CruVantageThe Financial Operating System for Modern Wineries.
Cost accounting, enterprise value, excise tax, forecasting, board reporting, audit preparation, and lender packages — connected in one platform.
Most wineries have accounting software. Very few have financial intelligence.
CruVantage turns accounting records into executive decisions. Built inside the wine industry — not adapted from another one — it automates the financial work owners, CEOs, CFOs, controllers, and general managers do every week, so the answer is ready before the question.
People who have run wineries from the cellar to the boardroom.
A Napa CPA's judgment behind every number — not a generic model.
Not software developers. The intelligence we always wished we'd had.
From your records to the decision.
Data sources
QuickBooks · production · DTC
CAIT
True cost & tax (TICE)
WANDA
Durability
EVE
Valuation
LUNA
Board & lender reporting
VOX
The Board decides
Six connected modules. One source of truth.
Cost Accounting Intelligence — true bottle cost, with the TICE tax engine and Audit-Ready workpapers.
Explore →Enterprise Value Engine — a living 10-year model of what your winery is worth.
Explore →Winery Durability Assessment — where you stand, scored across eleven dimensions.
Explore →Lender Bridge — board- and lender-ready packages, interpreted and generated for you.
Explore →Tax Intelligence — federal and California excise, filing-ready and reconciled.
Explore →Your Virtual Board of Directors — eight specialists that deliberate above every module.
Meet the Board →Days become hours. Hours become minutes.
CruVantage compresses the work behind reporting, forecasting, analysis, board preparation, compliance, and operational review — so your team spends less time assembling information and more time making decisions.
| The work | Without CruVantage | With CruVantage |
|---|---|---|
| Board package | 2–5 days | 30–90 minutes |
| Financial forecast | Several days | Under one hour |
| KPI research | Hours | Seconds |
| Cost analysis | Days | Minutes |
| Audit preparation | Weeks | Continuously organized |
| Investor package | Days | Same day |
| Variance investigation | Hours | Minutes |
| Scenario modeling | Days | Interactive |
*Illustrative planning ranges, not a promise — sized to your operation during the Assessment.
The work an executive shouldn't be doing.
Without
- Collect data
- Export QuickBooks
- Find invoices
- Build spreadsheets
- Reconcile reports
- Create PowerPoints
- Answer lender requests
- Repeat
With CruVantage
- Ask a question
- Review
- Decide
Built for everyone who answers for the numbers.
Designed by professionals who have done the work.
CruVantage doesn't produce more reports. It produces better decisions.
Bring your numbers — real or rough. In one conversation, we'll show you where the value is.
Request a demo →One source of truth for winery finance and operations.
A high-level look at the whole ecosystem — how data comes in, how the engine makes sense of it, and how it leaves as answers you can act on.
“We're building the operating system for winery finance and operations.”
Software measures what's true, every day — cost, compliance, and value, always current. People turn that measurement into judgment — the read a spreadsheet can't give you. Together they sell what an owner is actually buying: confidence.
Collect once. Use many times.
Every gallon produced, bottled, moved, or sold already creates a record somewhere. The platform normalizes those records once, then lets every module read from the same ledger.
Connect
Link the systems you already run — no rip-and-replace.
Normalize
Records become one canonical, auditable ledger.
Compute
Cost, tax, durability, and value engines run continuously.
Answer
Dashboards, filings, and lender-ready narratives on demand.
Works with the systems you already run
No rip-and-replace. CruVantage sits on top of the tools your team already uses every day.
Accounting actuals flow in monthly — the model never goes stale.
Production and bottling records — gallons, lots, and vintages.
DTC, club, and compliance movement data.
Invoices, dry-goods costs, and labor — the inputs to true cost.
Intelligent, human-validated
Classification and natural-language answers are automated — with a confidence score on every figure, a plain-English explanation, and NVC consultant validation behind the numbers.
Invoices, AP exports, and production records sorted automatically — each figure carries a confidence score.
Every calculation is explained in plain English, with a complete audit trail built to satisfy CPA and TTB review.
Every run is checked against real winery cost-accounting judgment — not just a model output.
Your numbers, handled with care
A brief overview of the platform's security posture. Full policy detail lives on the Security page — final specifics to be confirmed with the VI team.
Every record is isolated to your winery — one tenant never sees another.
An auditable ledger of movements and calculations, built for CPA and TTB review.
The platform prepares and explains; your CPA still files. Nothing is submitted without you.
One set of numbers. Every report from the same source.
QuickBooks Online · InnoVint · EKOS · ShipCompliant · Commerce7 — every module and every report pulls from the same source of truth.
See the modules →From intelligence to execution
Every client can stop wherever they want. Most don't.
Intelligence · CAIT
“I can finally see what's happening.”
Understanding · WANDA
“Now I know why it's happening.”
