InnoVint Blog

Hey, we get it. You're dying to transition from the harvest hustle to the holiday slowdown, but first, the office work. The realization may hit hard - what the heck happened during crush?? Management is bugging you for detailed records and you're underwater in a sea of paper...

You're not alone in this struggle. And you're in luck. Join the hundreds of wineries who've already discovered there's a solution to 4 common post-harvest anxieties.

Meet InnoVint, the leader in wine production management software.

Frustrated with the amount of time you spend at your desk?

So were they, before InnoVint.

Is the TTB 5120.17 report making you nervous?

So were they, before InnoVint.

Stressed about barrel management and partial vessel tracking?

So were they, before InnoVint.

Concerned about quality control?

So were they, before InnoVint.

Need more proof that InnoVint actually delivers?

Cue our clients once again...

Learn more about why upgrading production software is right for you from our team of experienced winemakers. We cater to wineries of all sizes, from boutique wineries to large operations to custom crush providers.

For a demo contact us at [email protected] or call 707-418-0119, Ext 1.

You can also get a taste of our software by visiting our booth at the upcoming conferences:

January 29-31: Unified Wine & Grape Symposium. Sacramento, CA.

February 12-13: Oregon Wine Symposium, Portland, OR.

February 11-14: Washington Winegrowers Convention, Kennewick, WA

February 21-23: Texas Wines Annual Conference , San Marcos, TX

March 19-21: Eastern Winery Expo, Syracuse, NY

July 22-25: WineTech 2019, Adelaide, Australia

Let's kick your operations into high gear! We look forward to meeting you.

Whether your winery brings in 5 tons or 5,000 tons, getting ready for harvest takes time, sufficient planning, and financial investment (enter harvest intern expense). However, all that work could be compromised if there isn’t proper organization throughout the entire process. Without it, you might end up burning yourself out. That is when mistakes start to happen, details fall through the cracks, and your level-headed state of mind becomes threatened. Although not all wineries share the same workflow procedures or winemaking styles, there are some shared ways to avoid many operational headaches. We spoke with some of our boutique producers, as well as some of our larger clients, on their secrets to maintaining, if not increasing, wine quality and preserving their sanity during this chaotic time of year. Here are some of common themes among successful wineries: 1) Strong vineyard tracking

Having the ability to record and access fruit maturity and phenologic data from anywhere, including right in the middle of your vineyard. And being able to access historical data when identifying problem blocks, as it can help you craft proactive strategies to ensure quality this year and for years to come. 2)  Plan out your picks

Don’t get caught without a home for your fruit! Using real-time vineyard data, estimate your pick dates in advance, especially for your largest lots. This helps to ensure that you don’t have to hold fruit in the cold room (if you’re lucky enough to have one) until space frees up which could compromise quality. 3)  Digital fermentation tracking

Get your Brix and Temperature readings recorded into your software the second it’s taken by your team, thereby giving you instant access to any problem spots that may arise. We all know how critical catching those temperature spikes can be and how a slight slip-up could affect quality. 4)  Get external lab results immediately

Get notified of your external lab results the minute they’re posted. Making sure your production software enables automating analytic uploads allows you take instant action on the results. You won’t have to wait for an email and manually enter the results into your database or spreadsheet to make those time-sensitive decisions. 5)   Label vessels with valuable information

Wandering around barrel rows wondering what they contain? There’s an easy solution for that. Label them with pre-populated stickers containing lot and barrel information so you know exactly what it is, all the treatments the lot has had, and recent analytics. A QR code takes it a step further, allowing you to quickly scan the barrel with your mobile device to access all that information digitally. And hey, while you’re at it, why don’t you send out a work order right there on the spot using your tablet! 6)   Digitize Work Orders

Imagine this - when harvest is over, you’re actually done! You don’t have to spend days or weeks at your desk updating your records from those piles of paper work orders. Software has come a long way in the past decade to allow for mobile entry of daily harvest information and cellar workflow. With a digital work order system, it’s quick and easy to assign tasks to your team, monitor their progress, and validate their work before it’s recorded. Say hello to your future! You can now focus all those wasted data entry hours spending time with your wines. 7)    Understand your COGS

Who knows, maybe you’ll find a little extra room in your budget to invest in that special project to take your wines to the next level! You won’t know until you start tracking costs, and over time you can use historical data to make better, more informed decisions that increase profitability. 8)   Automate compliance reporting

A giant THANK YOU to everyone that attended our Summer Shindig in Yountville last week! We had a blast hanging out with everyone over some really fantastic wines, delicious food (thanks to the crew at Marks The Spot Food Truck), and some pretty intense games of bocce. Congratulations to the tournament champs from Colgin Cellars, Brassfield Estate, and Davis Estates!

