Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

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e

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark one)

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022

OR

For the transition period from _______ to______

Commission file number 001-40016

VINTAGE WINE ESTATES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

______________________________

937 Tahoe Boulevard, Suite 210

Incline Village, Nevada 89451

(Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (877) 289-9463

______________________________

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports); and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer.” “smaller reporting company” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of December 31, 2021, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $429,562,948.

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As of September 1, 2022, 61,691,054 shares of the registrant’s common stock were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The registrant was previously a smaller reporting company under applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations. As of the December 31, 2021 determination date, the registrant no longer qualifies as a smaller reporting company. However, the registrant is not required to reflect the change in its smaller reporting company status or comply with the non-scaled disclosure obligations until the registrant’s first quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three-month period ending September 30, 2022. In accordance with applicable rules, the registrant is permitted to use the scaled disclosure requirements applicable to smaller reporting companies in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and has elected to do so.

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that statements that are not strictly historical statements of fact constitute forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements under the captions “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business” and are identified by words like “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “anticipate,” or “could” and similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements include those discussed under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in future Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this report is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

References to a fiscal year refer to our fiscal year ended June 30 of the specified year.

Part I.

Item 1. Business

Our Company

Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. (“VWE”, “we”, “us”, "our" or “the Company”) is a leading vintner in the United States ("U.S."), offering a collection of wines produced by award-winning, heritage wineries, popular lifestyle wines, innovative new wine brands, packaging concepts, as well as craft spirits. Our name brands include Layer Cake, Cameron Hughes, Clos Pegase, B.R. Cohn, Firesteed, Bar Dog, Kunde, Cherry Pie and many others. Since our founding over 20 years ago, we have grown organically through wine brand creation and through acquisitions to become the 14th largest wine producer based on cases of wine shipped in California. We sell over 2.5 million cases annually.

Our key differentiator is our diversification—what we call our three-legged stool business model.

We are diversified in our brand collection, producing nearly 60 brands ranging in retail price from $10 to $150, with a focus on the growing segment between $10 and $20. More than eighty percent of our business is done in this critical segment.

We are diversified in our omni-channel sales strategy balanced between Direct-to-Consumer, 31.5% of sales, traditional Wholesale, 28.8% of sales and Business-to-Business at 38.8% of sales. Our Direct-to-Consumer segment is particularly robust. Where most wine companies have two direct sales levers to pull: tasting rooms and wine clubs, we have seven: tasting rooms, wine clubs, ecommerce, Cameron Hughes, Vinesse, Windsor/custom label design and engraving, and QVC/HSN and The Sommelier Company.

We are diversified in our sourcing with a strong asset base of 3,300 owned and leased vineyard acres located in the premier wine growing regions of the U.S. and 10 owned winery estates. These properties extend from the Central Coast of California to storied appellations in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, north to Oregon and Washington. We obtain fruit for our wines from owned and leased vineyards, as well as other sources, including independent growers and the spot wine market. During 2022, we expanded our production capabilities with the acquisition of Meier's Beverage Group ("Meier's"), a leading producer, bottler, importer and marketer of specialty beverage alcohol and non-alcohol products and added a ready-to-drink ("RTD") product line with the acquisition of ACE Cider, The California Cider Company ("ACE Cider").

We have completed over 20 acquisitions in the past 10 years and completed over 10 acquisitions in the past 5 years. We generally acquire the brands and inventories of a targeted business, eliminating redundant corporate overhead. We then integrate the acquired assets into our highly efficient production, distribution and omni channel selling networks, quickly increasing the sales and margins of the acquired business.

Our growth has allowed us to reinvest in our business and create the scale and infrastructure needed to successfully manage a variety of different wine brands and channels and reduce costs. Our owned winery facilities have the capacity to store up to 9.0 million gallons of wine per year. In addition, we have a high-speed bottling facility with the capacity to bottle over 13.5 million cases annually.

Additional bottling capacity is not only used for our products, but also allows us to further expand our bottling and fulfillment services offered to third parties on a contract basis. The additional capacity of the bottling facility may not be fully utilized but provides us with capacity consistent with our growth plans. Our scale and consolidated operations are expected to enable us to increase margins of the businesses that we acquire, providing

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accretive value promptly after the acquisition. We intend to continue to grow our business organically and through acquisitions, with a view towards making two to three acquisitions per year over the next five years.

Our acquisition strategy is to acquire brands and inventories while eliminating redundant corporate overhead, increasing gross margins of the acquired businesses by leveraging scale economies, and driving revenue growth through our distribution network. Gross margins improve by incorporating brands into a more efficient operating system. In addition, operating margins improve from synergies of acquisitions.

There are more than 11,000 wineries in the U.S., with the largest 50 wine companies controlling approximately 80% of the market share by volume, and 60% of consumer spending. We plan to use our financial capacity to: (i) continue to acquire family-owned brands from small wineries, (ii) acquire non-core brands from medium sized and large competitors, and (iii) potentially acquire one or more large businesses in our industry.

Our primary unique selling proposition for a seller is that we have a strong track record of closing once the price and structure are agreed upon. We also believe our managers are perceived as excellent brand stewards. We intend to be a disciplined acquirer, exercising cost discipline, with a focus on the industry’s growth in premium and super-premium wines. We expect that the fragmented nature of the wine industry, coupled with our infrastructure and experience, will enable us to continue to gain market share.

Our innovation strategy is focused on creating and building new wine brands for today’s wine consumer. In the past five years, we have launched over 35 new wine brands, which are primarily sold to major national retail accounts and through direct-to-consumer channels. We also develop private labels and produce wine for major retail clients, including Costco and Target, to sell as proprietary brands. The ability to create new wine brands and quickly bring them to market allows us to respond swiftly to trends and changing consumer tastes and needs.

Our mission is to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit, stay humble and focus on the customer. We respect the ways people buy wine—at the estate wineries, at retail, in restaurants, on the telephone, on the internet, on television and by mail.

Our Business Combination

We were formed in 2019 as Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp. (“BCAC”), a special purpose acquisition corporation incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia. BCAC was organized for the purpose of effecting an acquisition of one or more businesses or assets by way of a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or any other similar business combination involving BCAC.

On June 7, 2021, BCAC consummated its business combination (the “Business Combination”) with Vintage Wine Estates, Inc., a California corporation ("Legacy VWE"), pursuant to a transaction agreement dated February 3, 2021. As a result of the Business Combination and the related transactions, BCAC changed its jurisdiction of incorporation from the Province of British Columbia to the State of Nevada, BCAC changed its name to “Vintage Wine Estates, Inc.” and Legacy VWE became our wholly-owned subsidiary.

For accounting purposes, and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, BCAC was treated as the acquired company and Legacy VWE was treated as the acquirer.

Core Business Segments

We report our results of operations through the following segments: Wholesale, Business-to-Business ("B2B"), Direct-to-Consumer ("DTC") and Corporate and Other.

Fundamentally, we are an omni-channel consumer goods business that happens to operate in the wine industry. Unlike wine companies that solely or mainly sell to wholesale distributors, we sell our products through a number of different channels.

A description of our segments follows:

Wholesale

Our wholesale operations generate revenue from products sold to distributors, who then sell them to off-premise retail locations such as grocery stores, specialty and multi-national retail chains, as well as on-premise locations such as restaurants and bars.

We have longstanding relationships with our distribution network and marketing companies, including with industry leaders such as Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. Through these relationships, our products are sold in all 50 states and in 41 countries outside the U.S. In addition to our geographical reach, our products are available for purchase at over 33,000 off-premise locations as of June 30, 2022 including leading national chains such as Costco, Kroger, Target, Albertsons and Total Wine & More. Our products were also sold at over 20,500 restaurants and bars as of June 30, 2022.

Our wholesale segment generated $84.5 million and $72.9 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.

Business-to-Business

Our B2B sales segment generates revenue from the sale of private label wines and custom winemaking services.

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We work with national retailers, including Costco, Albertsons, Target and other major retailers, to provide private label wines incremental to their existing beverage alcohol business. Retailers generally earn higher margins on sales of their private label wines than on sales of third-party wines. Consequently, retailers are increasingly offering more private label products in their stores. We expect retailers’ demand for private labels to continue to increase and believe that our private label business will continue to grow. Retailers frequently request brand, label and product line extensions.

Our custom winemaking services are governed by long-term contracts with other wine industry participants and include services such as fermentation, barrel aging, procurement of dry goods, bottling and cased goods storage. Additionally, we believe that our custom winemaking services business allows us to maximize our production assets’ throughput and efficiency and thus improves profit margins for our proprietary brands.

Our B2B segment generated $113.9 million and $77.4 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.

Direct-to-Consumer

Our DTC segment generates revenue from sales made directly to the consumer. DTC sales have higher gross profit margins than wholesale sales because DTC sales allow us to capture the profit margin that otherwise would go to our distribution partners on sales in the wholesale segment. As a result, our gross margins in the DTC segment are significantly higher than in our other segments while operating margins are consistent with other segments.

Our DTC sales are made primarily through our tasting rooms, wine clubs and e-commerce.

Tasting Rooms — We currently operate 12 tasting rooms that served over 233,000 visitors during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, up from over 135,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 as a result of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. Our tasting rooms are designed to provide a welcoming atmosphere where we can introduce the consumer to our brands with a view towards developing an authentic relationship over time. These tasting rooms feature our exclusive, low-production wines, at higher-than-average price points, as well as our more accessible, higher-production, wines. Visitors are encouraged to taste, and then purchase, our wines.

Wine Clubs — We currently offer 21 branded wine clubs and had more than 95,000 wine club members as of June 30, 2022. Our wine club members sign up to purchase regular shipments of our wines and receive additional benefits such as volume discounts, exclusive visits to our tasting rooms, invitations to member-only events, access to winemakers and the ability to try each of our wines before they are widely sold in stores. We leverage digital technology through virtual tastings and mixers, giving members new ways to network with one another.

E-Commerce — Sales through our various brand websites are a growing part of DTC sales. We have an active email list with over 1,070,000 subscribers. Our digital marketing team drafted and sent over 5,116 unique emails that generated over 69.0 million impressions for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. We have used digital marketing since the early 2000s, recently achieved an e-commerce customer conversion rate of 8.0%, which is substantially above the food and drink industry’s e-commerce conversion rate of 1.8%, as of July 2022.

Custom Label Design and Engraving — We also offer custom label design and engraving services whereby customers can design and engrave wine bottles to their specifications. We believe that we are the only wine producer with the ability to do custom engraving on wine bottles. As a result, we are able to offer our services profitably at a lower price than competitors that need to outsource bottle engraving. In addition to our core private label customers, we have created custom bottles for weddings, major corporate events and other promotional opportunities.

Our DTC segment generated $92.4 million and $66.6 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.

Corporate and Other

Our Corporate and Other segment generates revenue from grape and bulk wine sales and storage services. We record corporate level expenses, non-direct selling expenses and other expenses not specifically allocated to the results of operations in our Corporate and Other segment.

Our Corporate and Other segment generated $2.9 million and $3.8 million of revenue for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Our Diversified Portfolio

Our asset base and product portfolio have been strategically built to provide significant flexibility throughout the business cycle. Our wine portfolio has three tiers: lifestyle brands, luxury brands, and digitally native brands. In addition to wine production and distribution, which is our core business, we also produce and sell craft spirits and ciders.

Lifestyle Brands

Our lifestyle wines primarily sell through off-premise channels at retail prices ranging from $10.00 to $25.00 per bottle. The lifestyle tier accounts for more of our branded case volume than the luxury tier due to the lifestyle tier’s wider distribution and lower pricing. Our lifestyle brands are designed

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to deliver a compelling price-to-quality ratio. We believe our infrastructure, sourcing network and bottling-on-demand capabilities allow us to adjust production in line with market demand.

Luxury Brands

Our super-premium to ultra-premium wines are generally smaller-production, estate-based wines. We also have a tier of more widely sourced and available appellation wines. Our luxury wines consistently garner 90+ scores, awards and accolades from top wine industry publications. They appeal to the wine aficionado who is intensely interested in the winemaker’s craft, the influence that vineyards and sites have on the wine, and the details of the vintage from budbreak to bottle.