Decisions · EVE·LUNA
“Now I know what to do.”
Execution · Advisory
“Now someone helps me get it done.”
Four modules. One story.
Start anywhere — a cost problem, a value question, or a trusted relationship. All three doors open into the same house.
A permanent Board of directors that deliberates on your numbers — turning CAIT, EVE, TICE, and WANDA into decisions, with dissent and confidence recorded.
Meet the Board →True bottle cost by SKU, vintage, and channel — with Automatic classification and NVC consultant validation. Includes the TICE tax engine and Audit-Ready workpapers.
Explore CAIT →Federal (TTB) and California excise tax, calculated automatically from records you already keep — filing-ready, with an audit trail.
Explore TICE →An 11-dimension diagnostic with a single Durability Index™ score, benchmarked against comparable wineries. The entry point.
Explore WANDA →A living 10-year model tied to QuickBooks — what your winery is worth today, and what moves the number. Audit-Ready for diligence and lending.
Explore EVE →Turns your numbers into lender- and Board-ready packages — interpreted, not just exported. Builds the deck, or the prompt to build it, with facts, forecasts, and risks kept distinct.
Explore LUNA →The platform is built to grow. New modules extend the same source of truth as the winery's needs expand.
Coming soonDifferent door. Same house.
A cost problem starts with CAIT. A value question starts with EVE. A trusted relationship starts with a conversation — advisory first, platform second. Every path leads to the same connected source of truth.
See any module in action.
Tell us where the pain is and we'll walk you through the module that answers it.
Request a demo →A permanent Board of Directors for your winery.
Not a chatbot. Not a set of assistants. A persistent Board that remembers, deliberates, and holds itself accountable — with one fiduciary responsibility: the long-term success of your winery.
One fiduciary responsibility: your long-term interests.
No recommendation optimizes one objective while recklessly harming another. Every recommendation weighs the whole business.
- Profitability
- Cash flow
- Customer experience
- Operational execution
- Employee wellbeing
- Compliance
- Agricultural sustainability
- Enterprise value
- Owner objectives
- Long-term durability
Eight Directors. Independent judgment.
Each Director holds individual expertise and reaches conclusions independently before hearing the others. Disagreement is preserved, never manufactured into consensus.
01 Chair
Manages deliberation rather than data. Listens, questions, summarizes areas of agreement and disagreement, and produces the Board's official findings and resolutions.
02 Strategy
Market intelligence, competition, consumer behavior, economic conditions, long-term planning, industry evolution, and growth opportunities.
03 Finance
Financial statements, cash flow, forecasting, banking, debt, liquidity, capital allocation, profitability, and financial sustainability.
04 Profitability
Cost accounting, manufacturing economics, SKU profitability, gross margins, inventory economics, and production efficiency.
05 Revenue
Wholesale, direct-to-consumer, wine club, pricing, customer acquisition and retention, hospitality, and demand generation.
06 Operations
Production, fulfillment, purchasing, supply chain, staffing, technology deployment, and operational execution.
07 Risk
Compliance, insurance, legal exposure, cybersecurity, contracts, vendor risk, business continuity, and operational resilience.
08 Enterprise
Enterprise value, capital structure, acquisitions, exit and succession planning, investment decisions, and return on invested capital.
Independent first. Then the debate.
Every important question becomes a Board meeting. Each Director reviews the evidence and reaches a conclusion alone — only then do they weigh the others. A Director never changes position merely to create agreement.
Directors may agree, disagree, request more evidence, or offer a minority opinion. Disagreement is recorded, explained, and preserved.
If information is missing, the Board says so before recommending. Questions are often more valuable than immediate answers.
Previous recommendations, disagreements, mistakes, and successes become institutional memory the Board draws on every day.
A resolution you can weigh
- Key findings
- Director perspectives
- Risks
- Financial impact
- Operational impact
- Strategic impact
- Expected benefits
- Expected costs
- Confidence level
- Priority
- Recommended actions
- Board resolution
Reprice the flagship Cabernet by 8% at spring release; hold club pricing for the year.
The Board interprets — it doesn't replace
Whenever a CruVantage module produces findings — cost, compliance, valuation, forecasting, inventory — the Board reviews them automatically. Every module becomes evidence presented to the Board.
Professional. Evidence-based. Never theatrical.
The Board behaves like experienced directors serving a respected company — and is always willing to say: “We do not yet know.” “We require more evidence.” “Our opinions differ.” “Our confidence is low.” Its objective is not to be right in every moment, but to become wiser every year it serves.
Fed by the platform's modules
Put a Board behind your numbers.
See how the Board would deliberate on a real decision for a winery like yours.
Request a demo →What your wine actually costs.
By SKU, by vintage, by channel — not a blended estimate that hides where margin leaks. And with the TICE engine inside, your excise tax filings run automatically.