As winemakers ourselves, we've been there. We yearned for winemaking-specific software to help us to track our cellar work in real-time and make our jobs easier. Excel and other databases weren’t cutting it, but switching to a different system seemed burdensome and costly. Solving this issue is one of the many reasons we created InnoVint back in 2013.

With InnoVint’s real-time winemaking platform, transitioning from your current system has never been easier. Whether using Excel or another database, we make the switch quick and painless so you can be up and running with InnoVint in as little as 1 day.  We pride ourselves in having the fastest self-service activation on the market.

What does the process look like?

1) Schedule a demo with one of our winemakers, either onsite or online 2) Complete the Subscription Agreement 3) Provide your bond(s) information to auto-fill your TTB forms 4) Start working with InnoVint!

When you have questions along the way we have a super helpful Online Help Center with videos, tutorials, tons of product screenshots, and step-by-step instructions to follow.

How do we get you set up so fast?  Here's some of the ingredients to our secret sauce…

· No system setup - We maintain current, industry-generated lists of toasts, coopers, varietals, all approved appellations, you name it.  You don't need to set this up - it's already locked and loaded.

· We work with exports from your existing spreadsheets or database – Since most of our clients are making transitions from other systems, we have export maps that allow us to get your inventory into our system quickly and easily with little to no effort by you.

· Streamlined barrel entry – Get your barrel list into the system quickly, either by simple copy and paste or uploading a spreadsheet

Still not sure if it's worth it? Take her for a spin. We offer a 30 day risk free guarantee. If you're not happy, you're released from the agreement, no questions asked.

While this streamlined setup process satisfies our small to mid-size wineries, large producers and custom crush providers often need a multi-phased roll-out across their larger team and/or locations. We offer enterprise-grade implementation plans customized to your unique operation.

No matter your model, you’ll be happy you made the switch. We can put you in touch with many neighbors of yours that are proof of this and would be glad to speak with you.

Government agencies kissed their holiday break goodbye when President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017. Most of the provisions took effect just 10 days later on January 1, 2018. Taxation agencies scrambled to make sense of it all (and many still are), one being the TTB, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

We’ve all been studying the same TTB-regulated tax classes for years: Are my still wines less than 14% alcohol by volume (taxed at a rate of $1.07/gallon) or between 14 and 21% (taxed at a rate of $1.57/gallon)? These new regulations have now changed the curriculum. The TTB increased the lower bracket from less than 14% to less than 16%, thus changing the upper bracket to 16-21%.

In general, higher alcohols have been favored in recent years (blame it on stylistic preference, global warming, or millenials if you will) to the detriment of winery excise tax dues. Given that most table wines range from 12% to 16% ABV, this has significant implications for most producers. For wineries that produce wines between 14-16% ABV it’s a welcomed change that will save them hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year.

In order for wineries to realize the financial gain from the lower tax rate TTB reporting needed to get buttoned up… and fast. Wineries that rely on InnoVint to maintain their wine inventories and generate their TTB 5120.17 reports turned to us for answers. We didn’t want to jump the gun and deliver an updated form before the TTB had done so. We patiently waited them to make their move first. January quickly turned into February, and as the first reporting deadline of 2018 (February 15th) crept closer and closer we were all holding our breath for the changes. Finally, on February 9th, the TTB released the updated 5120.17 form and we jumped to action. We highlighted pertinent sections throughout InnoVint and provided thorough instructions to assist with the re-assignment of tax classes.

We understand that maintaining compliant records can sometimes provoke.... strong feelings. We get it: the 5120.17 isn’t everyone’s best friend. Wineries are always on a deadline and when things come down to the wire it can be difficult to pull everything together when your focus has been on winemaking. This is one of many reasons why production software is such a crucial tool for wineries of all sizes. You should be able to trust your software provider to stay up to date with regulatory changes and take action immediately when needed.