Our luxury brands sell primarily at wine retailers, on-premise and through wine clubs and tasting rooms at prices ranging from $16.00 to $150.00 per bottle.

Craft Spirits

We own the brand No. 209 Gin and Splinter Group Spirits, whose brands consists of Straight Edge Bourbon Whiskey, Slaughterhouse American Whiskey, and Whip Saw Rye. We also team with leading spirits manufacturers and distributors to develop products for our customers. We have collaborated with another spirits manufacturer to create Partner Vermouth, which is a sweet vermouth from the gardens and vineyards of California wine country.

We believe that we can use the spirits business to further expand our private label business with existing B2B customers. We expect that interest in selling private label products (due to the increased margins that we earn relative to sales of third party products) will lead to more retailers selling private label spirits. We believe that we can use our significant distribution network and production capabilities to increase our spirits private label business with both existing and new B2B customers.

Cider

We added a RTD product line with the acquisition of ACE Cider. ACE Cider has a diverse and balanced product portfolio with award-winning, fruit-forward ciders featuring no artificial ingredients, less calories and significantly less sugar than the average hard cider.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that our strengths include a diversified brand portfolio and infrastructure, a customer-centric and innovation-driven culture, a demonstrated success in acquiring and integrating new assets into our platform, strong working relationships with distributor and retail networks, access to low-cost and flexible debt financing, and an experienced management team assembled and led by Patrick Roney.

Diversified Brand Portfolio and Infrastructure

Our diversified wine sourcing, brand positioning and omni-channel sales strategy result in a nimble, scalable business model, enabling us to bring our products to market rapidly and navigate ever-changing consumer demand flexibly. We believe the efficiencies of our infrastructure have been reflected in our historical results.

Strong Relationships with Distributors and Retailers

We have longstanding working relationships with many of the wine industry’s largest distributors and retailers, which facilitates the distribution of our products to customers in as many locations as possible.

We believe that our existing arrangements with distributors also provide a scalable platform for us to introduce new products into the market and further expand our revenue and market share. The distribution market has experienced and continues to undergo significant consolidation. As a result, it is harder for newer or smaller wine and alcohol businesses to gain traction with major distributors, which limits their ability to get their products into the major wholesale and retail markets. We believe that our longstanding working relationships with the largest distributors and retailers—forged over many years—give us an advantage over newer and smaller competitors.

We also have powerful, long-standing relationships with national retailers, including Costco, Albertson’s, Target and others.

Customer-Centric and Innovation-Driven Culture

We have created more than 35 new brands over the last 5 years to address specific consumer needs and market opportunities. We take a holistic approach with new brands, evaluating key attributes such as price points, packaging format, demographic and psychographic trends. We create new brands organically through an efficient concept-to-launch process, which generally requires less than eight months and can often be completed in less than three months. We believe that our efficient new product development and rapid speed to market gives us and our private label retailers an advantage over competitors because it enables us to quickly address actual or perceived unmet consumer needs and can help us better align brand strategy with consumer demand.

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Demonstrated Success Acquiring and Integrating New Assets

We believe we have completed more brand mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. wine industry over the last 10 years than any other company in the industry. As illustrated in the following chart, we have completed more than 25 acquisitions since 2010.

Historically, our acquisitions have generated a strong return on equity. We review, on average, over 20 acquisitions per year, submit an average of four letters of intent and complete an average of two acquisitions per year. We have historically targeted a significant increase in the target company’s EBITDA within three years of the acquisition. To achieve these results, our acquisitions are subject to a rigorous, data-driven, due diligence and underwriting process, to assure that minimum financial thresholds with meaningful upside can be satisfied in each transaction.

Experienced Management Team

Our senior leaders have decades of experience in the wine and spirits industry and have gone through numerous economic and consumer cycles, providing them with unique insight and historical perspectives that less experienced leaders do not have. Vintage Wine Estates was founded by Patrick Roney and Leslie Rudd, who passed away in 2018. Mr. Roney has spent more than 30 years in the wine, spirits and food industries and has held senior leadership roles at leading brands such as Seagram’s, Chateau St. Jean, Dean & Deluca and the Kunde Family Winery. Throughout his career, Mr. Roney has demonstrated a keen understanding of and ability to anticipate market trends and consumer behaviors. Mr. Roney has also been able to attract some of the top talent in the industry, including President, Terry Wheatley. Ms. Wheatley has spent her entire career in the wine and spirits industry at leading firms, including at E.J. Gallo and the Sutter Home/Trinchero Family Estate. Ms. Wheatley also started her own wine brand, creation, sales and marketing company, Canopy Management, leveraging her long-term relationships with the wine industry’s top buyers to bring a portfolio of innovative wine brands to market. We acquired Canopy Brands in 2014.

Our Strategy

We are currently the 14th largest wine producer by cases shipped in California. We have been able to grow our business despite economic recessions. We intend to continue to grow our business by prioritizing the following goals: (i) increasing sales of our existing brands, (ii) continuing to develop new and innovative products, (iii) executing on our acquisition pipeline, (iv) continuing to grow our private label business, and (v) continuing to invest in and expand production capacity to meet the needs of our brands and our customers.

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Increasing Sales of Existing Brands

We seek to grow our existing brands by increasing penetration within existing on-premise and off-premise retailers, selling into new retailers and distributors and investing in and expanding our DTC segment. Given the strength of our brands and our strong reputation with consumers, we believe we can increase the number of varietals and blends that are offered in retail and on-premise locations. As consumer shopping behaviors continue to evolve and change, we believe we are well positioned to continue to increase sales and conversions through our off-premise retailers’ digital channels with the investment in a dedicated eGrocery team to manage and support the digital shelf online as well as in popular delivery apps and services. We will continue to invest in our DTC business and intend to capitalize on the consumer’s willingness to purchase more products online. Additionally, regulatory authorities across the U.S. have relaxed regulations regarding delivery of alcohol directly to consumers in response to COVID-19 related restrictions. As consumers have grown more used to obtaining alcoholic beverages this way, we expect DTC sales to continue to increase. While it is too soon to know if these relaxed regulations will be permanently enacted in each state, we believe we are well-positioned to take advantage of a consumer shift to DTC sales.

Developing New Brands and Innovative Products

We believe that we can continue to develop new brands and products that address consumer demand and sell these new products into our omni-channel distribution system. These new products are expected to diversify our revenue further and expand our addressable market to additional categories beyond wine. We believe our integrated infrastructure allows us to capitalize on emerging trends faster than many of our competitors, giving us an advantage in new product development. Additionally, upon federal legalization of cannabis, we expect to seek to produce and sell cannabis infused beverages through our distribution channels. We are at the early stage of developing this strategy and no material assets have been created from this initiative as of the date hereof. We do not intend to enter this sector unless cannabis is federally legalized in the U.S. and there is no assurance if or when cannabis will be federally legalized.

Executing our Acquisition Pipeline

There continues to be consolidation of distributors and retailers in the wine industry, creating uncertainty for smaller wine companies and further limiting their ability to garner attention in the wholesale channel. As a result, we expect more brands to look for buyers of their businesses, which may create more attractive acquisition opportunities for us in the future. Given our scale and infrastructure, we are generally able to increase margins of acquired businesses relatively quickly, adding value to the enterprise from the outset. While other, larger wine companies have recently been preoccupied with other strategic initiatives, we remain committed and highly active with our merger and acquisition ("M&A") strategy.

Growing Private Label Sales

We intend to expand our private label business by increasing sales of existing products, creating product line extensions and developing new brands for new customers. We believe the largest retailers will continue to increase their private label offerings. We also believe that, in addition to private label wine sales, we are well-positioned to expand our private label options to include spirits and other products.

Expanded Production Capacity

We believe we have opportunities to make capital investments that satisfy our financial return objectives while expanding our capacity to meet additional demand for our private brands and private label customers over time. We completed a $45.0 million investment in state-of-the-art technology upgrades to our Ray’s Station production facility. The upgraded facility, together with existing facilities, will allow us to produce and ship approximately 13.5 million cases of wine per year and store over 3 million cases of wine. The recently completed facility put our production and distribution capacity at levels comparable to the top 10 wine producers in the U.S. This facility also allows us to automate a number of processes that were previously completed manually, leading to increased efficiencies and margins.

We have also expanded our production capabilities and capacity with the acquisition of Meier's. Meier's has nearly 40,000 square feet of production, bottling, warehouse and office space. Along with enhanced production capabilities and supply chain efficiencies, Meier’s offers significant additional warehouse and storage space. The central Midwest location provides more efficient access to Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast markets, allowing for rapid expansion of points of distribution for products such as recently acquired ACE Cider.

We are one of a few vertically integrated winery companies that has our own DTC pick-and-pack capabilities, leading to substantial per case cost savings. Notably, we have recently added a second warehouse facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is significantly more efficient than outsourcing this work and is currently the fastest growing portion of the wine business versus wholesale or private label.

Our capital expenditures have been at elevated levels in recent years, and as projects are completed, we expect to see increased margins with modest platform investments required going forward.

Competition

The wine industry and alcohol markets generally are intensely competitive. Our wines compete domestically and internationally with premium or higher quality wines produced in Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as North America. We compete on the

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basis of quality, price, brand recognition and distribution capability. The ultimate consumer has many choices of products from both domestic and international producers. Our wines may be considered to compete with all alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

At any given time, there are more than 400,000 wine choices available to U.S. consumers, differing with one another based on vintage, variety or blend, location and other factors. Accordingly, we experience competition from nearly every segment of the wine industry. Additionally, some of our competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources, offer a wider range of products, and have greater name recognition, which may give them greater negotiating leverage with distributors and allow them to offer their products in more locations and/or on better terms than us. Nevertheless, we believe that our diverse brand offerings, scalable infrastructure and relationships with the largest wholesalers and retailers will allow us to continue growing our business.

Seasonality

There is a degree of seasonality in the growing cycles, procurement and transportation of grapes. The wine industry in general tends to experience seasonal fluctuations in revenue and net income. Typically, we have lower sales and net income during our third fiscal quarter (January through March) and higher sales and net income during our second fiscal quarter (October through December) due to the usual timing of seasonal holiday buying, as well as wine club shipments. We expect these trends to continue.

Human Capital Management

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We are strongly committed to creating opportunities at our Company to find, hire and promote diverse voices and lead with responsibility to the principles of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("DEI"). Almost half of our positions at the Director level and above are women; with women strongly represented at the highest leadership positions, including as President and Chief Financial Officer. We are committed to fostering a work environment that values diversity and inclusion. This commitment includes providing equal access to and participation in, equal employment opportunities, programs and services without regard to race, religion, color, origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age or stereotypes based thereon. We welcome team members' differences, experiences, and beliefs, and we are investing in a more productive, engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce.

Employees

We monitor human capital metrics to ensure we are executing on our core values and making progress towards our diversity and inclusion commitments. As of June 30, 2022, we had 586 full-time employees. Among our employees, 37% identify as female, 60% identify as male and 3% are not specified. None of our employees are represented by a labor union, and none of our employees have entered into a collective bargaining agreement with us. We offer a highly competitive compensation and benefits program to attract and retain top talent.

Our talented employees drive our mission and share core values that both stem from and define our culture, which plays an invaluable role in our execution at all levels in our organization. Our culture is based on these shared core values which we believe contribute to our success and the continued growth of the organization. Our core values help reinforce their importance in our organization:

Employee Heath, Wellness & Safety

We work to prioritize the health, wellness and safety of our team members, and our environment. We continue to focus on workplace safety by providing training and bringing awareness to workplace best practices in our continuous efforts to prevent workplace injuries and accidents. The core elements of our employee health. wellness and safety strategy are risk analysis, incident management, documented processes, environmental programs, training and occupational health. We look to optimize safe operations, setting a new sustainability ambition and continued commitment to the governance of workplace health, safety and wellbeing, and a culture of leadership on safety across the Company. We provide bilingual feedback forms at all of our locations for employees to electronically submit safety recommendations or report unsafe work conditions. Additionally, our multilingual Whistleblower Hotline is available to report risks to health, wellness and safety. We continually strive to improve processes across safety training and incident training, among other areas.

