Which States Are Best For DTC Wine? Free Tool separates the winners from the losers.

NEWS RELEASE – Healdsburg, CA, August 10, 2021 — DTC can be a profitable path to success for many wineries, but some states are just not worth the time and effort.

 

To help wineries sift the gold from the sand, Captina CompleteDTC has created a free tool to help determine which states make economic sense from a compliance perspective.

 

“Figuring out where to do business should be a straightforward decision.  But we found it remarkably challenging because the information is scattered all over the place.  We decided to fix that for everyone,” said founder Ridgely Evers, who has built a thriving DTC winery and is the person who led the creation of QuickBooks.

 

The Compliance Insight Tool lays out the salient information clearly and simply.  One need only enter their winery’s typical gross margin, and its costs for compliance resources; from there, the tool shows what the ongoing costs of being compliant are state-by-state, as well as the sales necessary to cover that cost.

 

“Compliance is increasingly a fact of life for us, but this is the first time I’ve been able to look at the full cost on a state-by-state basis.  It was fascinating to see what jumped out once I put in our parameters,” said Elisa Lawson, CFO of Christopher Creek winery in Healdsburg.  She found the break-even analysis to be especially useful, saying “it’s crystal clear that some of the states where we’ve been shipping make no sense at all; but others we’ve avoided are in fact quite desirable — and affordable.”

 

According to Tracey Welch, President of Captina and a former Price Waterhouse auditor, building the calculator was straightforward, stating “the challenging piece was pulling the data together from dozens of different places.” Welch cautions that the compliance landscape is constantly changing, and notes that there may be other costs unique to a winery that are not reflected.

 

The company recommends that users start with the tool, but then consult with their compliance specialist, attorney, and/or accountant before making final decisions.

 

The tool is freely available at https://completedtc.com/compliance-insight/