True bottle cost is buried — and it's eating your margin in the dark.
Real cost per SKU and vintage sits scattered across QuickBooks, production logs, and dry-goods invoices. A blended average hides where margin actually leaks — until a pricing decision or a bad month makes it a surprise. CAIT assembles the real number, and shows its work.
Cost intelligence, with the receipts
Sorted automatically
Invoices, AP exports, and production records classified for you — with a confidence score on every figure.
By SKU · vintage · channel
Real cost, not a blended estimate — so you can see exactly where margin compresses.
Caught early
Flags cost creep before it shows up as a surprise in your bank balance.
Judgment, not just output
Every run is checked against real winery cost-accounting judgment — not just a model result.
True cost, line by line
Every figure traces back to a source record. Hover any line in the product and CAIT shows which invoices, exports, and production entries produced it — so the number survives a CPA's questions.
Disclosure: bottle cost figures are derived from the information provided and input into CAIT.
Meet TICE — Tax Intelligence & Compliance Engine
Federal and state excise tax, calculated automatically — not assembled by hand every filing period.
- Calculates federal (TTB) and California excise tax directly from records you already keep — no manual spreadsheets.
- Produces filing-ready reports, exportable as PDF, Excel, CSV, or JSON.
- Reconciles beginning inventory, production, and removals before anything is filed — and flags discrepancies automatically.
- Tracks your filing calendar and reminds you before deadlines — semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, or annual.
Every calculation is explained in plain English, with a complete audit trail built to satisfy CPA and TTB review. Your CPA still files — TICE just makes sure the numbers are already right.
From invoices to answers
Ingest
AP, production, and dry-goods records flow in.
Classify
AI sorts each cost, with a confidence score.
Cost & file
True bottle cost is built; TICE readies the excise filing.
Validate
NVC judgment checks the run before you rely on it.
A place your current costs go down
Reduced accounting labor, less winemaker distraction, and clearer per-SKU visibility for pricing decisions — instead of guesses.
*Illustrative planning range across a variety of winery sizes — not a promise. Sized to your operation during the Assessment.
Cost numbers that survive an audit.
CAIT's Audit-Ready add-on turns true bottle cost and COGS into workpapers a CPA, external auditor, or buyer's diligence team can rely on — reconciled, cited, and traceable to the invoice.
- Every cost reconciled to AP, production, and inventory records
- Full source citation on each figure, with confidence scores
- COGS and inventory schedules assembled for close and audit
- GAAP and management cost views, clearly labeled
- Sample-selection and PBC support for external audit or SOX
- An immutable trail from bottle cost back to the source document
Good questions
Does CAIT replace my accountant?
No. CAIT assembles true cost and readies your excise filings; your CPA still reviews and files. It removes the manual assembly, not the professional judgment.
Where do the cost figures come from?
From the information you provide and input into CAIT — AP exports, production records, and dry-goods invoices. Every figure carries a confidence score and traces back to its source.
What does TICE cover today?
Federal (TTB) excise tax for still and sparkling wine, including the small-producer/CBMA credit structure, and California state excise tax. The architecture is built to add more states over time.
Do I have to change my systems?
No rip-and-replace. CAIT sits on top of QuickBooks, InnoVint/EKOS, and your DTC tools.
Four lamps. One light.
See CAIT on your own costs.
Bring a SKU or two — we'll show you the true cost and where the margin is leaking.
Request a demo →Excise tax, calculated automatically.
Federal (TTB) and California excise tax, built from records you already keep — not assembled by hand every filing period. Your CPA still files; TICE makes sure the numbers are already right.
Filings assembled by hand, month after month.
Federal and state excise filings are pieced together manually with no real-time visibility into liability. TICE removes the assembly work that precedes every filing — collecting movement data once, calculating continuously, and producing a filing-ready package with a full audit trail.
What TICE does
Federal + California
Still and sparkling wine, including the small-producer / CBMA credit structure — direct from your records.
PDF · Excel · CSV · JSON
Export exactly what your CPA needs, in the format they need it.
Before anything files
Reconciles beginning inventory, production, and removals — and flags discrepancies automatically.
Never miss a deadline
Tracks semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, or annual schedules and reminds you before each one.
Ask, don't assemble
TICE keeps an immutable, auditable ledger of every movement and calculation. Ask a question in plain English and get an answer you can hand to a CPA or the TTB.
v1 scope: prepares and explains filings; it does not electronically file on your behalf. Federal + California today, architected for more states.
Collect once, use many times
Ingest movements
QuickBooks, InnoVint/EKOS, shipping — normalized to one ledger.
Calculate
Federal + CA excise, continuously, as new records arrive.
Reconcile
Inventory, production, removals — exceptions flagged.