Our comprehensive compensation and benefits package includes physical, emotional, financial and wellness programs including (for those eligible) a 401k match program, employer contribution to a Health Reimbursement Account, counseling through our Employee Assistance Program, and a flexible work program for hybrid or fully remote opportunities. We also encourage our employees and their families to lead a healthy lifestyle with a gym reimbursement program.

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Trademarks

Trademarks are an essential part of our business. We sell our products under a number of trademarks, which we own or use under license. We also have multiple licenses and distribution agreements for the import, sale, production and distribution of our products. Depending on the jurisdiction, trademarks are valid as long as the trademarks are in use and their registrations are properly maintained. These licenses and distribution agreements have varying terms and durations.

Government Regulation

The alcoholic beverage industry is subject to extensive regulation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”) (and other federal agencies), each state’s liquor authority and potentially local authorities as well, depending on location. As a result, there is a complex multi-jurisdictional regime governing alcoholic beverage manufacturing, distribution, and sales and marketing in the U.S. Regulatory agencies issue permits and licenses for manufacturing, distribution and retail sale (with requirements varying depending on location), govern “trade practice” activity at each tier and also regulate how each tier of the alcohol industry may interact with another tier. In addition, these laws, rules, regulations, and interpretations are constantly changing as a result of litigation, legislation and agency priorities. We take regulatory compliance very seriously, and to facilitate compliance with applicable requirements, we have a team of eight compliance professionals. We also use leading compliance software providers (Avalara and SOVOS) to assist the compliance team with data management and reporting cycles. Additionally, we consult with outside regulatory counsel on compliance issues on a regular basis and utilize Compliance Connection, an outside compliance company, on an as needed basis.

We maintain licenses and permits to produce and sell wholesale wine and cider with state regulatory agencies and TTB. We maintain licenses and permits to import, produce, and to import, rectify and wholesale distilled spirits with California and Ohio regulatory authorities and TTB. In addition to licenses for our primary production activity, we maintain hundreds of ancillary permits to support our wholesale and DTC segments. Most states require permitting and registrations with the state for shipments to wholesalers or consumers within the state, and these permits often also require local registration and tax reporting. We manage our permit compliance internally, with our team responsible for managing renewals, tax payments and reporting in a timely manner. Specifically, we complete the following to satisfy our regulatory obligations: (i) prepare TTB’s monthly Report of Wine Premises Operations, (ii) complete monthly TTB export division reports which coincide with the monthly Report of Wine Premises Operations, (iii) complete bi-weekly excise TTB tax returns, (iv) prepare and complete California Department of Tax and Fee Administration’s (CDTFA) winegrower, beer/wine importer, and distilled spirits reports and tax returns, (v) prepares and completes Washington state’s winegrower, beer/wine importer, and distilled spirits reports and tax returns, (vi) file annual grape crush and purchase reports with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), (vii) regularly update corporate filings with the TTB, as well as state Alcohol Beverage regulatory agencies as required, and (viii) complete biennial registrations with the FDA.

In California, we maintain licenses with: (i) the California Department of Food and Agriculture to purchase grapes, (ii) a potable water system permit with the California Division of Drinking Water, (iii) a hazardous material business plan permit with the County of Mendocino California Division of Environmental Health, and (iv) a storm water pollution prevention plan permit with the State of California State Water Resources Control Board. Additionally, food processing facilities, which includes wineries and cideries, must register with the FDA, and we maintain such registrations for our facilities.

We believe that we possess all licenses and permits material to operating our business.

Sale of our products are subject to federal and state alcohol tax, payable at the time our products are removed from the bonded area of the production sites. In December 2017, the federal government passed comprehensive tax legislation that included the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. This legislation modified federal alcohol tax rates by expanding the lower $1.07 per gallon tax rate to wines up to 16.0% alcohol content with wines containing higher alcohol levels being taxed at $1.57 per gallon. We are also subject to certain taxes at the state and local levels.

Available Information

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are available free of charge on our website, www.vintagewineestates.com, under "Investors — Overview — SEC Filings" as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The SEC also maintains a website, www.sec.gov, where you can search for annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding us and other public companies.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

In addition to the other information in this report and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us.

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Risks Related to Our Operations

The strength of our reputation is critical to our success and may be adversely effected by contamination or other quality control issues or other factors outside of our control.

Our reputation as a premier producer of wine and spirits among our customers and the wine industry is critical to the success of our business and our growth strategy. The wine market is driven by a relatively small number of active and well-regarded wine critics within the industry who have disproportionate influence over the perceived quality and value of wines. If we are unable to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines and other alcoholic beverage products, or if our wines otherwise do not meet the subjective expectations or tastes of one or more of a relatively small number of wine critics, the actual or perceived quality and value of one or more of our wines could be harmed, which could negatively impact not only the value of that wine, but also the value of the vintage, the particular brand or our broader portfolio. The winemaking process is a long and labor-intensive process that is built around yearly vintages, which means that once a vintage has been released we are not able to make further adjustments to satisfy wine critics or consumers. As a result, we are dependent on our winemakers and tasting panels to ensure that our wine products meet our exacting quality standards.

Any contamination or other quality control issue could have an adverse effect on sales of the impacted wine or our broader portfolio of winery brands. If any of our wines become unsafe or unfit for consumption, cause injury or are otherwise improperly packaged or labeled, we may have to engage in a product recall and/or be subject to liability and incur additional costs. A widespread recall, multiple recalls, or a significant product liability judgment against us could cause our wines to be unavailable for a period of time, depressing demand and our brand reputation. Even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, any resulting negative publicity could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and accounts, as well as our corporate and individual winery brands image in such a way that current and future sales could be diminished. In addition, should a competitor experience a recall or contamination event, we could face decreased consumer confidence by association as a producer of similar products.

Additionally, third parties may sell wines or inferior brands that imitate our winery brands or that are counterfeit versions of our labels, and customers could confuse these imitation labels with our authentic wines. A negative consumer experience with such a wine could cause them to refrain from purchasing our brands in the future and damage our brand integrity. Any failure to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results.

Damage to our reputation or loss of consumer confidence in our wines for any of these or other reasons could result in decreased demand for our wines and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operational results and financial results, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation, competitive position and winery brand strength.

Consumer demand for wine and alcoholic beverages could decline, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We rely on consumers’ demand for our wine and other products. Consumer demand may decline due to a variety of factors, including a general decline in economic conditions, changes in the spending habits of consumers generally, a generational or demographic shift in consumer preferences, increased activity of anti-alcohol groups, increased state or federal taxes on alcoholic beverage products and concerns about the health consequences of consuming alcoholic beverage products. Furthermore, our ability to effectively manage production and inventory is inherently linked to actual and expected consumer demand for our products, particularly given the long product lead time and agricultural nature of the wine business. Unanticipated changes in consumer demand or preferences could have adverse effects on our ability to manage supply and capture growth opportunities, and substantial declines in the demand for one or more of our product categories could harm our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We are subject to significant competition, which could adversely affect our profitability.

VWE’s wines compete for sales with thousands of other domestic and foreign wines. VWE’s wines also compete with other alcoholic beverages and, to a lesser degree, non-alcoholic beverages. As a result of this intense competition, we have been subject to, and may continue to be subject to, upward pressure on selling and promotional expenses. In addition, some of our competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing and public relations resources available to them than we do. These circumstances could adversely impact our revenues, margins, market share and profitability.

Our wholesale operations and wholesale revenues largely depend on independent distributors whose performance and continuity is not assured.

Our wholesale operations and wholesale revenues depend largely on independent distributors whose performance and continuity is not assured. Our wholesale operations generate revenue from products sold to distributors, who then sell them to off-premise retail locations such as grocery stores, specialty and multi-national retail chains, as well as on-premise locations such as restaurants and bars. Sales to distributors are expected to continue to represent a substantial portion of our revenues in the future. A change in relationships with one or more significant distributors could harm our business and reduce sales. The laws and regulations of several states prohibit changes of distributors except under certain limited circumstances, which makes it difficult to terminate a distributor for poor performance without reasonable cause as defined by applicable statutes. Difficulty or inability with respect to replacing distributors, poor performance of major distributors or inability to collect accounts receivable from major distributors could harm our business. There can be no assurance that existing distributors and retailers will continue to purchase our products or

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provide ours products with adequate levels of promotional support. Consolidation at the retail tier, among club and chain grocery stores can be expected to heighten competitive pressure to increase marketing and sales spending or constrain or reduce prices.

The loss or significant decline of sales to one or more of our more important distributors, marketing companies or retailers could have adverse effects on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We derive significant revenue from distributors and marketing companies such as Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and from retail business customers such as Costco, Albertson’s and Target. The loss of one or more of these customers, or significant decline in the volume of sales made to them, could have adverse effects on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Decreases in brand quality ratings by important rating organizations could adversely affect our business.

Many of VWE’s brands are issued ratings by local or national wine rating organizations. In the wine industry, higher product ratings usually translate into greater demand and higher pricing. Although some VWE brands have been rated highly in the past, and VWE believes its farming and winemaking activities are of a quality to generate good ratings in the future, VWE has no control over ratings issued by third parties, which may or may not be favorable in the future. Significant or persistent declines in the ratings issued to VWE wines could have adverse effects on its business.

We may not be fully insured against catastrophic events and losses, which may adversely affect our financial condition.

A significant portion of our activities are in California and the Pacific Northwest, which regions are increasingly prone to seismic activity, landslides, wildfires and other natural disasters (collectively, “catastrophes”). Although VWE insures against catastrophes, including through our use of a wholly-owned captive insurance company and by carrying insurance to cover our own property damage, business interruption and certain production assets, we may not be fully insured against all catastrophes, the occurrence of which may (i) disrupt our operations, (ii) delay production, shipments and revenue and (iii) result in significant expenses to repair or replace damaged vineyards or facilities. Any disruption caused by a catastrophe could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our inability to protect trademarks and other intellectual property rights could adversely affect its business.

VWE’s business relies on intellectual property, mainly consisting of trademarks, customer lists and business practices. VWE does not register its business practices or customer lists, but they are kept highly confidential and considered trade secrets and, as such, are accessible to a very limited number of people within VWE. Although VWE believes that it does not rely significantly on any individual intellectual property right, a breach of confidentiality with respect to the customer lists or business practices, or loss of access to them, or the future expiration of intellectual property trademark rights, could have adverse impacts on VWE’s business.

VWE relies in part on confidentiality agreements, ownership of intellectual property, and non-competition agreements with employees, vendors and third parties in order to protect its intellectual property. It is possible that these agreements could be breached and that VWE might lack an adequate remedy for breach. Disputes may arise concerning the ownership of intellectual property or the extent to which the confidentiality agreements remain in force. Furthermore, VWE’s trade secrets may become revealed to its competitors or developed independently by them, in which case VWE will not be able to enjoy exclusive use of some of its formulas or maintain confidentiality concerning its products.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its variants has had, and will likely continue to have, adverse effects on the economy and on our business.

The COVID-19 pandemic and it variants, are likely to adversely affect the economies and financial markets and could result in an economic downturn and a recession. It is uncertain how this would affect demand for our products. While VWE continues to see robust demand in its industry, and has seen little impact to its results of operations from the COVID-19 pandemic, the environment remains uncertain and it may not be sustainable over the longer term. The degree to which the pandemic ultimately impacts our business and results of operations will depend on future developments beyond our control, including the severity of the pandemic, the extent of actions to contain the virus, the availability and efficacy of a vaccine or other treatment, how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume, and the severity and duration of the economic downturn that results from the pandemic.

Rising inflation may result in increased costs of operations and negatively impact the credit and securities markets generally, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the market price of our common stock.

