB approval. Since most foreign wineries are not familiar with exact requirements, it's very easy to make type-o's or miss some of the mandatory label requirements.
So there you have it. A bit of planning goes a long way. Please send me an e-mail and let me know if this was helpful to you.
eva@winecompliance.com 707-252-4725
TTB AUDITS - How to Reduce Your Chances of Being Audited
Ever been audited? The thought of it send chills down most people’s spine. Whether it’s for you personally or your business, no one likes to be audited.
But sometimes your number is picked and you have to endure the process. Hopefully by the end of the experience, you are all the wiser and on the straight compliance road.
So if you want to learn the secrets to reduce your chances of being audited, here are some good basics to follow.
- Realize that all activity, whether it is cellar additions, pumping, topping, barrel movement, bottling, and evaporation; it all needs to be documented. TTB's website has some basic formats within their seminar guides that are acceptable to use for record keeping. http://www.ttb.gov/pdf/compliance-seminar.pdf (pages 136-143)
- If you don’t like computers (and by now you should because it really can make it easier to keep track of your records) hire someone who does and who can enter your data in a consistent format that YOU will be able to understand and explain to a TTB agent, should you need to three years from now.
- The FDA requires that all ingredients added to your wines be logged as part of your weekly process and can be traced back to the manufacturer, purchase order and driver’s name that delivered the product.
- Once a year you should take an actual physical inventory of your wines in bulk or bottled. This inventory should be reconciled against your book ending inventory for the same period. At least once a year declare your gains and losses.
- If you find that you reported losses and paid taxes due on the losses, only find the missing wine the following year, you can amend up to three years back and recoup the taxes paid.
- Note: It’s always better to take a credit for the taxes over paid than wait 3 or 4 years for a refund from TTB.
- Note: It’s always better to take a credit for the taxes over paid than wait 3 or 4 years for a refund from TTB.
- Rack your fermented “juice” and declare your wines as “produced” after racking to stay within the allowed percentages of processing losses at the end of the year.
- If you receive or transfer bulk wines or bottled wines from an Alternating Proprietor under the same location or from another winery at a different location, ALWAYS have a bill of lading or receipt showing that the wines were moved in bond or tax paid, the wineries bond # and your bond #, all pertinent information about the wine (vintage, varietal or percentages if a blend, appellation, special designation if applicable, alc%) so that this information can be tracked to the vineyard if needed.
- When you blend wines and cross over different alcohol tax classes, be sure to remove volumes from the correct tax class and add the volumes into the correct tax class. Remember, all changes need to be documented.
- Keep copies of all paperwork justifying wine activity for each period you report with your copy of excise tax returns and operations report.
Contact us if you are looking for assistance with your compliance.
info@winecompliance.com www.winecompliance.com 707-252-4725
See us at Wineries Unlimited in VA, Booth 504
About
Experts for over 30 years in compliance, regulatory requirements, licensing and reporting. We can help you concentrate on what matters most to you. Whether you're running a large winery or a small boutique winery or starting a new winery we support you in what makes your business great, and take the paperwork burden away.
Why we're here
Making wine is an art, but filing forms with regulatory agencies is not.
Having worked in the wine business for many years, Eva Bedolla saw that wineries struggle with paperwork and regulatory requirements every day. But the wineries she knew were interested in making great wine, not in dealing with the government. These requirements upon them were at best distractions, and at worst, serious hindrances to creating wine and running a wine business. Over time she saw that she could help wineries by taking away this burden and giving them peace of mind that paperwork obligations were being taken care of professionally and carefully.
In January of 2005 Eva launched WineCompliance.com. Immediately she began acquiring clients who were delighted to be able to outsource these obligations. Ever since then, Eva and her capable staff get to spend their days doing what they do best, so their clients can do what they do best.
How exactly do we help our clients?
We prepare alcohol reports, process license renewals or first-time applications, complete audits involved in reporting to state and federal alcohol agencies, and review current recordkeeping practices. We can also recommend ways of streamlining processes, reporting, train staff in compliance issues and act as a liaison to the TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau). When a client needs time prior to disclosure of a problem situation requiring TTB or ABC notification, we maintain strict anonymity.
For example: If a client suspected that records hadn't been properly prepared, we could review their data and create any supplemental documentation that might be required in an audit.
If a client was aware of previous reporting errors but was unsure how to resolve the discrepancies, we could review data, establish critical supporting documents as needed, and submit corrections with explanations to state and federal agencies, putting our client's business back on track.
We know which documentation and filings to prepare if a client is updating or changing their business entity status. The client would then have reassurance of accurate submissions.
We see the big picture
Our wide range of industry knowledge allows us to see the bigger picture and understand how seemingly minor changes can affect a wine business in significant ways. We can advise on or execute the processes needed to ensure our clients will be in full compliance with state and federal alcohol agencies.
At WineCompliance.com we're a tight-knit team of experienced professionals. Together we provide some of the best service you will find in the wine business.
Contact
Contact List
| Title | Name | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | Eva Bedolla | eva@winecompliance.com | 7072524725 |
Location List
| Locations | Address | State | Country | Zip Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WineCompliance.Com | 145 Legacy Ct, Napa | CA | United States of America | 94559 |
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