Planning Your Sparkling Workflow: Key Decisions Before You Start

Every sparkling program runs a little differently. Before you set up tirage bins or record your first disgorging, a few decisions will shape how you record each step in InnoVint and how your inventory, costs, and TTB report come out. This article walks through those decisions and points you to the recommended path for each one.

This article covers:

• How to use this guide
• Quick reference table: your decisions at a glance
  • Setting up tirage bins and lot codes
  • Bottling en tirage
  • Dosage
  • Disgorging/Packaging Wine 
  • Costing
  • Yeast plugs 
  • TTB reporting
• After bottling

How to use this guide

Read through the questions below with your production, compliance, and (if you use them) finance or warehouse teams. Each answer tells you which InnoVint path to follow. If your answer to a question is "it depends" or "we do something different," that's normal for sparkling. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or to InnoVint Support, and we'll help you design a workflow that fits.

Quick reference: decisions at a glance 

 

Setting up tirage bins and lot codes 

Q: Our tirage bins don't have numbers on them. How should we code them in InnoVint?

A: Every tirage bin in InnoVint needs a vessel code, but it doesn't have to match a physical label. You have two common options:

• Give each bin its own code. This gives you the most detail, especially if bins of the same lot are stored in different places.
• Use one code for a group of bins that hold the same lot. This is simpler to manage if a lot's bins always stay together.

See Step 1 of the feature overview for how to create tirage vessels.

 

Q: Our tirage ages in several warehouses or bonds. How do we keep track of where it is?

A: Many sparkling producers build the location into the tirage bin code, for example a prefix like T1- for one warehouse and T2- for another, followed by a sequential number. That way, anyone reading a bin code knows where to find it.

If the same lot exists in more than one bond, add a location indicator to the lot code too (for example, a short suffix for each bond). A lot can only belong to one bond at a time, so the same wine in two bonds needs two lot codes. A consistent naming pattern keeps those lots easy to find and group.

 

Q: Do we need a separate lot code for each bottle format?

A: Yes, we recommend separate lot codes for different bottle formats (for example, 750 mL and 1.5 L) so your bottle counts and volumes stay clean. 

 

Bottling en tirage 

Q: What's the typical sequence of actions for a tirage run?

A: Most producers record three steps for each run:

1. A Transfer (or Blend) to move the base wine into its cuvée lot.
2. An Addition of liqueur de tirage, yeast, and nutrients.
3. A Bottling en Tirage action to move the wine into tirage bins.

Since you'll repeat this sequence many times during tirage season, consider saving it as a work order template. See Bottling en Tirage for the step-by-step action.

 

Q: We bottle en tirage from the same lot over several weeks, sometimes across two reporting periods. Anything to watch for?

A: Yes, the tax class. Before you transfer volume into the lot you're bottling from, make sure every contributing lot is in the same tax class (for example, all declared in the same still wine tax class). After the Bottling en Tirage action, move the lot to Sparkling – Bottle Fermented. Mixing undeclared and declared lots, or different tax classes, across reporting periods can create TTB report adjustments that are hard to untangle later.

If you bottle in separate runs and don't blend more base wine in, we recommend a unique lot code for each run.

 

Q: Our tirage bottling happens at another facility, or we split a lot across several locations after tirage. How do we record that?

A: Use Bond to Bond Transfers (Inter-Facility) to record the wine moving between bonds. See Bottling En Tirage at an Offsite Location. If your lot will be split across several locations over several days, contact your CSM. We can help you set up a short-term holding lot so you don't end up with more lot codes than you need.

 

Dosage 

Q: Will our dosage be part of the finished wine's composition?

A: This is one of the most important decisions for your sparkling workflow, because it affects your composition, your lot codes, and your costs. We have some producers who include dosage in the final composition, and some who do not.  Here are the workflow implications for each:

• Yes, include it. Blend or transfer the dosage into the lot before you record the Bottle action. The dosage lot's varietal, vintage, appellation, and (if you track costs) cost become part of the finished wine. Because each bottling's composition will be slightly different, you'll usually bottle into a new case goods lot each time.
• No, keep it out. Consider using a Custom Action or Addition to record the applied dosage on your bottled lot.  Record the consumed dosage leaving your dosage lot separately, for example with a Volume Adjustment on the dosage lot.   This means that the finished wine's composition matches the tirage lot, which makes it easier to keep bottling into the same case goods lot.  The Disgorge, Dosage & Packaging article also covers different methods of applying dosage as an addition with a custom additive, or as part of your disgorge instructions.