Inflation has accelerated in the U.S. and globally due in part to global supply chain issues, a rise in energy prices, and strong consumer demand as economies continue to reopen from restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. An inflationary environment can increase our cost of labor as well as our energy and other operating costs which may have a material adverse impact on our financial results. In addition, economic conditions could impact and reduce the number of customers who purchase our products as credit becomes more expensive or unavailable. Although interest rates have increased and are expected to increase further, inflation may continue. Further, increased interest rates could have a negative effect on the securities markets generally which may, in turn, have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

New lines of business or new products and services could subject us to additional risks.

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VWE may invest in new lines of business, or may offer new products, such as within its spirits business or, upon federal legalization of cannabis, cannabis-infused beverages. There are risks and uncertainties associated with such efforts, particularly in instances where the markets are not fully developed or are evolving. In developing and marketing new lines of business and new products and services, VWE may invest significant time and resources. External factors, such as regulatory compliance obligations, competitive alternatives, lack of market acceptance and shifting consumer preferences, may also affect the successful implementation of a new line of business or a new product or service. With respect to cannabis-infused beverages, even if the federal government legalizes medical and/or adult-use cannabis, significant delays in the drafting and implementation of industry regulations and licensing and the costs associated with burdensome regulations and taxes could adversely impact VWE’s ability to operate profitably in the cannabis-infused beverage industry. Failure to successfully manage these risks in the development and implementation of new lines of business or new products or services could have adverse effects on VWE’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Litigation relating to alcohol abuse or the misuse of alcohol could adversely affect our business.

Increased public attention has been directed at the beverage alcohol industry, which we believe is due to concern over problems related to alcohol abuse, including drinking and driving, underage drinking and health consequences from the misuse of alcohol. Adverse developments in these or similar lawsuits or a significant decline in the social acceptability of beverage alcohol products that could result from such lawsuits could materially adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Production Activities

Increases in the cost, disruption of supply or shortage of energy could adversely affect our business.

Our production facilities use a significant amount of energy in their operations, including electricity, propane and natural gas. Increases in the price, disruption of supply or shortage of energy sources, which may result from increased demand, natural disasters, power outages or other causes could increase our operating costs and negatively impact our profitability. VWE has experienced increases in energy costs in the past, and energy costs could rise in the future. In addition, we incur costs in connection with the transportation and distribution of our materials and products. Higher fuel costs will result in higher transportation, freight, and other operating costs, which could significantly increase our production costs and, correlatively, decrease our operating margins and profit.

If we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of grapes or other raw materials, or if there is an increase in the cost of such materials, or contamination to ingredients or products, our profitability and production of wine could be negatively impacted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We source our grapes from the vineyards that we own and control and from independent growers. Our production activities also require adequate supplies of other quality agricultural, raw and processed materials, including corks, glass bottles, barrels, winemaking additives and agents, water and other supplies. A shortage of, or contamination to grapes of the required variety and quality, or an inability to obtain or significant increase in the price of other requisite raw materials, could impair our ability to produce wines in the quantity and quality demanded by our customers and reduce our profitability.

Any such occurrences could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Drought or inclement weather could reduce the amount of water available for use in our growing and production activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Water supply and adequate rainfall are critical to the supply of grapes, other agricultural raw materials and generally our ability to operate our business. If climate patterns change or droughts occur, there may be a scarcity of water or poor water quality, which could affect production costs, consistency of yields or impose capacity constraints. VWE depends on enough quality water for operation of its wineries, as well as to irrigate its vineyards and conduct other operations. The suppliers of the grapes and other agricultural raw materials purchased by VWE also depend upon sufficient supplies of quality water for their vineyards and fields. Prolonged or severe drought conditions or restrictions imposed on irrigation options by governmental authorities could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Impacts from climate change and related government regulations may adversely affect our financial condition.

Our business depends upon agricultural activity and natural resources. There has been much public discussion related to concerns that carbon dioxide and other GHGs in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. Severe weather events and natural disasters, such as our experiences with drought, flooding, and/or wildfires in California, Oregon, or Washington, and climate change may negatively affect agricultural productivity in the regions from which we presently source our various agricultural raw materials or the energy supply powering our production facilities. Decreased availability of our raw materials may increase our cost of product sold. Severe weather events and natural disasters or changes in the frequency or intensity of weather events or natural disasters can also impact product quality and disrupt our supply chains, which may affect production operations, insurance cost and coverage, as well as delivery of our products to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. Natural disasters such as severe storms, floods, and earthquakes may also negatively impact the ability of consumers to purchase our products.

We may experience significant future increases in the costs associated with environmental regulatory compliance, including fees, licenses, and the cost of capital improvements for our operating facilities to meet environmental regulatory requirements. In addition, we may be party to various

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environmental remediation obligations arising in the normal course of our business or relating to historical activities of businesses we acquire. Due to regulatory complexities, governmental or contractual requirements, uncertainties inherent in litigation, and the risk of unidentified contaminants in our current and former properties, the potential exists for remediation, liability, indemnification, and other costs to differ materially from the costs that we have estimated. We may incur costs associated with environmental compliance arising from events we cannot control, such as unusually severe droughts, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or fires, which could have a material adverse effect upon our business, liquidity, financial condition, and/or results of operations.

We could be negatively impacted by the occurrence of wine contamination.

We are subject to certain hazards and product liability risks, such as potential contamination, through tampering or otherwise, of ingredients or products. Contamination of our wine could result in destruction of our wine held in inventory and could cause the need for a product recall, which could significantly damage VWE’s reputation for product quality. We maintain insurance against certain of these kinds of risks, and others, under various insurance policies. However, our insurance may not be sufficient to fully cover any resulting liability or may not continue to be available at a price or on terms that are satisfactory to us.

Risks Related to Information Technology and Cybersecurity

A failure of one or more of our key IT systems, networks, processes, associated sites or service providers could have a material adverse impact on business operations, and if the failure is prolonged, our financial condition.

We rely on IT systems, networks, and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools, hardware (including laptops and mobile devices), software and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided and used by third-parties or their vendors, to assist us in the operation of our business. The various uses of these IT systems, networks and services include, but are not limited to: hosting our internal network and communication systems; tracking bulk wine; supply and demand; planning; production; shipping wines to customers; hosting our winery websites and marketing products to consumers; collecting and storing customer, consumer, employee, stockholder, and other data; processing transactions; summarizing and reporting results of operations; hosting, processing and sharing confidential and proprietary research, business plans and financial information; complying with regulatory, legal or tax requirements; providing data security; and handling other processes necessary to manage our business.

Increased IT security threats and more sophisticated cybercrimes and cyberattacks, including computer viruses and other malicious codes, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, denial of service attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking and other types of attacks pose a potential risk to the security of our IT systems, networks and services, as well as the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data, and we have in the past, and may in the future, experience cyberattacks and other unauthorized access attempts to our IT systems. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access are constantly changing and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we or our vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement sufficient preventative or remedial measures.

If we are unable to maintain and upgrade our system safeguards, we may incur unexpected costs and certain of our systems may become more vulnerable to unauthorized access. In the event of a ransomware or other cyber-attack, the integrity and safety of our data could be at risk or we may incur unforeseen costs impacting our financial position. If the IT systems, networks or service providers we rely upon fail to function properly, or if we suffer a loss or disclosure of business or other sensitive information due to any number of causes ranging from catastrophic events, power outages, security breaches, unauthorized use or usage errors by employees, vendors or other third parties and other security issues, we may be subject to legal claims and proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information (also known as personal data), litigation, governmental investigations and proceedings and regulatory penalties, and we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage our operations and reputation, competitive or business harm, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results. In addition, such events could result in unauthorized disclosure of material confidential information, and we may suffer financial and reputational damage because of lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us or to our employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers, consumers or others. In any of these events, we could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to remedy the damage caused by a security breach or technological failure and the reputational damage resulting therefrom, to pay for investigations, forensic analyses, legal advice, public relations advice or other services, or to repair or replace networks and IT systems.

As a result of the growing normalization of hybrid and remote work, a greater number of our employees are working remotely and accessing our IT systems and networks remotely, which may further increase our vulnerability to cybercrimes and cyberattacks and increase the stress on our technology infrastructure and systems. Although we maintain cyber risk insurance, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses from any future breaches or failures of our IT systems, networks and services.

Our failure to adequately maintain and protect personal information of our customers or our employees in compliance with evolving legal requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We collect, use, store, disclose or transfer (collectively, “process”) personal information, including from employees and customers, in connection with the operation of our business. A wide variety of local and international laws as well as regulations and industry guidelines apply to the privacy and collecting, storing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of personal information and may be inconsistent among countries or conflict with other

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rules. Data protection and privacy laws and regulations are changing, subject to differing interpretations and being tested in courts and may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.

Compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance. Our actual or alleged failure to comply with any applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations, industry standards or contractual obligations, or to protect such information and data that we process, could result in litigation, regulatory investigations, and enforcement actions against us, including fines, orders, public censure, claims for damages by employees, customers and other affected individuals, public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups, damage to our reputation and competitive position and loss of goodwill (both in relation to existing customers and prospective customers) any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Additionally, if third parties that we work with, such as vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or our policies, such violations may also place personal information at risk and have an adverse effect on our business. Even the perception of privacy concerns, whether valid, may harm our reputation, subject us to regulatory scrutiny and investigations, and inhibit adoption of our wines by existing and potential customers.

Risks Related to Regulation of Our Business

VWE’s failure to obtain or maintain necessary licenses or otherwise fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations could have adverse effects on its results of operations, financial condition and business.

A complex multi-jurisdictional regime governs alcoholic beverage manufacturing, distribution, sales, and marketing in the United States. The alcoholic beverages industry in which VWE operates is subject to extensive regulation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (and other federal agencies), each state’s liquor authority, and potentially local authorities depending on location. These regulations and laws dictate such matters as licensing requirements, production, importation, ownership restrictions, trade, and pricing practices, permitted distribution channels, delivery, and prohibitions on sales to minors, permitted, and required labeling, and advertising and relations with wholesalers and retailers. These laws, regulations and licensing requirements may, and sometimes are, interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other legal mandates or with VWE’s business practices. Further, these laws, rules, regulations, and interpretations are constantly changing because of litigation, legislation, and agency priorities, and could result in increased regulation. VWE’s actual or asserted non-compliance with any such law, regulation or requirement could expose VWE to investigations, claims, litigation, injunctive proceedings and other criminal or civil proceedings by private parties and regulatory authorities, as well as license suspension, license revocation, substantial fines, and negative publicity, any of which could adversely affect VWE’s results of operations, financial condition, and business.

Failure to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations would expose us to civil and criminal liability.

The laws and regulations concerning the environment, health and safety may subject us to civil liability for non-compliance or environmental pollution. Such laws may include criminal sanctions (including substantial penalties) for violations. Some environmental laws also include provisions imposing strict liability for the release of hazardous substances into the environment, which could result in VWE becoming liable for clean-up efforts without any negligence or fault on our part. Other environmental laws impose liability jointly and severally, which could expose us to responsibility for cleaning up environmental pollution caused by others.

In addition, some environmental, health and safety laws are applied retroactively such that they could impose liability for acts done in the past even if such acts were carried out in accordance with the law in force at the time. Civil or criminal liability under such laws could have adverse effects on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may also become subject to claims for personal injury or property damage arising from exposure to hazardous substances if personal injury or environmental contamination was ostensibly caused by activity at one of its production sites. Such legal proceedings could be instituted by private individuals or non-governmental organizations.

In addition, any expansion of our existing facilities or development of new vineyards or wineries, or any expansion of our business into new product lines or new geographic markets, may be limited by present and future environmental restrictions, zoning ordinances and other legal requirements.

New and changing environmental requirements, and new market pressures related to climate change, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results.