Report
Filing-ready package for your CPA to review and file.
Good questions
Does TICE file my returns for me?
Not in v1. TICE removes the manual assembly and makes sure the numbers are right; your CPA reviews and files. Electronic submission to TTB / CDTFA is on the roadmap, not in scope today.
Which taxes does it calculate?
Federal (TTB) excise for still and sparkling wine — including the small-producer / CBMA credit — and California state excise. The data model is built to add more states over time.
Is there an audit trail?
Yes — an immutable ledger of movements and calculations, with every figure explained in plain English, built to satisfy CPA and TTB review.
Four lamps. One light.
Know exactly where you stand.
Before a lender, buyer, or bad vintage forces the question. A full diagnostic of financial health, pricing, inventory, and enterprise value — scored and benchmarked against comparable wineries.
“What is this winery actually worth — and where is value leaking?”
Most owners can't answer with confidence until a buyer or lender asks. WANDA turns that anxiety into a scored, benchmarked diagnostic — and a plan, not just a number.
A diagnosis, and a roadmap
The whole picture
Financial health, pricing architecture, inventory, operations, compliance, and market position.
One score, benchmarked
A single index, ranked against comparable wineries — so the number means something.
Where value leaks
Exactly which areas are costing you the most, ranked by impact.
Not just a diagnosis
A prioritized action plan you can start on Monday, plus a longer arc.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Revenue Quality | 8.7 |
| Club Health | 7.9 |
| Operating Profitability | 4.8 |
| Asset Quality | 8.8 |
A score you can act on
The index rolls up eleven dimensions into one benchmarked number — then the heat map shows you which of them to fix first. Operating Profitability at 4.8 isn't a mystery; it's the top of your 90-day plan.
Assess, score, plan
Gather
Your numbers — real or rough — across eleven dimensions.
Score
Each dimension rated and rolled into the Durability Index™.
Benchmark
Ranked against comparable wineries.
Plan
A priority heat map, a 90-day plan, and a 3-year roadmap.
Good questions
Is the Assessment a sunk cost?
No — the Assessment fee is credited in full against your ongoing platform subscription if you move forward. It's a diagnostic, not a sunk cost.
What do I need to bring?
Your numbers, real or rough. Part of the value is that WANDA works with what you have and shows you what's missing.
Is the Durability Index benchmarked?
Yes — your score is ranked against comparable wineries so it reflects your position, not just an absolute number.
Four lamps. One light.
Start with an Assessment.
One conversation, a scored diagnostic, and a plan — the fee credited if you move forward.
Request a demo →Know what you're worth — before anyone asks.
A living 10-year model of your winery, tied to QuickBooks. Not a static spreadsheet someone built once and forgot — a current answer to “what is this worth,” and exactly what moves the number.
“What is this winery worth?” shouldn't take a month to answer.
Enterprise value is usually unknown until a buyer or lender asks — then it's a scramble, and the number is already stale. EVE keeps a current answer, modeled the way wine actually sells, ready when you need it.
A model that never goes stale
Actuals flow monthly
The model updates itself — no annual rebuild, no drift.
The way wine sells
DTC, club, wholesale, and import modeled separately — not one blended line.
What moves the number
See what your winery is worth today, and which levers change it.
Before it happens
Model a bad vintage, a rate hike, or a sale — and watch value respond.
Model it before you commit
Toggle a scenario and the value bridge re-draws — so the boardroom conversation happens with numbers, not guesses.
What actually moves the number
EVE decomposes enterprise value into the levers an owner can pull — so “grow the number” becomes a specific, prioritized list.
Shifting toward higher-margin DTC and club.
True cost improvements that compound over time.
The rate — and reliability — of forward cash flow.
Debt, rates, and how they weigh on value.
Valued the way buyers and lenders actually value
Discounted forward cash flow from the living model.
Comparable multiples for wineries like yours.
Inventory, real property, and brand value in context.
Triangulated to a defensible range — not a single false-precision figure.
One model, many decisions
Know the number continuously — and what would grow it.
M&A-ready value with the workings behind it.
Collateral and coverage, current and defensible.
A supportable basis for planning and gifting.
Diligence and ongoing portfolio monitoring.
The value impact of every major decision, in advance.
Valuation that survives diligence.
EVE's Audit-Ready add-on turns the model into documentation a buyer's diligence team, a lender, or an appraiser can rely on — reconciled, cited, and traceable to source.
- Every figure reconciled to QuickBooks and the source financials
- Complete methodology and assumption log — nothing unexplained
- Supporting schedules and workpapers assembled automatically
- Forecasts, assumptions, and facts clearly distinguished
- A defensible value range with the basis documented
- Export packages built for diligence, lending, or estate review
Good questions
How is this different from a valuation I paid for once?