 

Q: We keep our dosage in a large tank and pull a smaller amount into a keg for each disgorging. How do we record that?

A: Record a Transfer from the tank to the keg each time you fill it. You can keep the keg in the same dosage lot, or create a separate lot for it if you want to track it on its own. Then follow the composition decision above for how the keg's dosage reaches the bottled wine.

 

Disgorging/Packaging Wine 

Q: How do we record disgorging, dosage, and final bottling?

A: Use the regular Bottle action to move the wine from the tirage bins into a case goods lot, and add any packaging (corks, wire hoods, labels) in that step. Disgorging itself can be recorded as a custom action named "Disgorge," or noted in the bottling instructions. See Disgorge, Dosage & Packaging for details.  

 

Q: Can we keep bottling into the same case goods lot over months or years?

A: Yes, as long as each bottling's composition matches the lot you're adding to. This keeps your case goods list short and makes it easier for warehouse teams to find the right inventory. Keep in mind:

• If dosage is blended into the composition, each bottling composition will differ, so plan on a new case goods lot each time.
• Combining many bottlings into one case good lot averages their costs together over time. If you need the cost of each bottling on its own, use a separate case good lot code for each one.
• If you store finished wine in several locations, use a location indicator in your case goods lot codes, the same way as in Setting up tirage bins and lot codes.

 

Q: We track specific bottles pulled during disgorging, like breakage or QC samples. Can we record those separately?

A: Yes. Record a separate Volume Adjustment for each reason, with a note, before the Bottle action. Each adjustment keeps its own reason and note in the lot history, and the Bottle action picks up the remaining volume. You can add these as tasks in your disgorging work order template so your team records them every time.

 

Costing 

Q: We track costs in InnoVint. How do dosage and disgorging costs get to our finished wine?

A: It depends on your dosage decision:

• Dosage blended into the composition: The dosage lot's cost moves with its volume into the bottled wine automatically.
• Dosage kept out of the composition: The dosage cost stays on the dosage lot. You'll need to decide how to allocate it, for example as overhead spread across the year's bottlings.

Disgorging labor and other bottling costs also need a plan. Because the right approach depends on how your finance team wants to see costs, we recommend working through this with your Customer Success Manager or InnoVint Support before your first disgorging of the season. See COGS Tracking for more on how costs move in InnoVint.

 

Yeast plugs and other disgorged volume 

Q: We save our yeast plugs (disgorged volume) for later use. Can InnoVint track that?

A: Yes, but it takes a few extra steps, and the right setup depends on what you do with the saved volume. Please contact Support or your Customer Success Manager and we'll walk through the options with you.

 

TTB reporting 

Q: Which tax class should our wine be in at each step?

A: In brief:

1. Declare your base wine before Bottling en Tirage, and bottle en tirage into the same tax class as the base wine.
2. After tirage, change the lot to Sparkling – Bottle Fermented.
3. When you bottle the finished wine, bottle into a case goods lot with the same tax class.

See Step 4 of the feature overview and Declare or Edit Tax Class for details.

 

Q: Our dosage uses sugar. How do we report it?

A: Sugar used in dosage needs to be reported in the sugar columns of your TTB report: Part IV, Summary of Materials Received and Used.  Use the Additive History Report to find how much sugar was used during the period, and the Dry Goods at Point-in-Time Report to find your on-hand amounts. Then enter those amounts on the report.

 

After bottling 

Q: We regularly move finished bottles between our own bonds or warehouses. How do we record that?

A: For case goods, record a Bond to Bond Transfer Out from the sending bond and a Bond to Bond Transfer In at the receiving bond, one lot at a time. If you use a location indicator in your lot codes, receive the bottles into the matching lot for that location. This article outlines the required workflow to track these case goods movements in MAKE. 

 

Q: We sometimes move wine from one bottle format to another (for example, 750 mL to 3 L). How do we record that?

A: Record a Volume Adjustment to remove the volume from the original format's case goods lot, and a second Volume Adjustment to add it to the new format's lot. On your TTB report, these appear as a loss and a gain in the bottled wine section (Section B), so net them against each other when you review the report.