California wineries as well as certain wine businesses are required to file a report each year to the California Department of Food & Agriculture, the CDFA. The report is the California Grape Crush report, which is due by January 10th each year, for the previous grape harvest. Anyone familiar with this report, a rather large spreadsheet, knows that it is a bear written in a language that is challenging to say the least. I’ve been completing this report since 2002 and each year I still have to refresh my memory for how to fill in each tab!
Good news for the California wineries and wine businesses that qualify, last year the CDFA created an “EZ” version of the report. Essentially it is a much briefer version of the same bear of a spreadsheet that the full report contains. The EZ version of the report spreadsheet contains seven tabs, vs the full report which contains eleven tabs. This makes it much more manageable to complete for wineries and wine businesses that qualify.
The businesses that qualify to use this EZ version of the report CANNOT answer yes to any of the following three questions. I’ll share them with you here in the CDFA’s language, plus a translation for each.
- Did you purchase any grapes from someone who was NOT the original grower?
- Did you purchase and then resell any grapes?
- Did you crush grapes for someone else?
The first two questions here are essentially mirrors of each other. If a business purchases grapes, (makes a payment for them) and then turns around and sells those grapes to another wine business (collects money for them) then they can’t use this EZ version of the report. So if a business is on either the purchasing or selling side of some grapes that had already previously been sold, they are answering yes to this question. The third question, “Did you crush grapes for someone else?” is specific to any wineries that receive and crush grapes for any custom crush clients. This scenario is specific to all businesses in California that are the winery type, by that meaning they hold the CA ABC type 02, Winegrower license. That includes both host wineries as well as businesses that are AP clients at winery sites, since they both hold their own type 02 license. This question, “did you crush grapes for someone else” is asking these type 02 license holders whether they received and crushed grapes for any custom crush clients that purchased grapes. Those custom crush clients could be an outside winery that sent some grapes to them to be crushed and fermented there because they didn’t have the space, or they could also be actual custom crush clients of the 02 license holder, working with them to make and bottle their wines. That’s the key difference to be aware of here in being able to answer no to this question. If the type 02 license holder, as either an AP or a host winery receives grapes for another wine business that purchased grapes, whether that be an outside winery or a wine wholesaler (a true custom crush client) they would then answer yes to this question so would not qualify to use the EZ version of the CA Grape Crush report. Regardless, all wine businesses in California that hold the type 02 Winegrower license and receive and crush grapes under their license are required to file a CA Grape Crush report.
Click HERE for a link to the CDFA’s page with downloads of the report spreadsheets, certification page and other links related to the report. You’ll find the EZ version of the report spreadsheet listed first under the Grape Crush Workbook section.
Our course, How to Complete the CA Grape Crush Report is a helpful resource for businesses that qualify to use this EZ version of the report, or the full version of the report as it explains and shows how to fill in all the information it requires. Full course summary and sign up can be accessed HERE