A one-time valuation is stale the day after it's delivered. EVE is a living model tied to QuickBooks — the number stays current as your actuals change.
Does it model channels separately?
Yes — DTC, club, wholesale, and import are projected independently, because they behave differently.
What does Audit-Ready add?
Reconciliation to source, a full assumption and methodology log, and supporting schedules — so the valuation holds up in diligence, lending, or estate review.
Are the figures shown real?
All figures on this page are illustrative samples for demonstration. Your model is built from your own connected data.
Fed by the modules, weighed by the Board
Your numbers, told as a decision.
LUNA turns financial, operational, and forecasting data into a lender- and Board-ready package — interpreted, not just exported. The next bank call or Board meeting stops being a fire drill.
A bank or Board request shouldn't trigger a scramble.
Most wineries assemble the answer from scratch under pressure — and the story rarely matches the numbers. LUNA keeps a current, decision-ready package built directly from your data, so what you present holds together.
Not export. Interpretation.
LUNA doesn't drop financial statements into slides. It decides what is material to the Board, identifies the decisions that need attention, and presents in the format, sequence, and language that Board prefers.
Direct presentation generation
LUNA builds a complete, professionally structured PowerPoint from your financial and operational data — charts, tables, commentary, speaker notes, appendices, and supporting schedules, ready for management review.
Presentation-prompt generation
When another system builds the deck, LUNA writes a production-ready prompt — audience, section sequence, source data, findings, charts, narrative, assumptions, risks, decisions, branding, and citations — so nothing gets reinterpreted.
LUNA surfaces significant issues even when they aren't requested — it does not hide unfavorable findings, overstate confidence, or present uncertain projections as fact.
What happened, why, and what to do about it.
LUNA moves past a bare number to the explanation a Board actually needs — and where the data can't support a confident cause, it flags the gap and asks rather than inventing one.
“Revenue was 8% below budget.”
“Revenue was 8% below budget, primarily because wholesale depletion slowed in the Western region and two planned distributor orders moved into the next period. DTC held near plan, but lower tasting-room conversion reduced the margin expected to offset the shortfall. Unless the delayed orders land, the quarter is likely to finish about $240,000 below the original forecast.”
Illustrative example — figures for demonstration only.
Every Board reports differently. LUNA learns yours.
From past decks, packets, minutes, questions, and requested revisions, LUNA builds a Board Reporting Profile for your organization — and evolves it as the Board reacts, requests more, or shifts priorities. It never assumes all Boards want the same report.
Same data. The right deck for each room.
One set of financials, told to each audience at the authority, sophistication, and decision-responsibility it holds.
Material issues and decisions requested.
Deeper financial and control detail.
Value, returns, and outlook.
Covenants, liquidity, underwriting-ready.
Drivers, variances, and actions.
Operational KPIs at their level.
Prepared, challenged, and checked — but never released on its own.
Before a package is finalized, LUNA runs a reporting review and gives management a concise pre-publication summary. Management retains final authority over what is distributed.
- Mathematical accuracy
- Consistency across slides
- Reconciliation to source financials
- Charts consistent with narrative
- Forecasts & assumptions properly labeled
- Significant uncertainties disclosed
- Required Board materials included
- Confidential information protected
- Conformity with the Board Reporting Profile
- Unresolved questions identified
LUNA prepares, interprets, challenges, and recommends. It does not independently release Board materials without authorization.
The package goes before the Directors first.
When VOX — The Board is active, LUNA submits the proposed package to the functional Directors before it's finalized. They may challenge assumptions, request analysis, disagree with conclusions, add operational context, or reframe the decision requested. The Chair synthesizes their assessment into an advisory memorandum.
Good questions
Does LUNA just turn statements into slides?
No. It interprets the data — deciding what's material, explaining variances, and framing the decisions the Board must make. Export is the floor, not the goal.
What if we use another tool to build decks?
LUNA generates a production-ready prompt with the audience, sequence, data, findings, charts, narrative, risks, decisions, and citations — so the other system builds it without reinterpreting your results.
Can LUNA release a Board package on its own?
No. Management always retains final authority. LUNA prepares, challenges, and recommends; a person authorizes distribution.
Will it hide bad news?
No. LUNA surfaces significant issues even when unrequested, and won't present uncertain projections as established facts.
Fed by the modules, weighed by the Board
Walk in with the whole story.
See LUNA turn a winery's numbers into a Board-ready package.
Request a demo →Organized by business need — not by software.
Start from the outcome you want. Each need maps to the modules that deliver it.
