Virginia Winery Distribution Company
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The purpose of this site is to help answer questions about the VWDC.  It will be updated regularly so please check back often.  Thank you for your patience.

VWDC:  General Info for Wineries

(07/15/09)

 

Entities, Software, & Hardware

 

Inventiv Software created the Pocket Advantage software that you use to enter and transmit your orders.  Inventiv also created the software that runs on the Advantage Server that resides in the Lynchburg office of Virginia Distributing Company (VDC).  The orders that you transmit over the Internet are received on the Advantage Server.

 

Vermont Information Processing created and modified the VIP accounting system on which all VWDC winery orders are processed.  It runs on VDC’s IBM iSeries computer.

 

All Tech 1 created the interface between Advantage & VIP.  The orders that you transmit to the Advantage Server are automatically transferred to the iSeries every 15 minutes.  However, they don’t go straight into VIP’s main order files but instead into an entry-level file called ORDQO in the F.VWDCB – ‘B’ for ‘Beverage’ – database.  The VWDC Administrator periodically runs the QOEDIT program that reports on the uploaded orders and optionally posts them to the main order files in this database.  QOEDIT has been modified to automatically assign winery orders to route numbers encoded with the delivery day and the winery number.  The Administrator will then run the ORDPRINT program that turns the orders into invoices and POs. 

 

S4i Systems created the S4i Express software that runs on our iSeries and which will automatically email all invoices to the appropriate wineries.  VIP sells this software under the name “Edgar” and this is generally the name we use for it.

 

Getting Started with the VWDC

IF:

  • You don’t yet have a license from ABC allowing you to sell through the VWDC:
  • You have a license to sell through the VWDC (or you’re near the end of the process of getting one), but you don’t have Pocket Advantage yet OR you need help setting it up OR you need training on it:
  • You do have Pocket Advantage, but you can’t download all of your data or some of it is incorrect: 
  • You have Pocket Advantage installed and all of your data is downloaded & correct: 
    • Practice with Pocket Advantage by sending at least a few test orders with the following Sunday’s delivery date.  Send a variety of orders, some with frontline prices & some with price overrides, discount amounts, or discount percents.  When you get your invoices and POs for the test orders, check them and report any problems via email to Techelle.  This phase is very important!  If you have price/discount problems on live invoices, there is an additional $5 charge per edited invoice.  There is no charge for test invoices.


Latest News:
11/2/2008:

Inventiv Software created the Pocket Advantage software that you use to enter and transmit your orders.  Inventiv also created the software that runs on the Advantage Server that resides in the Lynchburg office of Virginia Distributing Company (VDC).  The orders that you transmit over the Internet are received on the Advantage Server.

 

Vermont Information Processing created and modified the VIP accounting system on which all VWDC winery orders are processed.  It runs on VDC’s IBM iSeries computer.

 

All Tech 1 created the interface between Advantage & VIP.  The orders that you transmit to the Advantage Server are automatically transferred to the iSeries every 15 minutes.  However, they don’t go straight into VIP’s main order files but instead into an entry-level file called ORDQO in the F.VWDCB – ‘B’ for ‘Beverage’ – database.  The VWDC Administrator periodically runs the QOEDIT program that reports on the uploaded orders and optionally posts them to the main order files in this database.  QOEDIT has been modified to automatically assign winery orders to route numbers encoded with the delivery day and the winery number.  The Administrator will then run the ORDPRINT program that turns the orders into invoices and POs. 

 

S4i Systems created the S4i Express software that runs on our iSeries and which will automatically email all invoices to the appropriate wineries.  VIP sells this software under the name “Edgar” and this is generally the name we use for it.




1/24/2008: CLICK ON THE ABOVE TO READ THE LETTER FROM THE TTB
"As of January 24, the VWDC finally has an opinion from the TTB about whether it must secure a federal basic permit.  The good news is that TTB has determined VWDC to be a state agency exempt from TTB  permit requirements.  The bad news is that each participating winery must amend its basic permit to show the designated wholesaler space on its TTB floor plan.  More details of how/when to amend your floor plan coming soon." Terri
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1/7/2008:  The VWDC is waiting to hear from the TTB about whether we are an agency. The board has been advised that the head of the TTB is going to make this decision.  Once made, we will move forward with licensing.  Please read under FAQ for more information.