At InnoVint we take great pride in our reputation as a reliable, dedicated service provider. The TTB regulatory changes are just one example of our fast response times and our commitment to excellence.

Hello Everyone,

We are excited to announce the release of 3 new feature in InnoVint: Delete Non-Movement Actions, Change Vessel Capacity, and CSV Export of All Reports, Lot analyses, and the Lot Explorer.

Delete Non-Movement Actions

All non-movement actions (Analysis, Addition, Custom Action, Pumpover, Punchdown, Delestage, and Stir) can now be individually deleted in multiple places in the system. This is a great solution to use if an analyses was entered incorrectly or a date was wrong on an action. To see the details about where and how to delete these actions, check out the Help Docs: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/208141233-Deleting-Non-Movement-Actions

Change Vessel Capacity

You can change the capacity of any vessel you have in the system, whether it currently has contents or not. This is a great tool if the capacity was originally entered incorrectly. To find out how to change your vessel's capacity, visit the Help Docs page:  http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207806656-Change-Vessel-Capacity

CSV Export

You can export all Reports, Analyses, and the Lot Explorer to CSV for viewing or printing. All Reports are included: the Ferm Log, the Ferm Work Order Generator (filled out or blank), ML/RS, VA/FSO2, and Fruit Intake. You can also Export Analyses under the "All Analyses in a List" on the Analysis section of the Lot Details Page.   Cheers,

Hello InnoVint Users,

We are excited to announce the release of three new features in InnoVint: Analysis Graphing, the Integrated Login Page on the app, and Bottle task on the web and mobile apps.

Analysis Graphing

You can graph any of your analyses on the Analysis Tab of the Lot Details Page. Graphs can include any or all vessels that have values recorded on them and all individual values can be seen in both the list under the graph and by scrolling over each data point.

To see details on how to graph your analyses, visit the Help Docs site here:  http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207982613-Graphing-my-Analyses

Integrated Login Page

The Login app and InnoVint app are now one in the same. You can log in and out of the platform on the "InnoVint" app, which means you can get rid of the app you have that is titled "Login". Be sure to keep your "HockeyApp" though as this is still necessary. Here's what the Login page will look like going forward:

Your email address and password are the same, so use them to log in to the app as you have always done. Bottling Task Released

Bottling can now be performed via work orders, both on the mobile and web apps.  Please refer to the Help Docs for a detailed review: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207265686-How-do-I-bottle-my-wine-

Don't hesitate to contact us with any questions regarding these features or anything else that comes up.

Cheers,

Hello InnoVinters,

I am excited to announe the release of three new features in InnoVint: Edit Lot Code, Edit Lot Name, and Edit Vessel Code.

Edit Lot Code and Edit Lot Name: This feature allows you to edit the code or name of your lot at any point in time, whether the lot currently has contents or not (though the lot cannot be Archived). This is a very useful feature if a lot code or name was entered incorrectly or it too closely matches another of your lots. The entire history of your lot will reflect this change and all actions will now appear with the new code/name. For a detailed explanation of how to edit your lot code or name, see the Help Docs here: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207711473-Editing-Lot-Code-and-Lot-Name  

Edit Vessel Code: The code given to any vessel can also be edited at any time on any type of vessel. This feature allows you to edit individual vessel's codes from the vessel details page. You can edit the vessel code whether that vessel has contents or not (though the vessel cannot be Archived). To read more on how to edit a vessel code, visit the Help Docs page: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207711553-Edit-Vessel-Code

Please feel free to contact InnoVint with questions or feedback regarding these or any features. We are excited to introduce these changes to you and hope they help make you even more successful.

Good Morning InnoVinters,

We are excited to announce the release of 3 new features in InnoVint: Bottle action, Edit work Order due date, and Adding and removing lots to open work order tasks.

Bottle Action: InnoVint now has a dedicated action to record the bottling of your wine. Please use this action going forward (instead of recording a volume adjustment attributed to bottling). You can now record the details of bottlings, including packaging information and COLAs. For detailed explanation of this action, please see the Help Docs to take you through each step of the process: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/207265686-How-do-I-bottle-my-wine-

Edit Work Order Due Date: The due date assigned to a work order can be edited after work order creation. Use the “Edit Work Order” button and press the pencil icon to change the date. See detailed instructions on the Help Docs: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/206371326-Editing-a-work-order *Pro tip: Start using the calendar to vizualize future work! (For example, put a bottling task on the calendar a few weeks out and plan work orders back from that date to rack and stabilize in preparation for bottling).