Find the margin hiding in your true costs and pricing. CAIT · WANDA
See how → 🍇True cost by SKU and vintage surfaces where COGS creeps. CAIT
See how → 🔭A living model tied to actuals, by channel. EVE
See how → 📦See carrying cost and slow-moving lots before they bite. CAIT · WANDA
See how → 🗺️Scenario-test a bad vintage, a rate hike, or a sale. EVE
See how → 📋A narrative that matches the numbers, on demand. LUNA · EVE
See how → 🏅Your Durability Index™, ranked against comparable wineries. WANDA
See how → 🧾Excise tax calculated and filing-ready, automatically. TICE
See how → 💬Tell us the outcome you're after and we'll map it to the right modules.
Talk to us →Start from the outcome.
Bring the problem; we'll show you the shortest path to the answer.
Request a demo →Different messaging for different customers.
One connected source of truth — spoken in the language of your part of the wine business.
True cost, durability, valuation, and lender readiness — the full platform, built for owners.
Talk to us → 🚢Landed cost clarity and compliance across a complex supply chain.
Talk to us → 📦Channel-level margin visibility and cleaner reporting.
Talk to us → 🎟️Club health as a scored dimension — retention and margin, seen clearly.
Talk to us → 🏭Cost allocation across clients and lots, without the spreadsheet gymnastics.
Talk to us → 🌿Grower economics and asset quality, tied into the bigger financial picture.
Talk to us → 🏛️Roll up many brands into one comparable, benchmarked view.
Talk to us → 💼Durability scoring and living valuation for diligence and portfolio monitoring.
Talk to us → 🏦Underwriting-ready packages and a narrative that matches the numbers.
Talk to us →Industry messaging shown is a concept scaffold — final positioning to be refined with CruVantage.
Built for your corner of the wine business.
Tell us where you sit and we'll tailor the walkthrough.
Request a demo →This isn't theoretical. It's already finding money.
Real analyses, told without naming names. As approved client stories are published, they'll live here in full.
Two analyses, anonymized
A structural cost gap on a $185 release
A true-cost analysis on a flagship $185 bottle uncovered a structural cost gap eating deeply into margin — invisible in the standard chart of accounts, and hiding on every case sold until it was found. Caught before it reached the next pricing decision.
Nearly $48,000 in annual savings
A full review of DTC shipping and storage identified nearly $48,000 in annual savings — from consolidating fulfillment and cutting redundant storage costs the team didn't know they were carrying. The same rigor is now built into the platform.
Figures are actual results from real engagements, anonymized. Individual outcomes vary by winery.
The stories we'll tell here
Each will become its own page once we have written client approval. Below are the categories — content is placeholder until real, approved stories are in hand.
Finding the true-cost gap that pricing was missing.
Story pending approvalSurfacing slow lots and carrying cost.
Story pending approvalTiming and channel mix, modeled forward.
Story pending approvalAutomating the assembly that eats the first week.
Story pending approvalDurability and valuation for a buy-side decision.
Story pending approvalAn underwriting-ready package, on demand.
Story pending approvalPlaceholder — CruVantage publishes only real, approved client stories. None are invented.
Could your winery be the next story?
Bring your numbers. We'll show you where the value is.
Request a demo →A content hub for the business of wine.
Articles, reports, tools, and downloads — plus a quick way to estimate what manual finance work is costing you.
Short reads on winery finance and operations.
📄Deeper dives on cost, valuation, and compliance.
📊Market data and benchmarks for the wine business.
🎥Live and recorded sessions with Jim & Chris.
▶️Product walkthroughs and short explainers.
🧮Estimate reclaimed labor value in seconds.
⬇️Checklists, templates, and one-pagers.
❓Straight answers to common questions.
The resource library grows as new articles, reports, and practical winery-finance tools are published.
Resources · ROI Worksheet
What is the manual work
actually costing you?
This is a worksheet, not a sales tool. Every line shows its arithmetic, every default is editable, and the assumptions are listed at the bottom. Nothing is counted that we cannot show you.
Change any number that is wrong for your winery — the defaults are starting points sized by case volume, not claims about your operation.
Schedule A
Your winery
Sets the starting hour estimates in Schedule C. Nothing here is a benefit on its own.
More SKUs means more cost-allocation work.
Drives the compliance filing line.
Schedule B
What an hour costs you
Fully loaded rates — salary plus burden, divided by 2,080 hours. Replace with your own figures; these are industry estimates, not survey data.
Schedule C · Tier 1
Reclaimed hours
Annual hours your team spends assembling information, and the share the platform removes. Set any line to zero if you don't do that work.
Schedule D · Tier 2
Outside fees you spend less on
Fees don't disappear — your CPA still reviews and files. What changes is how much of their time goes to assembling instead of advising. We keep these reductions small on purpose.
Schedule E · Tier 3
Decision value
This is where the large numbers live, and where every ROI calculator overreaches. It is off by default. Turn it on only if you want to see it, and discount it as hard as you like.
Starts at 50%. Only half of Tier 3 is counted unless you change it.
