Comparison hub · Updated June 2026

Wine software for New Zealand wineries: how Cepaos compares with Vintrace, Ekos, Process2Wine and Vintessential

If you are choosing between Cepaos, Vintrace NZ, Ekos, Process2Wine and the Australian lab partner, this is the honest map. Updated June 2026.

Built for the NZ Wine Act 2003ap-southeast-2 Sydney AWS for trans-Tasman residency

Start the 14-day trial See the full NZ compliance reference

Step 1

Pick your scenario

The right answer depends less on a feature checklist and more on where you are right now. Three plain situations cover most NZ wineries we talk to.

First proper winery system

You are moving off spreadsheets and a shared drive for the first time. You want one platform that handles cellar capture, Wine Act 2003 records, MPI exports and a cellar door, without a six-month implementation project.

Start the 14-day trial

Leaving Vintrace NZ, Ekos or Process2Wine

You already run a winery tool but the renewal cost, the cellar-door gap or the missing MPI workflow no longer adds up. You want a clean migration path and honest answers about what we replace and what we do not.

See the migration map

Already use Vintessential, want an ERP

You keep your NATA-accredited lab partner. You need the rest, production records, compliance, cellar door, finance, multi-market export, and a clean way to import lab certificates into the lot history.

See how lab data flows in

Step 2

The four platforms, honestly

Three are pure competitors. One, Vintessential, is a complementary lab partner. Every entry below gets a “where they shine” and a “where Cepaos picks up”, because no single tool wins every category.

Vintrace NZ

Pure competitor

The incumbent cellar-floor platform across Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Central Otago, with around 25 years of Trans-Tasman heritage.

Where they shine

Mature blend ledger refined over many vintages, strong for complex multi-lot decomposition
Deep references at large Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc producers and seasoned cellar teams
On-the-ground training and account management across all three main NZ wine regions

Where Cepaos picks up

Native Wine Act 2003 records and MPI Export Eligibility Certificate workflow, not a spreadsheet bolt-on
Cellar door, DTC and Wine Club commerce included alongside production, not sold separately
Transparent NZD pricing online with a 14-day free trial, no sales call required to see numbers

Ekos

Pure competitor

A global craft-beverage platform with strong batch traceability and cost-per-unit analytics across beer, cider and wine in one tenant.

Where they shine

Genuine multi-vertical depth if you also make beer or cider under the same roof
Mature batch costing primitives refined across many breweries and cideries
Active international user community and a recognised brand in craft beverage software

Where Cepaos picks up

Wine-pure depth, Wine Act 2003, SWNZ scorecard, NZBN sync and Trans-Tasman PEPPOL e-invoicing
Cellar door, DTC, Wine Club and multi-market export across 19 native locales in one platform
Privacy Act 2020 controls aligned to the IPPs, with a built-in breach register

Process2Wine

Pure competitor

A New Zealand-built cellar logbook and work-order tool aimed at small boutique cellars who want simple capture and a short learning curve.

Where they shine

Affordable entry point and simple onboarding for very small cellars under about 500 hL
Narrow scope means a fast learning curve, runs comfortably on a single cellar tablet
NZ-based support team with personal access to the product owner

Where Cepaos picks up

Everything beyond the logbook, MPI Export Eligibility, SWNZ, NZBN, PEPPOL and the full audit trail
Cellar door, DTC, Wine Club, finance, multi-entity holding consolidation and commercial CRM
A clean upgrade path when you outgrow a logbook tool and want to consolidate onto one ERP

Vintessential

Complementary partner

NATA-accredited wine analysis laboratory founded 1995. Independent third-party analytical and sensorial credibility, not a software platform.

Where they shine

NATA-accredited lab certificates that an in-house ERP can never issue
Sensorial faults panels and AWRI-grade analytical depth across SO2, VA, malic, FAN and more
Decades of trust with senior winemakers across Marlborough and Central Otago

Where Cepaos picks up

The winery ERP layer Vintessential does not sell, production, compliance, commerce, finance
Vintessential CSV import into the lot history today; structured API integration on the roadmap
You keep your lab partner and run Cepaos for everything that happens before and after the assay

Step 3

How wineries actually use this in practice

Illustrative scenarios, typical situations across New Zealand wineries. Not actual customer quotes.

A Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc producer running 25,000 cases

Came off Vintrace because the cellar door, Wine Club and DTC stack was a permanent line of side projects in spreadsheets and a third-party shop. They kept the same blend logic but folded MPI Export Eligibility, NZBN sync and PEPPOL e-invoicing into one platform. Annual software spend dropped because three tools collapsed into one.

A Central Otago Pinot Noir boutique making 1,800 cases

Chose Cepaos over Ekos because their entire production is wine, there is no beer or cider line to justify multi-vertical breadth. They wanted Wine Act 2003 records, the SWNZ scorecard and a Wine Club out of the box rather than a generic batch model adapted to wine after the fact.

