Wine inventory for sommeliers: how to count, control and reorder

The short answer: give every wine a fixed place and a bin number, keep one record of stock that the till updates, count on a regular schedule, compare what you used with what you sold, and find the reason for every gap. Then set par levels so you reorder before you run out. Inventory is not paperwork for its own sake: it is how a sommelier protects the wine, the guest and the money.

1. Organise the cellar

• One wine, one place, one number. Store each wine where its bin number says, in the same order as the list.
• Lying down, label up. The Court of Master Sommeliers' Service Standards give the reason: the corks stay moist, and label up makes stocktaking easier.
• Easy to reach, in an organised way, as the same standards ask. A bottle nobody can find is a bottle nobody can sell.
• Label the shelves, and keep a small area for deliveries that haven't been put away yet.

2. Keep one record of stock

• One system: a spreadsheet or a beverage inventory app, not both.
• Linked to the till by bin number, so every sale comes off the stock as it happens.
• Every movement recorded: deliveries in, sales out, and everything else out (breakages, faulty bottles, staff tastings, wine for the kitchen, gifts).

3. Count the right way

• Count on a fixed schedule, and count the expensive wines and the by-the-glass bottles more often than the rest.
• Count before service or after close, never during it.
• Two people: one counts, one writes. Then swap for a spot check.
• Same route every time, following the bin numbers.
• Open bottles in tenths: a bottle a third full is 0.3.

4. Reconcile the count with sales

For each wine, at cost price:

• Used = opening stock + purchases − closing stock.
• Sold = what the till says, in bottles and glasses.
• Variance = used − sold.

A gap always has a reason. The Court of Master Sommeliers' own business exercises list four:

5. Set par levels and reorder

• Par level: the stock you need to cover sales until the next delivery, plus a small buffer.
• Set it per wine, from its real sales by bin number.
• Know the lead time. A house white may arrive tomorrow; an allocated wine may come once a year.
• Review pars when things change: a new menu, a new season, a big event.

6. Rotate, but not everything

• First in, first out for wines by the glass and for wines meant to be drunk young.
• Not for fine wine meant to age. Track each one's drinking window instead, and move it onto the list when it is ready.

7. Watch how fast stock moves

Inventory turnover = cost of wine sold in a period ÷ average stock value at cost in the same period. A slow-moving wine is cash sitting on a shelf. Before you stop reordering it, try it by the glass, put it on a pairing, or teach the team a reason to recommend it.

8. Events, promotions and people

• Set aside stock for events in advance, and book it out separately so it doesn't look like a loss.
• One person owns the inventory, with a deputy. Everyone else knows how to record a breakage or a faulty bottle.
• Share the results with the team. People take care of what they can see.

This is exam material too. At the Advanced and Master levels, the Court's syllabus asks for spreadsheet calculations for inventory documentation, and its business exercises include a timed monthly stocktake. For the pricing side, see how to calculate the true cost of a cocktail; for the big picture, wine management in restaurants.

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