Schedule F
What CruVantage costs
We won't guess at your price. Enter the figure from your proposal — the worksheet shows no net benefit or payback until you do.
Spread over three years in the net figures.
Credited in full against subscription if you proceed, so it is not counted as a cost here.
Counted as a real first-year cost at your controller rate.
Every assumption behind this worksheet
Hour estimates. Starting hours are for a winery in the 10,000–50,000 case band and are scaled by the volume you select — 0.45× under 2,000 cases, 0.70× for 2,000–10,000, 1.00× for 10,000–50,000, 1.55× above 50,000. The cost-accounting line is additionally scaled by SKU count and the compliance line by the number of direct-ship states. These are practitioner estimates from winery engagements, not survey data.
Reduction percentages by stance. Each line has three values. Expected is the default; Conservative sits below it.
| Line | Cons. | Exp. | Opt. |
|---|
Loaded hourly rates. Base salary × 1.26 for payroll burden, divided by 2,080 hours. The 1.26 factor covers FICA, unemployment, California workers' compensation at winery class codes, health coverage and a retirement match. Adjust in Schedule B if your burden differs.
Tier 3 method. Margin recovery is revenue × the margin points you enter. Inventory reduction is your inventory × the reduction percentage × a 9% annual carrying cost, which covers financing, storage, insurance and shrink. Avoided writedown is entered directly. The total is then reduced by your discount, which starts at 50%.
Platform cost treatment. Subscription is counted in full each year. Implementation is spread over three years. Your setup hours are charged at the controller rate as a first-year cost. Payback is calculated on the first-year net, which includes those setup hours, so it is the pessimistic reading.
What would make this wrong. If your team does not currently do a task, the hours are already zero and there is nothing to reclaim — set the line to zero. If your books are already clean and costed by SKU, Tier 1 will be much smaller than the defaults suggest. If you carry no debt and face no audit, Schedule D largely disappears. The worksheet is most accurate when you have overwritten most of it.
This is an estimate, not a promise. Figures are produced from the inputs you provide and the assumptions listed above. They are not a forecast, a guarantee, or a representation of results achieved by any other winery. Actual outcomes depend on your systems, your data quality, your team, and the decisions you make. CruVantage prepares and explains financial and tax information; it does not replace your CPA or file returns on your behalf. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice. The real number is sized to your operation during a Durability Assessment.
Straight answers
Is CruVantage software or consulting?
Both, on purpose. Software measures what's true; people turn it into judgment. Not a software company, not a consulting firm — a platform that needs both.
Do I have to replace my current systems?
No rip-and-replace. It sits on top of QuickBooks, InnoVint/EKOS, and your DTC tools.
How do we start?
Most clients start with a WANDA Durability Assessment — a scored diagnostic whose fee is credited against the platform if you move forward.
Are the numbers on this site real?
Where figures appear, they're either real anonymized results (clearly noted) or illustrative samples for demonstration. Nothing is invented.
Proof of expertise — not just products.
The thinking behind the platform, in long form. Books that establish the read on the market before the software ever runs.
The Reset Is Over
A read on where the wine market goes next, and what it means for how a winery should price, plan, and finance.
The Post-Pandemic Wine Market
How demand, distribution, and DTC reshaped after the disruption — and the numbers owners should be watching now.
What's next from Jim & Chris — titles and timing to be announced.
Key themes connecting market conditions, winery finance, and practical operating decisions.
Only real, attributed reviews will appear here. Placeholder — none invented.
Book details, excerpts, reviews, and purchase links are placeholders for the VI team to supply. Nothing here is fabricated.
The read behind the software.
See how the thinking in the books shows up in the platform.
Request a demo →Thought leadership for the business of wine.
The team's writing — essentially our Substack, integrated into the site. Sharp reads on where wine finance and operations are heading.
Browse by theme
Where demand and pricing are going.
Cash, margin, and the health of the books.
True cost, COGS, and where margin leaks.
DTC, club, wholesale, and import economics.
Where automation actually helps.
From the cellar to the close.
The owner's-eye view.
What lenders want, and how to be ready.
Read on Substack ↗Latest posts
Where margin hides in a standard chart of accounts — and how to surface it.
Read →How connected financial information reduces manual work and improves decisions.
Read →Build a clearer operating picture from the systems the winery already uses.
Read →Why a detailed cost view changes pricing and production decisions.
Browse insights →Automation you can trust shows its work and its uncertainty.
Browse insights →Why a living valuation changes every major decision.
Browse insights →Post titles are illustrative placeholders. Real Insights/Substack content to be connected by the VI team.
Read the thinking. Then see the tools.
The ideas in Insights are what the platform automates.
Request a demo →Built inside the wine business — not sold into it.