A Hawke's Bay Bordeaux blend estate making 12,000 cases

Kept Vintessential for the lab because the NATA accreditation and sensorial panels are non-negotiable for their export buyers. They added Cepaos for production records, MPI exports, the cellar door and EU multi-market e-invoicing. Lab certificates land in the lot history via CSV import today, with a direct API on the roadmap.

Step 4

The compact comparison

Twelve rows across three themes, what matters most to NZ wineries we hear from. For the full feature reference, see the NZ compliance page linked below the table.

Compliance and admin

What the regulator, MPI and Sustainable Winegrowing NZ want from you.

Capability	Cepaos	Vintrace NZ	Ekos	Process2Wine	Vintessential (lab)
NZ wine records and label rules Wine Act 2003 record-keeping and Wine Specifications Notice 2006	Yes	Partial	No	Partial	No
NZ geographical indication validation All 22 registered GIs, Marlborough, Central Otago, Hawke's Bay and more	Yes	Partial	No	No	No
MPI export certificate workflow Export Eligibility Certificate batch flags and submission trail	Yes	No	No	No	No
Sustainability scorecard Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) ingestion and reporting	Yes	No	No	No	No

Production and cellar

What happens on the cellar floor, from crush to bottling.

Capability	Cepaos	Vintrace NZ	Ekos	Process2Wine	Vintessential (lab)
Mobile cellar capture iOS and Android apps for crush, fermentation, additions and rackings	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lot tracking and traceability End-to-end lot history from fruit intake through finished goods	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	No
Lab integration Vintessential and third-party lab certificate ingestion into lot history	Yes	Partial	Partial	No	Yes
Multi-vintage barrel ledger Barrel-level tracking across multiple vintages with blend decomposition	Yes	Yes	Partial	No	No

Commercial and multi-market

What you sell, where you sell it and how you bill for it.

Capability	Cepaos	Vintrace NZ	Ekos	Process2Wine	Vintessential (lab)
Cellar door and direct-to-consumer Tasting room POS, online shop and Wine Club allocations	Yes	No	No	No	No
United States DTC compliance 50-state shipping matrix for direct-to-consumer wine sales	Yes	No	No	No	No
Native multi-market compliance 19 native locales across EU, UK, LATAM, US and AU/NZ	Yes	No	Partial	No	No
Transparent online pricing NZD pricing visible online with a 14-day free trial, no credit card	Yes	No	Partial	Yes	No

Full feature reference: /en-NZ/cepaos-newzealand-compliance

Frequently asked

The six questions we hear most

Should I leave Vintrace if I'm in Marlborough?

Not automatically. If your entire problem is multi-lot blend decomposition with a well-trained cellar team, Vintrace is mature and works. The honest reasons to switch are usually a missing cellar door, the lack of an MPI Export Eligibility workflow, or the cost of stitching three tools together.

Full reference

Can Cepaos really replace Ekos for craft producers?

If you only make wine, yes, and you get Wine Act 2003 records, MPI exports and the SWNZ scorecard natively rather than mapped onto a generic batch model. If you also brew beer or make cider under one tenant, Ekos genuinely does multi-vertical and Cepaos does not.

Full reference

Do I have to drop Vintessential to use Cepaos?

No. Vintessential is a NATA-accredited lab, not a software competitor. You keep the lab partner you trust and use Cepaos for everything that is not analytical chemistry, production records, MPI submissions, the cellar door and finance. Lab certificates flow in via CSV today.

Full reference

Is Cepaos compliant with NZ Wine Act 2003 the same way Vintrace is?

Yes: record-keeping, audit trail and label rules are native modules, not a spreadsheet bolt-on. We track the Wine Specifications Notice 2006 and validate all 22 registered NZ geographical indications. The full feature reference lives at the link below this FAQ.

Full reference

What about MPI Export Eligibility Certificate workflow?

Cepaos generates the batch eligibility flags, attaches the supporting lot history and keeps the submission trail in one place. Vintrace, Ekos and Process2Wine do not ship this workflow natively as of June 2026, which is why exporting wineries often run an Excel file alongside their main tool.

Full reference

Where is my data stored, Sydney or elsewhere?

Cepaos runs primary infrastructure in AWS ap-southeast-2 (Sydney) for trans-Tasman residency and latency. NZ Privacy Act 2020 controls are aligned to the Information Privacy Principles with a built-in breach register and the appropriate cross-border transfer notices.

Full reference

See Cepaos in your winery: 14 days free, no credit card

Start the 14-day trial Read the full NZ compliance reference

Comparison reflects publicly available information as of June 2026. Submit corrections via legal@cepaos.com, Cepaos updates the comparison within 5 business days. Trademark holders retain all rights to their marks.