There has been significant public discussion related to concerns that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. Federal regulations govern, among other things, air emissions, wastewater and stormwater discharges, and the treatment, handling and storage and disposal of materials and wastes. State environmental regulations and authorities intended to address and oversee environmental issues are largely state-level analogs to federal regulations and authorities intended to perform the similar purposes. We are subject to state and local environmental regulations that address a number of elements of our wine production process, including air quality, the handing of hazardous waste, recycling, water use and discharge, emissions and traffic impacts. Compliance with these and other environmental regulation requires significant resources. Continued regulatory and market trends towards sustainability may require or incentivize us to make changes to our current business operations. We may experience future increases in the costs associated with environmental regulatory compliance, including fees, licenses and the cost of capital improvements to meet environmental regulatory requirements. In addition, we may be party to various environmental remediation obligations arising

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in the normal course of our business or relating to historical activities of businesses we acquire. We cannot assure that our costs in relation to these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial results.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, and if our remediation of such material weakness is not effective, or if we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable laws and regulations could be impaired.

In the course of our financial close process for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness identified relates to our process and controls over financial reporting related to balance sheet account reconciliations, which includes the prior year identification of certain inventory-related account balances and the current year identification of interest rate swap derivatives account balances. Management concluded that this material weakness arose because we did not have effective business processes and controls to perform reconciliations of balance sheet account balances.

See Part II, Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” for additional information about this material weakness and our remediation efforts.

If we are unable to further implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within required time periods could be adversely affected, which could subject us to litigation or investigations requiring management resources and payment of legal and other expenses, negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements and adversely impact our stock price. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or, if and when required, our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected, our common stock could become subject to delisting and we could become subject to litigation or investigations by the stock exchange or exchanges on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, any of which could require additional financial and management resources.

Furthermore, we cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, and actions we may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiencies that led to our material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting or that they will prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses. Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of financial statements for prior periods.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to fund the operations and growth of our business on terms favorable to us, or at all.

We may require additional financing to fund our operations or growth. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on our continued development or growth. Such financings may result in dilution to stockholders, issuance of securities with priority as to liquidation and dividend and other rights more favorable than our common stock, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may adversely affect our business. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for current or future operating plans. There can be no assurance that financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. The inability to obtain financing when needed may make it more difficult for us to operate its business or implement its growth plans.

The terms of the VWE credit facility may restrict our flexibility, and failure to comply with such terms would have a variety of adverse effects.

The VWE credit facility contains various covenants and restrictions that may, in certain circumstances and subject to carve-outs and exceptions, limit VWE’s ability to, among other things:

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Under the VWE credit facility, VWE also is required to maintain compliance with a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio covenant (not less than 1.10:1.00).

As a result of the covenants and other restrictions contained in its credit facility, VWE is limited in how it may choose to conduct its business. VWE cannot guarantee that it will be able to remain in compliance with these covenants and other restrictions or be able to obtain waivers for noncompliance in the future. Failure to comply with the covenants and other restrictions contained in its debt instruments would likely have adverse effects on its financial condition and business by impairing its ability to continue financing its business.

Of particular significance, VWE could be forced to repay immediately and in full any outstanding borrowings under its credit facility if it were to breach its covenants and not cure the breach, even if it could otherwise satisfy its debt service obligations. Also, if VWE were to experience a change of control, as defined in its credit facilities, it could be required to repay in full all loans outstanding thereunder, plus accrued interest and fees.

VWE may be adversely affected by the phase-out of, or changes in the method of determining, the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), or the replacement of LIBOR with different reference rates.

LIBOR is the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on U.S. dollar-denominated loans globally. The VWE credit facility uses LIBOR as a reference rate such that the interest due to VWE’s creditors under this facility is calculated using LIBOR.

On July 27, 2017, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (the authority that administers LIBOR) announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. The replacement of LIBOR with an alternative rate or benchmark, may adversely affect interest rates and result in higher borrowing costs. This could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. VWE cannot predict the effect of the potential changes to the establishment and use of alternative rates or benchmarks. VWE may need to renegotiate its credit facility or incur other indebtedness. The use of an alternative rate or benchmark, could negatively impact the terms of such renegotiated credit facility or such other indebtedness. If LIBOR ceases to exist, VWE might need to amend certain contracts and cannot predict what alternative rate or benchmark would be negotiated. This may result in an increase to VWE interest expense.

If VWE’s intangible assets or goodwill become impaired, then VWE may be required to record charges to earnings, which could be significant.

VWE has substantial intangible assets and goodwill on its balance sheet resulting from acquisitions that VWE has completed. VWE reviews intangible assets and goodwill for impairment annually or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate that these assets might be impaired. Application of impairment tests requires judgment. A significant deterioration in a key estimate or assumption or a less significant deterioration to a combination of assumptions or the sale of a part of a reporting unit could result in an impairment charge in the future, which could have an impact, possibly significant, on VWE’s reported earnings.

We may not realize the benefits anticipated from our recent business combination, which could adversely affect our common stock price.

The anticipated benefits from the recently completed business combination are, necessarily, based on projections and assumptions that may not materialize as expected or which may prove to be inaccurate. Our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits will depend on our ability to successfully implement our growth strategies, as well as the availability of cash. We may encounter significant challenges with recognizing the anticipated benefits of the business combination, including the following:

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If we do not successfully manage these issues and the other challenges inherent in operating a business of our scale, then we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the business combination, could incur unanticipated expenses and charges and the results of operations and the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected.

A significant aspect of VWE’s expansion plan is to grow through strategic acquisitions. If the liabilities VWE assumes as part of making strategic acquisitions are greater than anticipated, VWE’s financial results could be adversely affected.

When VWE acquires the equity, i.e., the stock of a corporation or the membership interests in a limited liability company, rather than the assets, of a target company, it also generally assumes the liabilities of the target company, which often include known, unknown, and contingent liabilities. VWE’s ability to accurately identify and assess the magnitude of these assumed liabilities may be limited by, among other things, the information available to VWE and the limited operating experience VWE has with these acquired businesses. If VWE is unable to accurately assess the scope of these liabilities or if these liabilities are neither probable nor estimable at the time of the acquisition, VWE’s projected financial results for the acquired company could be adversely affected. To the extent that VWE’s overall results of operations are affected by any of these events, the price of VWE common stock could decrease.

General Risk Factors

Mergers and acquisitions in which VWE might engage involve risks that could adversely affect its business.

As part of its growth strategy, VWE will continue considering and entering into discussions, negotiations and agreements regarding possible transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations. The purchase price for possible acquisitions of brands, other assets and businesses might be paid in cash, through the issuance of common stock or other securities, borrowings or a combination of these methods. Business combinations entail numerous risks, including:

There can be no assurance that VWE will continue to be able to identify, consummate and successfully integrate business combinations.

A failure to comply with anti-corruption laws, trade sanctions and restrictions, or similar laws or regulations may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

Some of the countries where we do business have a higher risk of corruption than others. While we are committed to doing business in accordance with all applicable laws, including anti-corruption laws and global trade restrictions, we remain subject to the risk that an employee, or one of our many direct or indirect business partners, may take action determined to be in violation of international trade, money laundering, anti-corruption, or other laws, sanctions, or regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or equivalent local laws. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted numerous local economies, government intervention in local economies and businesses has increased, which has elevated the risk of and opportunity for corruption. Any determination that our operations or activities are not in compliance with applicable laws or regulations, particularly those related to anti-corruption and international economic or trade sanctions, could result in investigations, interruption of business, loss of business partner relationships, suspension or termination of licenses and permits (our own or those of our partners), imposition of fines, legal or equitable sanctions, negative publicity, and management distraction or departure. Further, our continued compliance with applicable anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions, or other laws or regulations, and our other policies could result in higher operating costs, delays, or even competitive disadvantages.

We compete for skilled management and labor and our future success depends in large part on key personnel.

Our future success depends in large part on our ability to retain and motivate to a high degree our senior management team. Our ability to deliver high-quality products also depends on retaining and motivating proficient winemakers, grape growers and other skilled management and operations personnel. The loss of such personnel or a labor shortage could adversely affect our business and our ability to implement our strategy.

VWE is an emerging growth company and can offer no assurance that the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will not make its shares less attractive to investors.

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VWE is an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”). For as long as VWE continues to be an emerging growth company, it may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that apply to public companies other than emerging growth companies, including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. VWE will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the date (a) December 31, 2026, (b) on which VWE has total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) on which VWE is deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of shares of VWE’s common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which VWE has issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

VWE can offer no assurance that investors will not find its common stock less attractive because VWE may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find such less attractive as a result, then there may be a less active trading market for such stock and its market price may be more volatile.

VWE will continue to incur significant expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.

VWE, as a public company, faces significant legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expense. VWE also is a reporting issuer in all of the provinces and territories of Canada, other than Quebec. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), and Nasdaq impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements will increase costs and make certain activities more time-consuming. In addition, expenses associated with public company reporting requirements will be incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if the auditors identify a material weakness or a significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), then VWE could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect VWE’s reputation or investor perceptions of it. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance in such a situation. Risks associated with VWE’s status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the board of directors or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations will increase legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs will require VWE to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise be used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.

VWE is subject to financial reporting and other requirements that places increased demands on its accounting and other management systems and resources and for which VWE may not be adequately prepared.

VWE is subject to reporting and other obligations under the Exchange Act, including the requirements of Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and similar legislation imposed on reporting issuers under Canadian law, as applicable. Section 404 requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of VWE’s internal controls over financial reporting and, after VWE is no longer an “emerging growth company,” its independent registered public accounting firm may be required to express an opinion on the effectiveness of VWE’s internal controls over financial reporting. To the extent applicable, these reporting and other obligations will place significant demands on VWE’s management, administrative, operational, and accounting resources and will cause VWE to incur significant expenses. VWE is in the process of creating systems, implementing financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures, and hiring additional accounting and finance staff. If VWE is unable to accomplish these objectives in a timely and effective manner, then its ability to comply with the financial reporting requirements and other rules that apply to public reporting companies could be impaired. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could have adverse effects on our business, results of operations and stock price.

VWE’s management has limited experience operating a public company. This could lead to diversion of time otherwise spent on business operations and could necessitate the incurrence of additional costs to staff for regulatory expertise.

Although several of the directors of the Company have substantial public market experience, as well as our new recently appointed CFO, VWE’s other executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. VWE’s management team may struggle to manage VWE successfully or effectively as a public company. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities, which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of VWE. It is possible that VWE will be required to expand its employee base and hire additional qualified personnel, or engage additional outside consultants and professionals, to support its operations as a public company, increasing its operating costs in future periods.

The terms of the investor rights agreement, VWE’s organizational documents and Nevada law could inhibit a takeover that VWE shareholders might consider favorable.

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Features of the investor rights agreement, the VWE articles of incorporation and bylaws and Nevada law will make it difficult for any party to acquire control of VWE in a transaction not approved by the VWE board of directors. These features include:

These features may have an anti-takeover effect and could delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a VWE shareholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price of their common stock.

The VWE articles of incorporation provide that the Second Judicial District Court in the State of Nevada, located in Washoe County, Nevada will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between VWE and its shareholders, which could limit VWE shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with VWE or its directors, officers or employees.

The VWE articles of incorporation provide that, unless VWE consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Second Judicial District Court, in and for the State of Nevada, located in Washoe County, Nevada, will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action, suit or proceeding brought on behalf of VWE, (ii) any action, suit or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or stockholder of VWE to VWE or to its stockholders, or (iii) any action, suit or proceeding arising pursuant to any provision of the NRS or the VWE articles of incorporation or bylaws (as either may be amended and/or restated from time to time). Subject to the foregoing, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Such exclusive forum provision will not relieve VWE of its duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and its shareholders will not be deemed to have waived VWE’s compliance with such laws, rules and regulations.

The VWE articles of incorporation further provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any VWE securities will be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions. Such articles provide that if any action whose subject matter is within the scope of clause (i), (ii) or (iii) above is filed in a court other than the courts in the State of Nevada (a “foreign action”) in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder will be deemed to have consented to (1) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Nevada in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the provisions of such clause and (2) having service of process made upon any such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder. These exclusive forum provisions may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring an action, suit or proceeding in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with VWE or its directors, officers, employees or stockholders, which may discourage such actions, suits and proceedings. None of the aforementioned provisions of the VWE articles of incorporation will apply to suits to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction.

