All trade participants have different naming conventions for their products, depending on which parts of the wine label they feel are the most important. The L-WIN allows wine companies to keep their preferred naming system, while introducing a new universal code.

Each L-WIN refers to the wine itself (i.e. the producer and brand, grape or vineyard). The first six numbers of the code represent each wine’s unique identifier, while the seventh number is a “check digit” that minimises input errors. Other information that reflects the way that wine is stored in your database – such as including the vintage, pack and bottle size – can be appended to the L-WIN in a standard format.

Standards for including additional data are:

• L-WIN: 1234567 – Example winery, Cabernet
• L-WIN-11: 12345672012 – Example Winery, Cabenet, 2012
• L-WIN-16: 1234567201200750 – Example Winery, Cabernet, 2012, 750ml bottle size*
• L-WIN-18: 123456720121200750 – Example Winery, Cabernet, 2012, 12 bottles of 750ml

*All bottles sizes are expressed in millilitres in a five digit format.