9/24/2007:  Letter from Chairman, David King to all winery owners

 

                You have recently received an email from me as Chairman of the Virginia Wine Board.  Today I am writing as Chairman of the Virginia Winery Distribution Company (VWDC), the non-profit wholesale corporation created by the General Assembly to provide the functional equivalent of self distribution. 

 

 

                Responses to my last letter regarding Wine Board matters have indicated a general lack of information regarding the nature of the VWDC and the process of getting it up and running.  I hope that this letter will help in answering some of those questions.   

 

 

 

Question:  Does the Wine Board have anything to do with the VWDC?

 

                  No.  The Wine Board's only function is to disburse funds provided by the General Assembly for projects consistent with the legislative mandate of research and marketing for the wine industry in Virginia and has received generally consistent funding over the last decade. The Wine Board is composed of six winery owners and three vineyard owners appointed by the Governor plus the VDACS Commissioner.    The VWDC was created by the General Assembly this year solely to provide wholesale services to Virginia wineries and has received enough funding to operate for one year.  The VWDC Board is composed of two representatives nominated by the Virginia wine wholesale industry, two representatives of nominated by the Virginia wine industry plus the VDACS Commissioner.   The Boards are separate, but both Todd Haymore, (Commissioner of Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) and I serve on both Boards.  There is no overlap in function.

 

Question:  Why has it taken so long to get the VWDC up and running?

 

 

 

                Although the legislation included an emergency clause, as a practical matter it was not funded until July 1, 2007.  As a result, the VWDC had no money to hire a lawyer to incorporate itself, buy the software necessary to run the system, or do anything at all.  There was no office, no staff, and no telephone.   What was done immediately, meaning just after the General Assembly finished the session in late February, was to get all of the necessary agencies together to decide what type of entity the VWDC actually was going to be.  This was very important because, as an example, if the VWDC was an agency and was going to use VDACS employees and the state procurement system, the process of simply buying equipment, software and the like would be subject to the state's procurement rules requiring competitive bidding, requests for proposals, etc.   VDACS employees would have been subject to all of the state rules for employment.    This would have taken at least a year.  What the VWDC Board decided to do to cut this time down was to out source the whole operation to a current Virginia wholesale distribution company.   I believe that this decision alone will save us at least 6 months in getting started. 

 

 

 

In any case, this informal group, including the Attorney General's Office, came to the conclusion that we were not subject to the procurement rules, but were subject to the Freedom of Information Act rules regarding public meetings.  Therefore, the VWDC Board could not formally meet until we were legally incorporated and could announce our meeting dates to allow for public participation.   So nothing could actually be done until July 1.  The individual Board members continued to spend a considerable amount of time looking at software, discussing the out-source idea with the wholesale industry, and pushing the Attorney General's office for clarity on the many other legal issues outstanding.   Since July 1 the VWDC has:  requested the appointment of  outside Counsel and negotiated the terms of this employment with the Attorney General's  office,  incorporated the Company, negotiated the Bylaws with the Attorney General,  negotiated the out-source contract with Virginia Distributing,  negotiated the purchase of the software system from Inventiv Software,  drafted the contract for use between VWDC and the wineries,  and discussed in great detail this idea with both the Virginia ABC and TTB.          
              To give you some idea of the delays that we have encountered, the VWDC Board requested that Terri Cofer Beirne of McCandlish Holton be named our special counsel because of her obvious knowledge of the enabling legislation and her longstanding representation of the Virginia Wineries Association.   The Attorney General's Office had made it perfectly clear that they did not have the time to do this work and wanted outside counsel appointed.  However, there is apparently a process for such things and it took over a month just to have this appointment approved.   Of course, without a lawyer we could not even take the step of incorporation.   It is frustrating but as a former lawyer I'm satisfied that it has gone as quickly as was possible under the circumstances. 