If a court were to find the exclusive forum provision contained in the VWE articles of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, suit or proceeding, then VWE may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action, suit or proceeding in other jurisdictions, which could harm its business, results of operations, and financial condition. Even if VWE is successful in defending against such actions, suits and proceedings, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employee.

We cannot guarantee that we will repurchase our common stock or warrants pursuant to our repurchase program or that our repurchase program will enhance long-term stockholder value. Share and warrant repurchases could also increase the volatility of the price of our common stock and warrants and could diminish our cash reserves.

On March 8, 2022, our Board authorized a share repurchase program (the "Repurchase Program"), pursuant to which we may repurchase up to $30.0 million in aggregate value of shares of our common stock and/or warrants through September 8, 2022. The timing and amount of any repurchases will depend upon a number of factors, including price, trading volume, general market conditions and legal requirements, among others.

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The Company is not obligated to repurchase any specific number or amount of shares of common stock or warrants pursuant to the Repurchase Program, and it may modify, suspend or discontinue the Repurchase Program at any time. Repurchases pursuant to the Repurchase Program could affect our common stock price and warrant price and increase their volatility. The existence of the Repurchase Program could cause our common stock price and warrant price to be higher than they would be in the absence of such a program and, if securities are repurchased in the Repurchase Program, it will reduce the market liquidity for such securities. Additionally, the Repurchase Program could diminish our cash reserves, which may impact our ability to finance future growth and to pursue possible future strategic opportunities. There can be no assurance that any repurchases will enhance long-term stockholder value and the market price of our common stock or warrants may decline below the levels at which we repurchased any such securities.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2. Properties

Corporate Office

Our corporate headquarters are located in Incline Village, Nevada, where we occupy approximately 1,200 square feet under a lease that expires January 31, 2024, with two options to extend for additional terms with a duration of thirty six (36) months each.

Vineyards

We own or control approximately 1,100 acres of planted vineyards located in the premier winegrowing regions of the U.S. We currently own ten winery estates and lease three winery estates.

Wine, Spirits and Cider Production Facilities

Our revamped Ray’s Station facility has a footprint exceeding 700,000 square feet in size. Located in Hopland, California, the facility contains areas for receiving grapes and bulk wine, as well as processing, fermenting and aging. The property also has bottling, laboratory facilities and offices. Approximately 150,000 square feet of outside production area is used for crushing, pressing and fermenting wine grapes.

We expanded our production into a cidery with the acquisition of ACE Cider. Located in Sebastopol, California, ACE Cider has approximately 15,000 square feet of production, warehouse and office space. The cidery will not only produce its own brand, but also adds an innovative product line to our ready-to-drink category, giving us access to a significant new sales channel for distribution.

We have also expanded our production capabilities and capacity with the acquisition of Meier's. Located in Silverton, Ohio, Meier's has nearly 40,000 square feet of production, bottling, warehouse and office space. Along with enhanced production capabilities and supply chain efficiencies, Meier’s offers significant additional warehouse and storage space. The central Midwest location provides more efficient access to Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast markets, allowing for rapid expansion of points of distribution for products such as recently acquired ACE Cider.

We are focused on sustainability, the environment and reducing our environmental impact. Towards that end, we have increased our solar power generation capacity at Ray’s Station from 750 kilowatts to 2.23 megawatts and have started to use the Tesla battery for energy storage to further reduce our carbon footprint. We have also improved the efficiency of our water and wastewater treatment facilities at Ray’s Station in anticipation of the increased output from the new high-speed bottling line. Similarly, we have reduced the amount of water used and improved our recycling capacity by purchasing new equipment at our Clos Pegase and Girard properties. In addition, we have installed a computerized tank control system at the Girard winery to control the timing and demand for electricity from our chilling equipment.

Properties are used by all segments, excluding ACE Cider which is specifically used by our Wholesale segment.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may be involved in various legal proceedings and subject to claims that arise in the ordinary course of business that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company is not currently a party to any material pending legal proceedings, to our knowledge, in which we believe would have a material effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

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Part II.

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Our common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “VWE” on June 8, 2021. Prior to such date and before the completion of the Business Combination between BCAC and Legacy VWE, the Class A restricted voting shares of BCAC traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "BSPE".

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock to the Nasdaq Composite Index (ticker symbol: IXIC) and Crimson Wine Group, Ltd. (ticker symbol CWGL), a peer issuer in the business of producing and selling luxury wines, assuming $100 was invested as of February 8, 2021, which was our first day of trading on the Nasdaq.

The following graph also compares the performance of our common stock to Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc., (ticker symbol: NAPA), a peer issuer in the business of producing and selling luxury and ultra-luxury wines, assuming $100 was invested on March 22, 2021, which was its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to this date there was no public trading market for its common stock.

Pursuant to applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules, all values assume reinvestment of pre-tax amount of all dividends; however, no dividends have been declared on our common stock to date.

Holders of Common Stock

As of June 30, 2022, there were twenty-nine (29) holders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy

We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business and to repay indebtedness and, therefore, we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will

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be at the discretion of our Board, and will depend on our results of operations, financial conditions, capital requirements and other factors that our Board deems relevant.

Sale of Unregistered Securities

None.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

The following table presents information with respect to our repurchases of our equity securities during the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2022:

(1) On March 8, 2022, the Company announced that our board of directors approved a repurchase plan authorizing us to purchase up to $30.0 million in aggregate value of our common stock and/or warrants through September 8, 2022. The repurchase program is more fully disclosed in Note 13.

Item 6.

Reserved.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” or in other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” to “we”, “us”, “our” and “the Company” are intended to mean the business and operations of Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. ("VWE") and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Overview

Vintage Wine Estates is a leading vintner in the United States ("U.S."), offering a collection of wines produced by award-winning, heritage wineries, popular lifestyle wines, innovative new wine brands, packaging concepts, as well as craft spirits and cider. Our name brand wines include Layer Cake, Cameron Hughes, Clos Pegase, B.R. Cohn, Firesteed, Bar Dog, Kunde, Cherry Pie and many others. Since our founding over 20 years ago, we have grown organically through wine brand creation and through acquisitions to become the 14th largest wine producer based on cases of wine shipped in California. We sell over 2.5 million cases annually.

Our key differentiator is our diversification—what we call our three-legged stool business model.

We are diversified in our brand collection, producing nearly 60 brands ranging in retail price from $10 to $150, with a focus on the fastest growing $10 to $20 segment. Over eighty percent of our business is done in this critical segment.

We are diversified in our omni-channel sales strategy balanced between direct-to-consumer, 31.5% of sales, traditional wholesale, 28.8% of sales and business-to-business at 38.8% of sales. Our direct-to-consumer segment is particularly robust. Where most wine companies have two direct sales levers to pull: tasting rooms and wine clubs, we have seven: tasting rooms, wine clubs, ecommerce, Cameron Hughes, Windsor/custom label design and engraving, QVC/HSN and The Sommelier Company.

We are diversified in our sourcing with a strong asset base of 3,300 owned and leased vineyard acres in located in the premier winegrowing regions of the U.S. and 10 owned winery estates. These properties extend from the Central Coast of California to storied appellations in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, north to Oregon and Washington. We obtain fruit for our wines from owned and leased vineyards, as well as other sources, including independent growers and the spot wine market.

We have completed over 20 acquisitions in the past 10 years and completed over 10 acquisitions in the past 5 years. We generally acquire the brands and inventories of a targeted business, eliminating redundant corporate overhead. We then integrate the acquired assets into our highly efficient production, distribution and omni channel selling networks, quickly increasing the sales and margins of the acquired business.

Our growth has allowed us to reinvest in our business and create the scale and infrastructure needed to successfully manage a variety of different wine brands and channels and reduce costs. Our owned winery facilities have the capacity to store up to 9.0 million gallons of wine per year. In addition, we have a high-speed bottling facility with the capacity to bottle over 13.5 million cases annually.

Additional bottling capacity is not only used for our products, but also allows us to further expand our bottling and fulfillment services offered to third parties on a contract basis. The additional capacity of the bottling facility may not initially be fully utilized but provides us with capacity consistent with our growth plans. Our scale and consolidated operations are expected to enable us to increase margins of the businesses that we acquire, providing accretive value promptly after the acquisition.

Strategy

Our strategy is to continue to grow organically and through acquisitions with a view towards making two to three acquisitions per year over the next five years. We believe we have completed more brand mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. wine industry over the last 10 years than any other company in the industry. These acquisitions have allowed us to diversify our wine sourcing into regions outside of California, expand our portfolio of brands, increase our vineyard assets and provide our DTC and retail customers with a range of products to choose from.

To achieve these results, our acquisitions are subject to a rigorous, data-driven, due diligence and underwriting process, to assure that minimum financial thresholds with meaningful upside can be satisfied in each transaction. In accordance with GAAP, the results of the acquisitions we have completed are reflected in our consolidated financial statements. We typically incur minimal transaction costs in connection with identifying and completing acquisitions and ongoing integration costs as we integrate acquired companies and seek to achieve synergies.

Key Measures to Assess the Performance of our Business

We consider a variety of financial and operating measures in assessing the performance of our business, formulating goals and objectives and making strategic decisions. The key GAAP measures we consider are net revenues; gross profit; selling, general and administrative expenses; and income from operations. The key non-GAAP measure we consider is Adjusted EBITDA. We also monitor our case volume sold and depletions from our distributors to retailers to help us forecast and identify trends affecting our growth.

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Net Revenues

We generate revenue from our segments: Wholesale, Business-to-Business ("B2B"), Direct-to-Consumer ("DTC") and Corporate and Other. We recognize revenue from sales when obligations under the terms of a contract with our customer are satisfied. Generally, this occurs when the product is shipped, and title passes to the customer, and when control of the promised product or service is transferred to the customer. Our standard terms are free on board, or FOB, shipping point, with no customer acceptance provisions. Revenue is measured as the amount of consideration expected to be received in exchange for transferring products. We recognize revenue net of any taxes collected from customers, which are subsequently remitted to governmental authorities. We account for shipping and handling as activities to fulfill our promise to transfer the associated products. Accordingly, we record amounts billed for shipping and handling costs as a component of net sales and classify such costs as a component of costs of sales. Our products are generally not sold with a right of return unless the product is spoiled or damaged. Historically, returns have not been significant to us.

Gross Profit

Gross profit is equal to net revenues less cost of sales. Cost of sales includes the direct cost of manufacturing, including direct materials, labor and related overhead, and physical inventory adjustments, as well as inbound and outbound freight and import duties.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses include expenses arising from activities in selling, marketing, warehousing, and administrative expenses. Other than variable compensation, selling, general and administrative expenses are generally not directly proportional to net revenues, but are expected to increase over time to support the needs of the Company.

Income from Operations

Income from operations is gross profit less selling, general and administrative expenses; acquisition and restructuring related expense or income and amortization of intangible assets. Income from operations excludes interest expense, income tax expense, and other expenses, net. We use income from operations as well as other indicators as a measure of the profitability of our business.

Case Volumes

In addition to acquisitions, the primary drivers of net revenue growth in any period are attributable to changes in case volumes and changes in product mix and sales price. Case volumes represents the number of 9-liter equivalent cases of wine that we sell during a particular period. Case volumes are an important indicator of what is driving gross margin. This metric also allows us to develop our supply and production targets for future periods.

The following table summarize 9-liter equivalent cases by segment:

Case volumes were up 35.7% for the fiscal year driven by volume increases in the Wholesale and DTC segments. Wholesale volumes grew 61.1% for the year due to increased volumes of core brands as well as volumes associated with the acquisition of ACE Cider. DTC volumes were up 15.2% driven by increased tasting room, wine club, and event activity coupled with volumes related to the acquisition of Vinesse. B2B volumes remained relatively flat for the year.

