Craft beverage producers
Books and taxes for wineries and tasting rooms.
Tasting fees, wine club shipments, case sales to distributors, and wine sitting in barrel for two vintages before it is ever bottled. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November came in at $24,700. The wine club's holiday shipment carried it, and I kept those recurring charges separate from tasting room walk-ins so you can see each is doing.
- Vinoshipper club chargeWine club shipments
- Tasting room depositTasting room sales
- Case order distributor payoutWholesale case sales
- World Cooperage barrelsBarrels and cooperage
- Encore Glass bottlesBottles, corks, and labels
Why your books are different
A winery's books go wrong around the barrel room and the club.
A generalist sees a tasting room and a wine list. Your business is grapes that become inventory for two years before they are ever a bottle, a recurring club that ships across state lines, and case sales priced nothing like a tasting flight. When the books do not separate all that, the monthly number does not mean much.
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1
Wine club shipments blend into tasting room sales
A club shipment charged automatically each quarter and a walk-in tasting purchase are very different kinds of revenue, one recurring and predictable, one seasonal foot traffic. Lumped together, you cannot tell which one is actually growing.
What we doKeeps wine club shipments and tasting room sales in separate lines, so you can see your recurring base against your walk-in traffic. -
2
Barrel inventory sits for a vintage or two
Grapes crushed this fall might not be bottled for eighteen months or more. Expensed the day the grapes and barrels are paid for, a big harvest makes a slow season look like a loss.
What we doKeeps grapes, juice, and barrel-aging wine in inventory until it is bottled and sold, so harvest season does not wreck the monthly number. -
3
Direct-to-consumer shipping costs disappear into cost of goods
Shipping wine to a club member in another state costs real money in carrier fees and compliance reporting, but it often gets buried inside the price of the wine instead of tracked as its own cost.
What we doKeeps shipping and compliance costs in their own line, so you can see what direct-to-consumer sales really cost to fulfill. -
4
Estate grapes and purchased grapes get mixed together
Grapes you grow yourself and grapes you buy from a neighboring vineyard carry very different costs, but a single grape line on the books hides which one is actually cheaper for a given vintage.
What we doKeeps estate-grown and purchased grape costs separate, so a pricing decision on next year's blend is based on real numbers. -
5
A wedding buyout gets billed like a tasting fee
A private event or wedding rental brings in far more revenue per booking than a tasting flight, but rung through the same category, it makes the tasting room look busier or slower than it really was.
What we doBooks event and wedding revenue in its own line, so the tasting room's real foot traffic stays visible.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a winery and tasting room.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Tasting room salesFlights, glasses, and bottle sales poured on site.
- Wine club shipmentsRecurring quarterly or seasonal charges through Vinoshipper or ShipCompliant.
- Wholesale case salesDistributor and restaurant account sales, kept apart from retail.
- Event and wedding revenueBuyouts, wedding rentals, and private tastings.
- Online and out-of-state shipmentsDirect-to-consumer orders shipped outside the tasting room.
Money out
- Grapes and juiceEstate-grown costs kept apart from grapes purchased from other growers.
- Barrels and cooperageNew and neutral barrels from coopers like World Cooperage.
- Bottles, corks, and labelsPackaging from suppliers like Encore Glass, plus label compliance.
- Lab testingFermentation and stability testing before bottling.
- Tasting room staff wagesPourers and event staff, kept apart from cellar labor.
- Shipping and complianceCarrier fees and state permit costs for direct-to-consumer orders.
- Cellar equipmentPresses, tanks, and crush pad equipment, logged so they get written off right.
- Insurance and permitsLiquor liability coverage and your federal and state winery permits.
What we watch for you
- Club versus walk-in sales
Recurring club revenue against tasting room foot traffic, so you know which one is actually growing.
- Wine in barrel
What is aging but not yet bottled, so a quiet-looking season after a big harvest still makes sense.
- Shipping cost per case
What direct-to-consumer orders really cost once carrier fees and compliance are counted.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things winery owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
Those grapes and the barrels they are aging in are inventory, not an expense yet. The cost shows up when that vintage is bottled and sold, not the day you paid for the fruit.