 

                There are a few things I think we should all keep in mind.  First, today the Virginia wine industry, and the VWDC as a part of this industry, has no way to actually get things done.  There is no office, no staff, no telephone, no website, no money to actually get work accomplished.  Everything is being done by volunteer help, which is wonderful, but when it comes right down to moving something forward quickly, makes it very difficult.  Second, the VWDC is a compromise solution.  For the last two years any winery that wanted to (and several have) could have started its own wholesale company to distribute its wines.  The reason that I did not do this for King Family Vineyards is the reason many of you have given me; it's too complicated and expensive to start and to run.   Please remember that the VWDC has not only these same complicated problems to overcome, but in addition, all of the problems of a public instrumentality funded with government money.  The promise that it does hold is as a lower cost, cooperative solution for something that we could each do on our own if we chose. 

                My winery needs this option as much as anyone.  We all are working as fast as we can.  Please feel free to contact me if you need any additional information. 

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Recent Articles:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/012008/01062008/345905Compose Mail Email SettingsSearch MailFree Lance Star, "Virginia wineries are still waiting"

Bristol Herald 10/7/07

WISE, Va. “ Wine connoisseurs wanting a taste of the vintage that nabbed Best of Show honors last month at the Virginia State Fair must drive to Wise County to purchase a bottle.

It’s not available in stores or restaurants and won’t be unless changes are made to the state’s distribution laws.

Mountain Rose Vineyard, bottler of the award-winning Autumn Gold Vidal Blanc, is one of dozens of small farm wineries affected by a state law that requires wineries to use a distributor to sell wine to retail stores. The Wise County winery can sell its product to customers who visit the vineyard atop a former strip mine, but it can’t peddle its product directly to stores or restaurants without going through a distributor.

State lawmakers tweaked legislation in the 2007 Virginia General Assembly to allow small farm wineries to form a consortium and use the Virginia Department of Agriculture as a distributor, but owners of Mountain Rose Vineyard say questions about related costs and exactly who will operate the distribution system remain unclear. Until the questions are answered, David Lawson and his family will only sell wine from their vineyard.

Word quickly spread about the pleasing taste of Autumn Gold when it was crowned Best of Show. Many called Mountain Rose asking where it could be purchased, which takes plenty of explaining.

Lawson admits many aspects of the distribution issue boggle his mind as well.

"It’s a terrible situation," Lawson said. "What the state did is not a solution. It’s probably worse."

The issue surfaced in 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that wineries had no right to distribute their own product. The 2006 Virginia General Assembly didn’t correct the situation, leaving small wineries in the cold.

However, the 2007 General Assembly approved legislation allowing small farm wineries to distribute as many as 3,000 cases of their own wine each year to stores and restaurants through the state agriculture department.

Elaine Lidholm, director of communications for the department, admitted Friday that the issue is confusing because the process is in the early stages.

"Nothing is finalized yet," she said. "We have made some very good progress."

The Virginia Wine Distribution Corp. board has met several times to discuss all the aspects of the program, she added.

"Several things are closer to being finalized," Lidholm said.

The group has nearly completed a proposed wine distribution agreement for small wineries to consider, she said.

Some issues regarding costs and finances are still being discussed. The department must also work with the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control board and federal alcohol regulators as the distribution process is finalized, Lidholm said.

The agriculture commissioner must form a nonprofit, non-stock corporation to hold the new license to promote, develop and sustain markets for the wineries and farm wineries.

Wineries must complete an application process to participate. Lawson and his mother and business partner Suzanne Lawson said the process is filled with bureaucracy.

"It’s a mess," David Lawson said. "The average person does not understand the situation. It’s just not clear to anybody."

One thing is clear, he said, "small wineries can’t afford distributors."

Mountain Rose has options, but none are very appealing, the Lawsons said. Picking a traditional distributor as many larger wineries in Virginia do would mean the distribution company gains certain territorial rights and can decide where the wine is sold.

"We could pick a large distributor, but we’re a small operation so many would not want to distribute our wine if we don’t produce enough to be carried in all the stores the distributor serves," she said.

Some lawmakers don’t seem to understand how Virginia’s wine industry and its small wineries are affecting the state’s economy, David Lawson said.

Statistics from the Virginia Farm Bureau back up his claims. According to the Farm Bureau, Virginia’s 130 wineries produced enough wine to make the commonwealth fifth in wine production in the nation.

 

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