Depletions

Within our three tier distribution structure, depletion measures the sale of our inventory from the distributor to the retailer. Depletions are an important indicator of customer satisfaction, which management uses for evaluating performance of our brands and for forecasting.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, we use EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to supplement GAAP measures of performance to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies. These metrics are also frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry, when considered alongside other GAAP measures.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings (loss) before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, casualty losses or gains, impairment losses, changes in the fair value of derivatives, restructuring related income or expenses, acquisition and

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integration costs, and certain non-cash, non-recurring, or other items included in net income (loss) that we do not consider indicative of our ongoing operating performance, including non-cash inventory write downs and COVID related adjustments. COVID related adjustments relate to the delayed GAZE brand launch and nonrecurring costs of implementing safety protocols for production facilities, warehouse, tasting rooms and offices. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenues.

The following is a reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented:

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not recognized measures of financial performance under GAAP. We believe these non-GAAP measures provide analysts, investors and other interested parties with additional insight into the underlying trends of our business and assists these parties in analyzing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance, which allows for a better comparison against historical results and expectations for future performance.

Management uses these non-GAAP measures to understand and compare operating results across reporting periods for various purposes including internal budgeting and forecasting, short and long-term operating planning, employee incentive compensation, and debt compliance. These non-GAAP measures are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP. Use of the terms Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not calculated in the same manner by all companies, and accordingly, are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies and may not be an appropriate measure for performance relative to other companies. Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as indicators of our operating performance in isolation from, or as a substitute for, net income (loss), which is prepared in accordance with GAAP. We have presented Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin solely as supplemental disclosure because we believe it allows for a more complete analysis of our results of operations. In the future, we may incur expenses such as those added back to calculate Adjusted EBITDA. Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by these items.

Trends and Other Factors Affecting Our Business

Various trends and other factors affect or have affected our operating results, including:

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic ("COVID-19"), which the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in March 2020, continues to disrupt the U.S. and global economies, resulting in adverse economic conditions and business disruptions, as well as significant volatility in global financial markets. While many measures implemented by governments in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 have been lifted or eased, some are continuing despite vaccines due to the emergence of variants of the virus.

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In the longer-term, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to adversely affect the economies and financial markets, and could result in an economic downturn and a recession. It is uncertain how this would affect demand for our products. While we continue to see robust demand in our industry, and have seen little impact to our business from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to predict the full impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our future results of operations, liquidity and financial condition due to numerous uncertainties, including the duration of the pandemic, the actions that may be taken by government authorities across the U.S., the impact to our customers, employees and suppliers, and other factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These factors are beyond our knowledge and control and, as a result, at this time, we are unable to predict the ultimate impact, both in terms of severity and duration, that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.

Invasion of Ukraine

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has not had a direct impact on the Company. The Company does not have assets, operations or human capital resources located in Russia or Ukraine, does not invest or hold securities that trade in those areas and does not rely on goods or services sourced in Russia or Ukraine. However, the Company receives its capsules for wine bottles from a supplier in Italy, who has plants located in Ukraine, Italy and Poland. While the Company has not been impacted directly by supply chain disruptions as a result of the invasion, including potential cybersecurity risks and other indirect operational or supply chain challenges, the competition has increased from suppliers due to the closing of the plant in Ukraine.

Seasonality

There is a degree of seasonality in the growing cycles, procurement and transportation of grapes. The wine industry in general tends to experience seasonal fluctuations in revenues and net income. Typically, we have lower sales and net income during our third fiscal quarter (January through March) and higher sales and net income during or second fiscal quarter (October through December) due to usual timing of seasonal holiday buying, as well as wine club shipments. We expect these trends to continue.

Weather Conditions

Our ability to fulfill the demand for wine is restricted by the availability of grapes. Climate change, agricultural and other factors, such as wildfires, disease, pests, extreme weather conditions, water scarcity, biodiversity loss and competing land use, impact the quality and quantity of grapes available to us for the production of wine from year to year. Our vineyards and properties, as well as other sources from which we purchase grapes, are affected by these factors. For example, the effects of abnormally high rainfall or drought in a given year may impact production of grapes, which can impact both our revenues and costs from year to year.

In addition, extreme weather events, such as wildfires can result in potentially significant expenses to repair or replace a vineyard or facility as well as impact the ability of grape suppliers to fulfill their obligations to us.

Industry Conditions

The wine industry is recession resistant, with sustained growth over the past 25 years despite downturns in economic conditions from time to time. Consumers are increasingly purchasing higher priced wines and other alcoholic beverages, which has accelerated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumption increases are largely in the $10.00 or more retail price per bottle premium and luxury wine categories. Approximately 80% of our wine sales are in the premium segment.

U.S. Wildfires

Significant wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington states, have historically engulfed the affected regions in smoke and flames. The long-term trend is that wildfires are increasing resulting from drought conditions. Drought conditions due to global climate change have increased the severity of destructive wildfires which have affected the U.S. grape harvest. When vineyards and grapes are exposed to smoke, it can result in an ashy, burnt, or smoky aroma, described as "smoke tainted”. Industry grape suppliers have also experienced smoke and fire damage from the wildfires. Damage to our grape harvest and vineyards caused from the wildfires has impacted our revenues, costs of revenues and winery overhead for the periods presented.

Casualty Gains

We suffered smoke-tainted inventory damage resulting from the October 2017 Napa and Sonoma County wildfires. We filed an insurance claim for this damage, which was settled in fiscal 2021 for approximately $3.8 million, net of legal costs. In fiscal 2022, we received an additional $2.7 million, net of legal costs, related to wildfire claims. The gain of litigation proceeds consists of payments we received from our insurer.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021

The following table summarizes our operating results for the periods presented:

*Not meaningful

Net Revenues

Net revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased $73.0 million, or 33.1%, to $293.8 million, from $220.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was driven by an increase in B2B net revenues of approximately $36.5 million, of which $7.3 million related to acquisitions, DTC net revenues of approximately $25.8 million, of which $11.0 million related to acquisitions, and Wholesale net revenues of $11.6 million, of which $13.4 million related to acquisitions, partially offset by a decrease in Other net revenues of approximately $0.9 million.

Gross Profit

Gross profit for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased $14.6 million, or 19.4%, to $90.0 million, from $75.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase in gross profit was primarily driven by the strong DTC post-COVID growth of $10.6 million. Acquisitions contributed an additional $13.1 million of gross profit. These increases were partially offset by $19.1 million of non-cash inventory write-downs identified through material weakness remediation efforts.

Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general, and administrative expenses for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased $32.8 million, or 45.2%, to $105.3 million, from $72.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was driven primarily by our acquisitions, increased compensation and benefits due to staffing increases and inflation.

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(Loss) Income from Operations

Loss from operations for the year ended June 30, 2022 was $7.9 million, a decrease of $17.1 million from income of $9.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2021. The decrease was driven by $19.1 million non-cash inventory write-downs identified through material weakness remediation efforts, offset by increased growth in our B2B and DTC segments.

Other Income

Total other income was $8.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 compared to income of $1.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, a net increase of $6.6 million. The change was due primarily to an unrealized gain on our interest rate swap agreements of $23.0 million, partially offset by increased interest expense on increased outstanding debt balances and $6.6 million related to the forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan in the prior year period.

Income Tax Provision

Income tax expense was $1.1 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 compared to income tax expense of $0.8 million for the year ended June 30, 2021. The income tax expense in fiscal 2022 was primarily due to changes in pre-tax income and non-deductible stock based compensation. The income tax expense for the year ended June 30, 2021 was primarily due to an increase in annual net income and costs related to the transaction, partially offset by the PPP Loan forgiveness, stock based compensation and research and development tax credits.

Segment Results

Our financial performance is classified into the following segments: Wholesale, B2B, DTC and Corporate and Other. Our corporate operations, including centralized selling, general and administrative expenses and other factors, such as the re-measurements of contingent consideration and impairment of intangible assets and goodwill are not allocated to the segments, as management does not believe such items directly reflect our core operations. Other than our long-term property, plant and equipment for wine tasting facilities, and customer lists, trademarks and trade names specific to acquired companies, our revenue generating assets are utilized across segments. Accordingly, the foregoing items are not allocated to the segments and are not discussed separately as any results that had a significant impact on operating results are included in the consolidated results discussion above.

We evaluate the performance of our segments on income from operations, which management believes is indicative of operational performance and ongoing profitability. Management monitors income from operations to evaluate past performance and identify actions required to improve profitability. Income from operations assists management in comparing the segment performance on a consistent basis for purposes of business decision-making by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect the core operations and, therefore, are not included in measuring segment performance. We define income from operations as gross margin less operating expenses that are directly attributable to the segment. Selling expenses that can be directly attributable to the segment are allocated accordingly.

Segment Results for the Years Ended June 30, 2022 and 2021

Wholesale Segment Results

Wholesale net revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased by approximately $11.6 million, or 15.9%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was attributable to $13.4 million in net revenues related to acquisitions, partially offset by discontinued brands.

Wholesale income from operations for the year ended June 30, 2022 decreased by approximately $9.5 million from the year ended June 30, 2021. The decrease was attributable to increased cost of sales of $5.8 million primarily related to non-cash inventory write-downs identified through material weakness remediation efforts, increased cost of sales of $1.6 million related to inflation and supply chain challenges as well as an operating loss of $0.2 million related to acquisitions driven by $1.6 million of amortization of intangible assets acquired.

B2B Segment Results

B2B net revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased by approximately $36.5 million, or 47.1% from the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to bulk distilled alcohol sales and $7.3 million in net revenues related to acquisitions.

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B2B income from operations for the year ended June 30, 2022 decreased by $1.0 million, or 5.7%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The decrease was attributable to increased cost of sales of $34.3 million primarily related to cost of sales attributed from bulk distilled alcohol sales and non-cash inventory write-downs identified through material weakness remediation efforts, $1.0 million in net losses related to acquisitions, driven by $0.6 million of amortization of intangible assets acquired.

DTC Segment Results

DTC net revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased by approximately $25.8 million, or 38.8%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to increased case volumes from tasting rooms, wine clubs, revenues earned from events as restrictions related to COVID-19 have been lifted and $11.0 million in net revenues related to acquisitions.

DTC income from operations for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased by approximately $3.6 million, or 31.6%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was due to increased margin contribution from improved traffic in tasting rooms, wine club shipments, events and $0.9 million of income related to acquisition, net of $1.1 million of amortization of acquired customer lists.

Corporate and Other Segment Results

Other net revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 decreased by approximately $0.9 million, or 23.8%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The decrease was primarily attributable to fewer bulk wine sales in the year compared to the year prior.

Other losses from operations for the year ended June 30, 2022 increased by $10.2 million, or 28.8%, from the year ended June 30, 2021. The increase was due to costs related to increased infrastructure required to be a public company and the continued increased costs of labor, warehousing, freight and insurance.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our ongoing operations have, to date, been funded by a combination of cash flow from operations, the Business Combination with BCAC, borrowings under our credit facility and other debt financing. As of June 30, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents on hand of $50.3 million and $22.0 million in borrowing capacity available under our credit facility. We had $328.2 million in total debt as of June 30, 2022.

Our principal uses of cash have been to provide working capital, meet debt service requirements, fund capital expenditures and finance strategic plans, including acquisitions. We continuously reinvest in our properties and production assets. Our capital expenditures are expected to be between $12.0 million and $15.0 million over the next twelve months.

We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents, cash flow from operations, and availability under our credit facility will provide sufficient liquidity to fund our current obligations, projected working capital requirements, debt service requirements and capital spending requirements. We may also seek to finance capital expenditures under capital leases or other debt arrangements that provide liquidity or favorable borrowing terms. COVID-19 and inflation has negatively impacted the global economy and financial markets which could interfere with our ability to access sources of liquidity at favorable rates and generate operating cash flows. In fiscal 2021, we took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”).

