After how many days is a wine considered dead?

The industry standard is 90 days without a sale. Between 30 and 90 days is considered slow rotation.

What percentage of a list is typically dead stock?

In restaurants without active control, between 15% and 30%. With monitoring, it should be below 5%.

Should I remove all wines without sales?

Not automatically. Some can be recovered with better positioning or by-the-glass format.

How do I avoid buying more than I can sell?

Set an initial stock limit of 6-12 units and don't expand until you've validated rotation in 60-90 days.

Diagnostic guide

How to detect dead wines and references hurting your profitability

Every reference without rotation is tied-up capital, wasted space and a sign that something isn't working in your selection, pricing or positioning.

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1.What is a dead wine and why it matters
2.Common causes of non-rotating stock
3.How to run a rotation audit
4.Decision criteria: keep, move or remove
5.How to prevent future accumulation
6.The alert system you need

1. What is a dead wine and why it matters

A dead wine is a reference that hasn't sold in over 90 days.

It's not necessarily a bad wine — it may simply not fit your list, your clientele or your pricing. The cost is threefold: tied-up capital, wasted cellar space and risk of deterioration.

A restaurant with 250 references and 20% dead wines may have €15,000-€50,000 in tied-up capital

Young wines without ageing lose freshness over time

Without a detection system, dead wines accumulate through inertia

2. Common causes of non-rotating stock

Wines don't die on their own.

There are clear patterns explaining why certain references stop selling.

Price out of range: a wine too expensive for its category

Internal competition: two or three similar wines in the same section

Poor positioning on the list

Menu changes without adjusting the wine list

Emotional purchases: the sommelier tastes a wine at a fair and buys 3 cases

Lack of recommendation: the team doesn't know the wine and doesn't recommend it

3. How to run a rotation audit

A rotation audit is a structured process to identify all references with issues.

Step 1 — List all references with the last sale date

Step 2 — Classify: active (<30 days), slow (30-90 days), dead (>90 days)

Step 3 — Calculate the tied-up capital for each category

Step 4 — Identify patterns: do they share characteristics?

Step 5 — Compare with the list: are they well positioned?

Step 6 — Make decisions using the decision matrix

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4. Decision criteria: keep, move or remove

Not all non-rotating wines should be removed.

Some can be recovered with specific actions.

Keep if: high margin and can be reactivated with better positioning

Move to glass if: could work in by-the-glass format

Promote if: include in tasting menu or themed event

Negotiate return if: the supplier accepts returns

Remove if: doesn't fit, no margin and no viable way to rotate it

Golden rule: if it hasn't sold in 180 days with no reactivation plan, it should go

5. How to prevent future accumulation

Prevention is more efficient than detection.

Entry rule: every new reference needs justification

Stock limit: don't buy more than 6-12 units of a new reference

Trial period: 60-90 days with active support

'One in, one out' protocol

Monthly rotation review: 30 minutes per month

6. The alert system you need

Ideally you have a system that alerts you in real time when a reference starts losing speed.

Early warning (30 days without sale): the reference needs attention

Urgent alert (90 days without sale): mandatory decision

Excess stock alert: when stock exceeds 90 days of estimated sales

Monthly dashboard: summary with references on alert and tied-up capital

Without this system, dead wines are detected too late

Frequently asked questions

Next step

Detect dead wines before they accumulate for months

Winerim automatically monitors the rotation of every reference and alerts you when a wine stops selling.