APyS bundles e-labels into their wine ERP system. Glasswise offers e-labels independently. Here is why that difference matters for your winery.
David Wippel
Founder of Glasswise
APyS by soppe + partner is an established wine ERP with nearly 40 years of experience. It covers everything from the certified Kellerbuch (cellar book) to order management, accounting, and production planning, split across more than 20 modules. When EU labeling rules took effect in December 2023, they added an e-label module that generates the mandatory information from your ERP data.
Glasswise is a standalone e-label and wine data platform. It works independently of any ERP and integrates with the tools you already use.
This comparison turns on a different question: should your e-labels be tied to your ERP, or run independently?
Disclosure: This article is written by the Glasswise team.
When your e-labels are a module inside your ERP, a few things follow. They hang on your ERP contract: switch your wine management software and the e-labels move with it, because every QR code on every bottle in circulation points to your ERP provider's domain. Switching then means either reprinting or hoping the old provider keeps the redirects running.
You also cannot judge the e-label on its own merits. You chose APyS for the Kellerbuch or the order management, and the e-label came bundled in. The real question is whether that bundled label is actually the best one for your brand.
And the QR codes point at the ERP provider's domain. APyS e-labels live on elabel.apys.de, a proprietary address owned by that provider, so leave APyS and those URLs can go dark. Glasswise uses GS1 Digital Link instead, an open-standard identity that belongs to your wine. Your QR codes carry a wine-long guarantee, and we forward to any new destination even after cancellation.
Fair is fair, APyS brings real strengths. Its ERP integration is tight, so your wine data from the Kellerbuch flows straight into the e-label with nothing to re-enter. It is single-vendor simple: one contract, one login, one system. It has nearly 40 years in wine behind it, so they know how a winery runs. And the e-label renders the mandatory nutrition and ingredient facts in around two dozen European languages.
If you already run APyS and you are happy with the whole setup, the bundled e-label is the path of least resistance.
Glasswise runs alongside any ERP, cellar book, or wine management system, so your e-labels depend on no single vendor. Switch your ERP tomorrow and they keep working. Where the APyS e-label is a standard template generated from ERP data, a Glasswise e-label is yours to design around your brand: your colors, typography, imagery, and story.
"Scan with Glasswise" sends your customers from the e-label to your website or shop, turning the mandatory QR code into a marketing channel. Because Glasswise builds on open GS1 standards, the identity on the bottle belongs to you and survives a change of provider. Your QR codes keep working for good, too: even after you cancel, we hold the redirect open, so you are never locked in. And your wine data stays producer-verified and exportable, so you decide where it goes.
An e-label is a QR code on printed bottles that sit in the trade for years. If you cancel a provider and the forwarding stops, the code leads nowhere and you fall out of labeling compliance. Glasswise guarantees the redirect even after your contract ends, so every bottle in circulation stays compliant.
| Criterion | APyS E-Label | Glasswise |
|---|---|---|
| How you get it | Module inside the APyS ERP | Standalone, ERP-independent |
| Custom brand design | Standard template from ERP data | Fully customizable to your brand |
| Independent of ERP | No (requires APyS) | Yes (works with any system) |
| URL structure | Proprietary address on elabel.apys.de | GS1 Digital Link, open standard |
| Forwarding after cancellation | Tied to the APyS contract | Wine-long guarantee, assured |
| Marketing redirect | No | Yes (Scan with Glasswise) |
| Wine data | Via the ERP | Standalone platform + ERP integration |
| Multilingual mandatory data | Yes | Yes |
It is not about "APyS or Glasswise?" for your whole wine operation. APyS is an ERP, Glasswise is an e-label and data platform, and the two can run side by side. The question that matters is different: do you want your e-labels tied to your ERP vendor, or independent?
If you switch ERPs in five years, your Glasswise e-labels and QR codes keep working. If your e-labels live inside APyS, you face a migration problem for every bottle in circulation.
You set your wines up in Glasswise, export your product, ingredient, and nutrition data from APyS, and import it with us. New bottlings get a QR code on GS1 Digital Link that belongs to you. Existing APyS bottles keep working while your APyS access stays active. Setup takes a few days.
Here is how it goes:
This move is the last of its kind. Because the identity is yours afterward, any future change of provider costs you zero reprints.
You can run Glasswise alongside APyS. Your wine data stays in APyS for cellar management and accounting. Your e-labels live in Glasswise for brand presentation and compliance. The two systems complement each other.
Take a look at Glasswise or read our switching guide if you want to migrate existing labels.
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