We continue to consider acquisition opportunities, but the size and timing of any future acquisitions and the related potential capital requirements cannot be predicted. While we have in the past financed certain acquisitions with internally generated cash, term loans and our credit facility, if suitable businesses are available for acquisition upon acceptable terms, we may obtain all or a portion of the necessary financing through the incurrence of additional long-term borrowings.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including funding needs to support our business growth and to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances. If our forecasts prove inaccurate, we may be required to seek additional equity or debt financing from outside sources, which we may not be able to raise on terms acceptable to us, or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital when desired, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

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Indebtedness

Credit Facility

On April 13, 2021, we entered into an amended and restated loan and security agreement to increase the credit facility from an aggregate of $350.0 million to $480.0 million, consisting of an accounts receivable and inventory revolving facility up to $230.0 million, a term loan in a principal amount of up to $100.0 million, a capital expenditures facility in an aggregate principal of up to $50.0 million, and a new delay draw term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $100.0 million. All other terms of the original agreement generally remained the same.

The credit facility can be used to fund acquisitions, real estate purchases, capital equipment purchases and for other general corporate purposes.

The credit facility is collateralized by our eligible inventory and accounts receivable and matures as follows:

Repayments of the term loan and the capital expenditure facility are calculated based on whether the purpose of the original loan or draw was for real estate or capital equipment purchases or draw and are subject to periodic third-party valuations. For real estate purchases, quarterly repayments are equal to 1.0% of the original principal balance at closing. For capital equipment purchases, quarterly repayments are equal to 1/28th of the original balance. Any unpaid principal is due upon the termination of these loans at maturity. Repayment of the revolving credit facility is required if the borrowing base (as defined in the credit facility) does not support the amount of borrowing on the facility. Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a rate per annum equal to, at our option, either (a) a LIBOR rate determined by reference to the LIBOR rate for dollar deposits with a term equivalent to the interest period relevant to such borrowing as administered by the ICE Benchmark Administration, plus an applicable margin or (b) an adjusted base rate, or ABR, determined by reference to the highest of (i) 0.50% above the federal funds effective rate, (ii) the rate of interest established by the administrative agent as its “prime rate” and (iii) 1.0% above the LIBOR rate for dollar deposits with a one-month term commencing that day, plus an applicable margin. See Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of our interest rate swap transactions.

In addition, we pay certain recurring fees with respect to the credit facility, including (i) a fee for the unused commitments of the lenders under the revolving credit facility and the capital expenditure facility as of the end of each month, accruing at a rate equal to 0.125% per annum, which may be reduced to 0.0% if the average availability under the revolving credit facility is less than 50%, (ii) letter of credit fees, including a fronting fee and processing fees to each issuing bank, which vary depending on the applicable margin rate based on the average availability under the revolving credit facility and (iii) administration fees. Amortization expense related to debt issuance fees was $0.1 million and $0.1 million for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The credit facility contains various covenants and restrictions.

We are required to maintain compliance with a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio covenant of not less than 1.10:1.00.

We may prepay, in full or in part, borrowings under the credit facility without premium or penalty, subject to notice requirements, minimum prepayment amounts and increment limitations, provided that prepayments on all LIBOR loans will be subject to customary “breakage” costs.

Paycheck Protection Program

Our Paycheck Protection Program loan (the “PPP Loan”), under Division A, Title I of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act on April 14, 2020, of approximately $6.5 million required monthly amortized principal and interest payments to begin six months after the date of disbursement. In October 2020, the deferral period associated with the monthly payments was extended from six to ten months. While the PPP Loan had a two-year maturity, the amended law permitted the borrower to request a five-year maturity from its lender.

Under the terms of the CARES Act, as amended by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, we were eligible to apply for and receive forgiveness for all or a portion of the PPP Loan. Such forgiveness was determined, subject to limitations, based on the use of loan proceeds for certain permissible purposes as set forth in the PPP, including, but not limited to, payroll costs (as defined under the PPP) and mortgage interest, rent or utility costs (collectively, “Qualifying Expenses”), and on the maintenance of employee and compensation levels during the twenty-four week period following the funding of the PPP Loan.

On June 25, 2021, the Company received notification from the Small Business Association that the Company’s Forgiveness Application of the PPP Loan and accrued interest, totaling approximately $6.6 million, was approved in full, and the Company had no further obligations related to the PPP Loan. Accordingly in fiscal 2021, the Company recorded a gain on the forgiveness of the PPP Loan.

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Cash Flows

Information about our cash flows, by category, is presented in our consolidated statements of cash flows and is summarized below:

Cash Flows provided by (used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $15.9 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 compared to net cash provided in operating activities of $9.0 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, representing an increase of net cash provided of $6.9 million. The increase in net cash provided was primarily attributable to the decrease in net income of $10.8 million, net changes in certain non-cash adjustments of $21.4 million to reconcile net income to operating cash flow and net changes in other operating assets and liabilities as detailed on the consolidated statement of cashflows.

Cash Flows provided by (used in) Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $98.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2022, compared to net cash used in investing activities of $60.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, representing an increase of net cash used of $38.2 million. Cash flows from investing activities are utilized primarily to fund acquisitions, capital expenditures for improvements to existing assets and other corporate assets. The increase in net cash used was primarily attributable to an increase in business acquisitions of $50.1 million, partially offset by a reduction in purchases of plant, property and equipment of $13.2 million.

Cash Flows provided by (used in) Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $9.1 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 compared to net cash provided of $173.1 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, representing a decrease of net cash provided of $164.0 million. The decrease in net cash provided consisted primarily of cash used of $26.0 million to repurchase shares of the Company's common stock and decrease in proceeds of $250.1 million related to the Merger and PIPE financing in the prior year, partially offset by proceeds, net of payments on our line of credit and long-term debt of $137.7 million.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 1 to our audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue from the sale of wine, spirits and cider, including private label wines, to wholesale distributors and to consumers. We also recognize revenue from custom winemaking and production services, grape and bulk sales, private events held at its winery estates and storage services, as well as the sale of other merchandise and services.

We recognize revenue when control of promised goods or services is transferred to a customer in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. To determine revenue recognition for its arrangements, we perform the following five steps: (i) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation. We recognize revenue when obligations under the terms of a contract with our customer are satisfied. Generally, this occurs when the product is shipped, and title passes to the customer, and when control of the promised product or service is transferred to the customer. Our standard terms are free on board (“FOB”) shipping point, with no customer acceptance provisions. Revenue is measured as the amount of consideration expected to be received in exchange for transferring products. Revenue is recognized net of any taxes collected from customers, which are subsequently remitted to governmental authorities. We account for shipping and handling as activities to fulfill our promise to transfer the associated products. Accordingly, we record amounts billed for shipping and handling costs as a component of net sales and classify such costs as a

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component of costs of sales. Our products are generally not sold with a right of return unless the product is spoiled or damaged. Historically, returns have not been significant to us.

Income Taxes

Deferred income taxes are determined using the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred income tax assets and liabilities are determined based on differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities and are measured using the enacted tax rates and laws that will be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse. A valuation allowance is recorded when the expected recognition of a deferred income tax asset is considered to be unlikely.

We recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the tax authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefit is measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. We recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters as a component of income tax expense.

Inventories

Inventories of bulk and bottled wines and spirits and inventories of non-wine products and bottling and packaging supplies are valued at the lower of cost using the FIFO method or net realizable value. Costs associated with winemaking, and other costs associated with the manufacturing of products for resale, are recorded as inventory. Net realizable value is the value of an asset that can be realized upon the sale of the asset, less a reasonable estimate of the costs associated with either the eventual sale or the disposal of the asset in question. Inventories are classified as current assets in accordance with recognized industry practice, although most wines and spirits are aged for periods longer than one year.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Goodwill represents the excess of consideration transferred over the estimated fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. We have three reporting units under which goodwill has been allocated. We conduct a goodwill impairment analysis annually for impairment, as of the end of the respective fiscal year, or sooner if events or circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable.

Our intangible assets represent purchased intangible assets consisting of both indefinite and finite lived assets. Certain criteria are used in determining whether intangible assets acquired in a business combination must be recognized and reported separately. Our indefinite lived intangible assets, representing trade names, trademarks and winery use permits, are initially recognized at fair value and subsequently stated at adjusted costs, net of any recognized impairments. The indefinite lived assets are not subject to amortization. Our finite-lived intangible assets, comprised of trade names, trademarks, customer relationships and Sommelier relationships, are amortized using a method that reflects the pattern in which the economic benefits of the intangible assets are consumed or otherwise used. If that pattern cannot be reliably determined, the intangible assets are amortized using the straight-line method over their estimated useful lives and are tested for impairment along with other long-lived assets. Amortization related to the finite-lived assets is included in selling, general and administrative expenses. Intangible assets are reviewed annually for impairment, as of the end of the reporting period, or sooner if events or circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation provided to employees is recognized in the consolidated statement of operations based on the grant date fair value of the awards. The fair value of restricted stock units is determined by the grant date market price of our common shares. The fair value of stock options is determined on the grant date using a Monte Carlo simulation model. The determination of the grant date fair value of stock option awards granted is affected by a number of variables, including the fair value of the Company's common stock, the expected common stock price volatility over the life of the awards, the expected term of the stock option, risk-free interest rates and the expected dividend yield of the Company's common stock. Due to the Company's limited trading history since becoming a public company on June 7, 2021, the Company derived its volatility from the average historical stock volatilities of several peer public companies over a period equivalent to the expected term of the awards.

The compensation expense recognized for stock-based awards is net of estimated forfeitures and is recognized ratably over the service period of the awards. All income tax effects of stock-based awards are recognized in the consolidated statements of operations as awards vest or are settled. We classify stock-based compensation expense in selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses in the consolidated statement of operations.

Emerging Growth Company Election

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, and have elected to take advantage of the benefits of the extended transition period for new or revised financial accounting standards. We expect to continue to take advantage of the benefits of the extended transition period, although we may decide to early adopt such new or revised accounting standards to the extent permitted by such standards. We expect to use this extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and non-public companies until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an emerging growth company or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. This may make it difficult or impossible to compare our financial

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results with the financial results of another public company that is either not an emerging growth company or is an emerging growth company that has chosen not to take advantage of the extended transition period exemptions because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

In addition, we intend to rely on the other exemptions and reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act and compliance with applicable laws, if, as an emerging growth company, we rely on such exemptions, we are not required to, among other things: (a) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; (b) provide all of the compensation disclosures that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010; (c) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis); and (d) disclose certain executive compensation-related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the Chief Executive Officer’s compensation to median employee compensation.

We will remain an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act until the earliest of (a) December 31, 2026, (b) the last date of our fiscal year in which we had total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (c) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the previous three years.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 1 of notes to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recent accounting standards and pronouncements.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Interest Rate Sensitivity

We are exposed to risk from changes in interest rates primarily on borrowings due under our credit facility, which consists of (i) a $100.0 million term loan; (ii) a $50.0 million capital expenditure facility; (iii) a $230.0 million dollar revolving credit facility; and (iv) a $100.0 million delay draw term loan and bears interest rates based on LIBOR plus applicable margins.

Annually, we perform sensitivity analysis on our forecasted exposure to interest rates. This analysis assumes a hypothetical 100 basis point change in interest rates. For the year ended June 30, 2022, the effect of a hypothetical 100 basis point increase or decrease in overall interest rates would have changed our interest expense by approximately $1.3 million.

While we have not designated our interest rate swap agreements as cash-flow hedges, we have entered into interest rate swap agreements to mitigate our exposure to interest rate movements. See Note 10.

We had cash of $43.7 million as of year ended June 30, 2022, exclusive of restricted cash. Our cash is held in demand deposits and is not subject to market risk.

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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. and subsidiaries

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Vintage Wine Estates, Inc.(the “Company”) as of June 30, 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of June 30, 2022, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Cherry Bekaert LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2021.

Raleigh, North Carolina

September 13, 2022

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To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Vintage Wine Estates, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. (the “Company”) as of June 30, 2021, the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the Company as of June 30, 2021, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of the audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures to respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Moss Adams LLP

Santa Rosa, California

October 13, 2021

We served as the Company’s auditor from 2013 to 2021.

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CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share amounts and par value)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)