Adding/Removing Lots from Tasks in Open Work Orders: Lots can be added or removed from created work order before task completion in the case that a lot was forgotten during creation or needs to be added mid-task. For an explanation on how to complete the edits, see the Help Docs for further information and screen shots: http://help.innovint.us/hc/en-us/articles/206371326-Editing-a-work-order

Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Ashley ([email protected]) with any questions or comments regarding these features. We welcome feedback and are excited to have you try these new additions.

Cheers,

Happy Friday InnoVint Users,

I am writing to inform everyone we have two new features in InnoVint: Vintage Filtering in Reporting and Export Analyses.

Vintage filtering in the ML/RS and VA/FSO2 Reports: Sort the lots you can see in these reports by vintage. You can narrow down results in each of these reports by selecting a single vintage from the drop down list. As before, you can still view all lots in the selected stages at once if no specific vintage is chosen.

All lots containing any wine from the vintage selected will appear.

Analyses Export: Export your analyses from the Lot Details Page to CSV. You can choose to export all analyses readings on a lot, or filter for a specific set using the Analysis box above the readings and entering in the analyses you wish to see.

As always, don’t hesitate to contact Ashley ([email protected]) or myself with any questions.

Hello InnoVintners,

If you have launched InnoVint prior to opening this email you've likely seen the newest feature: the Calendar. We also introduced Barrel Attribute Filters on the Vessel Explorer. Both are detailed below.

Calendar Activity Viewing When you sign in to InnoVint you now launch into the Calendar. The Calendar helps to visualize your past activity as well as view your open work orders. You can filter by one or more actions and toggle between week / month views for varying amounts of detail. We look forward to receiving your suggestions on ways to build upon this feature!

Barrel Attribute Filters You can now filter your barrel inventory by all attributes in the Vessel Explorer: cooper, year first used, style and toast.

Please keep the feedback coming! We value and consider each and every suggestion.

Best regards,

No, it's not from sulfites. Our bet? Histamine, as this article states, or more specifically: biogenic amines.

I recently had a very timely discussion with a frustrated custom crush winery client. They are a grower and have been with the same winemaker and winemaking facility for years. Unfortunately, they are close to reaching a breaking point and switching facilities. Why? Because they have not been given any visibility into the processing details of their wines.  This got me thinking… 

Is this a shared frustration? I remember as a custom crush winery years ago I was often in the dark. It took an email or two, a phone call, and often walking the cellar reading barrel cards to get any information on the status of our lots.  But, at that time, I didn’t know any better. I was unaware of a solution that solved this problem. By no means do I blame the winemaking team for this lack of data exchange. They are swamped as it is managing their own lots plus the lots of others. They’re working hard enough to merely maintain proper compliance documentation for their own record-keeping.  

Today, how do these bonded host facilities provide lot status updates to their clients, and how often? If you have a personal experience to share with us, we would love to hear it: [email protected]. Your case study will help us to provide the best solution that directly addresses your current custom crush needs. I challenge you to challenge us!

It seems appropriate to begin blogging on Thanksgiving Eve when we have so much to be thankful for.

Welcome to InnoVint's blog. Who is InnoVint, you ask? Simply put, we're good people bringing exciting advancements to the world of wine production. Fueled by relentless ambition and a serious passion for winemaking and technology, we aim to solve many headaches that have been plaguing the industry for decades. And not just for the big guys with the big budgets, but boutique wineries, custom crush clients, and APs that deserve to have the same visibility into their winemaking practices. Let's call it the democratization of wine intelligence, if you will. 

This venture is, without a doubt, a labor of love. These next few months will be very exciting for us. Please join our mailing list at www.innovint.us to keep tabs on our progress. 

In the spirit of giving thanks, we want to thank you for your time reading our first post. Thank you for your future interest in InnoVint. And, last but not least, thank you for your support of the wine industry and the winemakers that work relentlessly every year to bring us such an expressive, exotic product. 

We look forward to staying in touch as we get closer to releasing our product. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!