Two founders, one winery lens. Every module reflects a problem one of us has lived, closed the books on, or financed.
Not a software company. Not a consulting firm.
CruVantage was built inside the wine business. Software measures what's true, every day — cost, compliance, and value, always current. People turn that measurement into judgment — the read a spreadsheet can't give you. Together they sell what a winery owner is actually buying: confidence. We build software. We deliver outcomes. Both, on purpose.
Two founders. One winery lens.
Jim Silver
Wine industry veteran and General Manager. Has run winery operations from the cellar to the boardroom — and knows where the numbers get away from an owner.
Chris McDonald, CPA, CPC, QPA
Napa-based CPA and wine industry veteran. Knows exactly where winery books break down — and how to build them so they hold up to a lender or a buyer.
Leadership biographies reflect the founders' operating and financial experience in the wine business.
Building our advisory bench.
We're assembling a board of advisors with deep wine-industry, finance, and lending experience. Announcements coming soon.
The platform brings winery operations, finance, accounting, and lending considerations into one decision framework.
Accounting firms, consultants, and software partners who extend the platform.
See partners →Building the team that builds the platform. Openings coming soon.
Let's meet. Let's assess. Let's build the plan.
A conversation about where your winery actually stands — no pitch, no obligation.
Request a demo →Better together with the people who serve wineries too.
The platform is built to sit alongside trusted advisors and tools — not replace the relationships owners already rely on.
Hand your winery clients cleaner books and filing-ready numbers — you stay the trusted filer.
Bring durability scoring and living valuation to your engagements.
Production, DTC, and compliance tools that connect into one source of truth.
Send an owner our way when the numbers need untangling.
QuickBooks, InnoVint, EKOS, ShipCompliant, Commerce7 — and growing.
Tell us how you serve wineries and where we could fit together.
Get in touch →Partner program details are a concept scaffold — final terms to be defined by the VI team.
Let's build something together.
Firms, consultants, and tech partners — we'd like to talk.
Contact us →Not just a form. A working session.
Bring your numbers — real or rough. In one conversation, we'll show you where the value is and what a Durability Assessment would look like for your winery.
A walkthrough on a winery like yours
CAIT builds a real per-SKU number and shows its work.
How WANDA's 11-dimension index would read for you.
What LUNA hands a bank — credit memo, score, open questions.
About 20 minutes for a focused walkthrough; 45 for a deeper dive.
The owner or GM, and whoever touches the books — bookkeeper, controller, or CPA.
Live demo request
Let's talk numbers.
Questions, partnerships, or just want to see where your winery stands — we'd like to hear from you.
Send us a note
The details
- ✉️
- 📞Phone(917) 657-1833
- 📍Office1300 First Street, Suite 368
Napa, CA 94559 - inLinkedInConnect with CruVantage
The read, in your inbox
Market trends and winery finance notes from Jim & Chris. No spam.
Privacy Policy
How CruVantage would handle information collected through this website and the platform.
The published policy is available on the dedicated Privacy Policy page. The summary below is provided for convenience.
What we collect
Contact details you provide (name, email, company), and standard analytics about how the site is used. Platform data you connect (e.g., QuickBooks, production records) is processed to deliver the service and is scoped to your account.
How we use it
To respond to inquiries, provide and improve the platform, and communicate with you. We do not sell personal information.
Your choices
You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of your information, and opt out of marketing email at any time.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Contact us.
Terms of Use
The terms that would govern use of this website and the CruVantage platform.
These website-use principles are a plain-language overview. Applicable service agreements govern customer use of the platform.
Use of the site
The site and its content are provided for informational purposes. Figures shown are illustrative or anonymized samples unless stated otherwise.
No professional advice
CruVantage prepares and explains financial and tax information; it does not replace your CPA or file returns on your behalf. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice.
Intellectual property
CruVantage, the module names, and the Durability Index™ are marks of CruVantage, Inc.
Contact
Questions about these terms? Contact us.
Security
How your winery's data is kept isolated, auditable, and under your control.
Every record is scoped to your winery. One tenant never sees another's data.
An auditable ledger of movements and calculations, built for CPA and TTB review.
The platform prepares and explains; your CPA files. Nothing is submitted without you.
Credentials to connected systems are handled carefully and never exposed in reports.
We process the records needed to deliver the service — and explain every figure.
Reconciliation and exception detection catch problems before they reach a filing.
This is a high-level operating overview, not a certification statement. Formal controls and customer-specific data-handling terms are documented in the applicable service agreement.
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How this site would use cookies — and the privacy-first defaults we'd hold to.
This marketing site currently uses only the resources needed to display and operate the page. It does not include an advertising or analytics platform.
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The live site will present a consent banner defaulting to the most privacy-preserving option. You can change your choice at any time.
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The full map of the site as built in this concept.
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