Glossary
The wine operations glossary
The language of a professional wine program, defined clearly, for operators, sommeliers and serious collectors.
Appellation
An appellation is a legally defined wine-growing area whose name signals geographic origin and, often, rules on grapes, yields, and winemaking.
Backorder
A backorder is an order for wine that cannot be fulfilled immediately because it is out of stock, recorded so it can be supplied once it arrives.
By-the-Glass (BTG)
By-the-glass refers to wine sold in single-serving pours rather than full bottles, priced on configured glass volumes and the underlying bottle cost.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
Cost of goods sold is the direct cost of the wine actually sold in a period, used to calculate gross margin and measure beverage profitability.
Depletion
Depletion is the reduction of inventory as wine is sold, poured, or consumed, measured over a period to reveal sales velocity and reorder needs.
Digital Wine Card
A digital wine card is a guest-facing presentation of a wine offering, on tablet, kiosk, or web, that stays in sync with live inventory and pricing.
Drinking Window
A drinking window is the span of years during which a wine is expected to drink well, from when it is ready through to when it begins to decline.
Inventory Movement
An inventory movement is a recorded change in stock, a purchase, pour, sale, transfer, or adjustment, that documents what changed, when, and why.
Lot
A lot is a distinct batch of wine tracked as a unit, typically a specific wine and vintage acquired together at a known cost, date, and source.
Markup
Markup is the amount added to a wine's cost to set its selling price, often expressed as a multiplier of cost or a percentage above it.
Par Level
A par level is the target quantity of a wine to keep in stock to meet expected demand between deliveries, used as the baseline for reordering.
Peak Window
The peak window is the narrower period within a wine's drinking window when it is expected to show at its very best, balancing maturity and freshness.
Pour Cost
Pour cost is the cost of the wine in a serving expressed as a percentage of its selling price, a core profitability metric for beverage programs.
Price Rounding Rule
A price rounding rule defines how calculated prices are adjusted to clean, presentable figures, such as rounding every price up to the nearest whole unit.
Provenance
Provenance is the documented history of a wine, its origin, ownership, and storage over time, used to verify authenticity and assess condition.
Reorder Threshold
A reorder threshold is the stock level at which a wine should be reordered, triggering replenishment before it runs out during the supplier lead time.
Shrinkage
Shrinkage is the loss of inventory that cannot be accounted for by sales, the gap between recorded stock and physical stock from waste, error, or theft.
Stock Adjustment
A stock adjustment is a deliberate correction to recorded inventory to match reality, accounting for breakage, loss, tasting use, or count discrepancies.
Stock Transfer
A stock transfer is the movement of wine between locations or venues, recorded so inventory stays accurate at both the source and the destination.
System of Record
A system of record is the authoritative source for a given set of data, the single place an organization trusts for accurate inventory, pricing, and history.
Terroir
Terroir is the combination of natural factors, soil, climate, topography, and local practice, that gives a wine its sense of place and distinctive character.
VAT Basis
VAT basis defines whether prices and pricing calculations are handled net (excluding tax) or gross (including tax), shaping how margins are computed.
Vertical (Wine)
A vertical is a collection of the same wine from a single producer across multiple consecutive vintages, used to study how a wine evolves year to year.
Vintage
Vintage is the year the grapes for a wine were harvested, a key identifier that influences a wine's character, quality, ageing potential, and value.
Wine List
A wine list is the curated selection of wines a venue offers, published as a document or shareable output generated from live inventory and pricing.