I kept club revenue separate from tasting room sales, so you can see it clearly. It is down slightly, worth a look at renewal timing, not yet a real accountant conversation.
That crosses into direct-to-consumer shipping compliance, which is above my pay grade. I flag those orders and keep the records clean, and the accountant weighs in on the details.
The tax side
The tax side of running a winery.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing. Grapes and barrels sitting in inventory for years, and an excise tax bucket nobody separated from income tax.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Federal excise tax on wineA bonded winery generally owes federal excise tax on wine it removes from bond for sale, separate from its income tax return and based on volume and alcohol content. Rates are not something to guess at. Goatkeeper keeps the books clean for whoever files that return, it does not file it.
- Uniform capitalization for barrel-aged wineWhen wine ages in barrel for a long stretch, certain carrying costs like storage usually get added to the cost of that inventory rather than deducted right away. It evens out over time, but changes which year a cost lands in.
- Presses, tanks, and crush equipmentCellar equipment can usually be written off the year you buy it, with bonus depreciation at 100 percent for property placed in service after January 19, 2025. Whether to take it all now depends on the year you are having.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated wineries can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when tasting room, club, and wholesale sales are kept separate all year.
Deductions wineries and tasting rooms miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Purchased grapes and juice
- Barrels and cooperage
- Bottles, corks, and labels
- Lab and stability testing
- Tasting room glassware
- Federal alcohol permit and bond fees
- Liquor liability insurance
- Direct-to-consumer shipping permits
- Crush pad and press repairs
- Wine club software fees
- Event and wedding staffing
- Tasting room furniture
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A winery year, kept every month.
Harvest, barrel time, and holiday club shipments all pull your calendar in different directions. Your team keeps you ahead of both the season and the return. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the wine club's renewal numbers are reviewed, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your income tax return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January while the cellar kept working.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand ahead of harvest, and whether summer tasting room traffic changed the number.
- October
Before harvest and holiday shipments
Before crush and the holiday club shipment, Gus looks at cellar equipment worth buying and anything to do before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for wineries and tasting rooms. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions winery owners ask first.
Can Gus keep wine club revenue separate from tasting room sales?
Yes. He books them in their own categories, so you can see your recurring club base against your walk-in traffic instead of one blended number.
We ship through Vinoshipper. Does that change anything?
No. Keep shipping the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and when a deposit is unclear he asks you once and remembers the answer.
Why does a big harvest not show up as a bad month?
Grapes and barrels are inventory, not an expense, until that vintage is bottled and sold. Gus keeps them there so a heavy harvest month does not look like a loss.
Does Gus handle filing our federal excise tax return?
No. Wine excise tax is its own filing, separate from your income tax return, and it belongs to whoever prepares that return for you. Gus keeps your cellar and sales records in order so that job is straightforward.
Do you handle direct-to-consumer shipping compliance?
No. Gus flags out-of-state shipments and keeps the records clean, but state-by-state shipping permits are outside what the subscription covers.
Our cellar books and tasting room books have never been together. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts them into cellar, tasting room, club, and wholesale from here forward, and the accountant checks it.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
More in craft beverage producers
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Bottle shops & craft beer stores
- Cideries
- Craft distilleries
- Custom-crush & alternating proprietor wineries
- Homebrew & winemaking supply shops
- Kombucha brewers
- Meaderies
- Vineyards (grape growers)
- Brewpubs
- Coffee roasters
- Craft breweries & taprooms
- Liquor stores
- Non-alcoholic beverage brands
- Arcade bars (barcades)
- Artisan cheese makers
- Bagel shops
- BBQ sauce & rub brands
- Beer gardens
- Candy & chocolate makers
- Charcuterie board & grazing table businesses
- Cigar lounges
- Commissary & shared commercial kitchens
- Cottage food producers
- Custom cake studios
- Dive bars & neighborhood taverns
- Farmers market vendors
- Food hall vendors
- Fudge & candy shops
- Honey producers & apiaries
- Hookah lounges
What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever