Software for vineyards and wineries
Vineyard and winery software for UK grower-makers
GrapeFlow keeps the day-to-day records of an English or Welsh wine estate in one browser app — vine parcels, spraying, harvest intake, cellar work, lab results and bottling — so the figures the Wine Standards inspector and HMRC ask about are already written down. 99 USD a month for the whole business, 90-day free trial.
- 90-day free trial
- No card details needed
- No per-user charges
What the app records
Parcels and spraying
Each application by parcel: product, active substance, dose, area treated, date, re-entry and harvest intervals. A downy and powdery mildew risk estimate per parcel, from modelled weather.
Harvest intake
Grape deliveries by parcel and weight, flagged when a harvest interval has not yet elapsed.
Cellar, lab and bottling
Tanks and barrels, transfers, blends and additions lot by lot in litres; analyses; bottling runs with bottle counts.
Traceability
Follow any bottling back to its parcels or forward from a parcel, with a PDF recall report.
The records a UK wine producer is required to keep
Wine in Great Britain is still governed largely by retained EU regulations, enforced by the Food Standards Agency’s Wine Standards team, with duty administered by HMRC. These are the records that matter to an estate that grows and makes its own wine, as the official texts describe them.
| Record | Legal basis or guidance | What it must show | Retention | Checked by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vineyard registration | FSA vineyard registration guidance; UK Vineyards Register | Required for vineyards over 0.1 hectare, or smaller ones run commercially, no later than six months after planting. Holding area; vines in the open and under cover; area not under vine; altitude; and, parcel by parcel, each variety with its planted area, planting year and density. | Kept on the register; changes notified to Wine Standards by email | FSA Wine Standards |
| Inward and outward register (winery records) | Retained Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/273, Arts 28–29; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274, Arts 13–21 | Every entry and withdrawal: date, quantity, product description, lot number where the law requires it and a reference to the accompanying document, with containers identified by nominal volume. Operations such as enrichment, acidification, sweetening, blending and bottling (number and content of containers filled). Separate accounts for PDO, PGI and variety/vintage wines. Closed by an annual balance with a stock inventory. | At least five years after the accounts concerned are closed (2018/274, Art 35) | FSA Wine Standards; Food Standards Scotland keeps the list of operators in Scotland |
| Commercial Accompanying Document (WSB 15) | Retained Regulation (EU) 2018/273; FSA form guidance | Travels with unpackaged wine products in containers over 60 litres moved within the UK: consignor, consignee, carrier, product description, quantity and any operations such as enrichment. Not needed, among other cases, for grapes or fresh must moved by the grower for vinification over no more than 70 km, or for wine moved without a change of owner for processing, storage or bottling. | Signed copy kept for at least five years | FSA Wine Standards |
| Annual production declaration (WSB 21) | Retained wine regime; FSA form WSB 21 | Area in production and hectolitres made from your own grapes, red or rosé and white, split into wine, varietal, PGI and PDO; sweet reserve; wine made from bought-in grapes with the supplier’s WSB reference and CAD number; and wine made under contract for others. Growers whose fruit is sold or made elsewhere use WSB 21B. | Keep a copy of the form | FSA Wine Standards |
| Alcohol Duty production records | Revenue Traders (Accounts and Records) Regulations 1992, reg 6, through the HMRC Alcoholic Products Technical Guide | Materials and additives used; each process step, including fermentations, additions, drawing off, bottling and packaging; quantities and strength produced, received, sent out, lost or destroyed; and any surplus or deficiency found at stock-take. Plus an Alcohol Duty account for product leaving duty suspension. | Six years; HMRC must agree before anything younger is destroyed | HMRC |
| Plant protection product use | Retained Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, Art 67(1) | Name of the product, time and dose of application, and the area and crop treated. Businesses using professional products also register the addresses where they use, store or keep records of them with Defra. | At least three years | The competent authority, on request |
Registration with the FSA is free, and the FSA makes no charge for its inspections or advice. Producing alcoholic products without HMRC approval is an offence, and HMRC can seize the products and equipment involved.
Deadlines through the year
The dates below are set in legislation or in official guidance. Harvest timing moves the busy weeks, but not the statutory deadlines.
Before your first vintage — HMRC approval Anyone making wine needs an Alcoholic Products Producer Approval (APPA) before production starts. Making wine purely for your own domestic use, or for research, is exempt.
Within six months of planting — register the vines New plantings go on the UK Vineyards Register through the online Wine Registration Service, one parcel per section. A registration number follows within 20 working days.
Harvest and vinification — the next working day Register entries for grapes and wine received or dispatched, and for operations such as blending, are due by the next working day; enrichment must be entered on the same day. On application, the FSA can allow up to 30 days for a computerised register.
Every month — Alcohol Duty Approved producers submit an Alcohol Duty return online by the 15th and pay by the 25th for the previous calendar month, even when nothing was released and the return is nil.
15 January — production declaration The WSB 21 for the previous harvest must reach Wine Standards by 15 January; for the 2026 vintage that is 15 January 2027. It is emailed to winestandards@food.gov.uk.
Once a year — close the register The inward and outward register is closed with an annual balance and an inventory of stocks, which are carried forward as the first entries of the new account.
Inspections, schemes and what they look for
How often Wine Standards visits
The FSA places each registered vineyard in a category. An estate that makes its own wine is visited at least once a year, or every two years if its wine is made under contract elsewhere; a contract winemaker twice a year; a grower selling grapes to a winery every four years, with contact every two.
What the inspector checks
Winery records against your declarations and labels, and analytical limits: total sulphur dioxide up to 150 mg/L for red, 200 mg/L for white and rosé and 185 mg/L for quality sparkling wine; enrichment of no more than 3% total alcohol, plus 0.5% in unfavourable years. The FSA no longer asks to be notified of enrichment, acidification or de-acidification — the register entry is the record.
PDO and PGI wine schemes
WineGB administers the English and Welsh PDO and PGI schemes for Defra; Wine Standards enforces them. Sparkling entries go through post-bottling analysis and a no-fault tasting at Campden BRI. PDO sparkling allows six varieties — Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir Précoce, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris — all grown within England or Wales.
Varietal and vintage labels
Since 1 January 2024 a variety or vintage may appear on the label without certification or a fee, provided 85% of the wine is from the single variety named, or 95% from the varieties named together. These wines may not use “English”, “Welsh” or “Sussex”.
HMRC compliance checks
HMRC reviews production and duty records. Small Producer Relief applies only to products below 8.5% ABV, so most still and sparkling wine pays the full rate however small the estate.
Where GrapeFlow helps, and what remains yours
GrapeFlow holds the working records behind these obligations. It submits nothing to the FSA, HMRC, Defra or WineGB, issues no accompanying document and has no affiliation with any of them.
| Obligation | Held in GrapeFlow | Left to the producer |
|---|---|---|
| Vineyard registration | Parcels with area, varieties and planting years. | Registering through the Wine Registration Service and reporting changes to Wine Standards. |
| Inward and outward register | Grape intake, transfers, blends, additions and bottling runs by lot and vessel, each dated, with volumes. | Confirming every entry meets the next-day (same-day for enrichment) rule, the separate PDO/PGI accounts, accompanying-document references and the annual balance. GrapeFlow does not print the register in a prescribed layout. |
| Commercial Accompanying Documents | Which parcels and lots a movement came from, and the quantities. | Completing, signing and keeping the WSB 15. |
| Production declaration | Hectares harvested and litres produced by lot and colour. | Converting to hectolitres, classifying wine, varietal, PGI and PDO, and emailing WSB 21 by 15 January. |
| Alcohol Duty | Production history, losses recorded in the cellar and bottled stock. | APPA, monthly returns and payments, and the duty account: GrapeFlow does no duty calculation or accounting. |
| Plant protection records | Product, active substance, dose, date, parcel and area for every application. | Defra professional-user registration and keeping records for at least three years. |
| PDO/PGI applications | Lab analyses and the parcel origin and composition of each lot. | The WineGB application, Campden BRI testing and labelling decisions. |
Who it suits
GrapeFlow is made for estates that grow their own grapes and make wine from them, whether on site or with a contract winemaker: a few hectares of Bacchus on the North Downs, a traditional-method house in Hampshire or Sussex, or a young vineyard in the Welsh borders. Records run from parcel to bottle, the same way a Wine Standards inspector follows a wine back through its paperwork.
Measurements are metric — hectares, kilograms at intake, litres in tank. The mildew model weighs variety susceptibility for chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, riesling and the other vinifera it lists; Bacchus, Seyval Blanc, Solaris and other varieties are recorded in full but without a variety-specific weighting.
It runs in a browser on desktop or phone, so the tractor driver can log a spray from the headland. The interface is in English, and one price covers every user.
Sources
Official pages read on 1 November 2026:
- GOV.UK (FSA) — Vineyard registration
- GOV.UK (FSA) — Vineyard categorisations
- GOV.UK (FSA) — Wine production
- FSA — Production declaration form WSB 21, 2026 vintage
- FSA — Commercial accompanying document WSB 15
- GOV.UK (FSA) — Wine regulation
- legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EU) 2018/273, Chapter V (inward and outward register)
- legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EU) 2018/274, Chapter IV (register contents and deadlines)
- legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EU) 2018/274, Article 35 (retention)
- GOV.UK — UK quality wine schemes guidance: sparkling wines
- GOV.UK (Defra) — Wine reforms to retained EU law: consultation outcome
- HMRC — Check if you need an alcoholic products producer approval
- HMRC — Alcoholic Products Technical Guide, section 1
- HMRC — Alcoholic Products Technical Guide, section 5 (returns and payments)
- HMRC — Alcoholic Products Technical Guide, section 9 (records and accounts)
- HMRC — Small Producer Relief eligibility
- legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, Article 67
- GOV.UK (Defra) — Register as a user of professional plant protection products
A single price for the whole estate
99 USD a month, or 990 USD a year (two months free), plus any applicable taxes. Vineyard, winery, traceability and spray records are all included, with no per-user charges. 90-day free trial, no card details needed.
Begin the 90-day trialQuestions UK producers ask
When is the wine production declaration due?
The WSB 21 must reach the FSA Wine Standards team by 15 January following the harvest. GrapeFlow holds the volumes you declare from; it does not send the form.
How long must winery records be kept?
The inward and outward register for at least five years after its accounts close, CAD copies for five years, and HMRC production records for six. Spray records for at least three years.
Can I put the grape variety on the label without certification?
Yes, since 1 January 2024, if at least 85% of the wine comes from the variety named (95% for several varieties named together).
Does my vineyard need registering?
Yes if it covers more than 0.1 hectare, or less if it is run commercially, within six months of planting. Registration is free.
What does GrapeFlow cost?
99 USD a month, or 990 USD a year (two months free), plus any applicable taxes, billed per business in USD with no per-user charges. The 90-day trial needs no card.
What language is the app in?
English; Portuguese is also available.