Winery License for Texas

[TwistedVines]

Hello, I have been making wine as a hobby for a couple of years and I have friends and family would would like to purchase my wine. I have tried to research what a winery license “G” in Texas entails but I can’t find much on it other than the price. Has anyone gone through the process of applying and getting approved for a small winery in Texas?

 

[NorCal]

There are federal, state, county and city considerations. A lot of navigation to do, if you are serious.

 

[cmason1957]

Best place to start might be to contact your local Ag Offices. They can at least point you to the lawyers in your area that have helped others. If they can't help, then local wineries probably can tell you who helped them navigate the systems to get licensed. From what I understand, it isn't something you want to try on your own.

 

[user 36973]

The shortest answer to the question is to reach out the Texas ABC (link) and inquire about the steps. The typical process for most states is to get your TTB federal permit before you can apply for the local permit. However, you'll want to ensure that your winery layout and operational plans are in compliance with the state requirements or you would have to amend your TTB application. There may be bond requirements with the state.

Be aware of the subsequent requirements from being permitted to operate including insurance with liquor liability, operating in a correctly zoned area of the county, registration with the FDA, inspections by the county health department, and periodic records inspections from federal and state authorities.

The TTB and state do not distinguish between the largest and smallest wineries, though there is more lenience often offered to the smaller ones at the discretion of the inspecting officer. Large wineries can afford to hire compliance specialists while the small wineries must sort through regulations on their own and manage mistakes on their own.

It is good that you are not trying to sell your wine to friends/family without the correct permits, but you may find that the costs and trouble of getting the proper permits are not worth the effort.

 

[Scooter68]

I took a quick look on the Texas site for licensing/permitting. They have courses that they recommend/require for obtaining a permit. As stated, the process is pretty involved and potentially costly depending on how much you expect to sell. Keep in mind that some costs are recurring as well as possible inspections perhaps even unannounced ones. Failing inspections can have some nasty repercussions in some states so be sure before you launch down that path. I'm guessing, based on comments made her a 2-3 years ago, that it's very hard to earn enough to cover your costs on a small winery output.

 

[VinesnBines]

One thing you have to remember is the licensing is not retroactive. Wine that is already made or in the process is not commercial. You can only legally sell wine that is made post licensing.

Trade and barter may be the easiest and fastest plan. If these are friends and family, perhaps they will buy some bottles or other supplies in trade. Or if you are making kits, they might buy a kit for your production and they get a case... Just a few ideas.

 

[cmason1957]

I got my law license the same place most others on this site did (and that would be nowhere), so big grain of salt here. But from what I understand trade and/or barter are both considered illegal by the TTB. Folks can buy the kit, you make the wine and they get some amount of it, but you can't require that they purchase bottles, sugar, fruit, ... and give them wine in return. The policy I go buy, is you can have any amount of wine (within reason) for nothing, nada, zilch. There is no quid pro quo.

 

[VinesnBines]

But from what I understand trade and/or barter are both considered illegal by the TTB. Folks can buy the kit, you make the wine and they get some amount of it, but you can't require that they purchase bottles, sugar, fruit, ... and give them wine in return. The policy I go buy, is you can have any amount of wine (within reason) for nothing, nada, zilch. There is no quid pro quo.

I'll admit I'm not well versed in TTB regulations cmason1957 is correct, you can't require anything. The offer to make a kit for friends and family is about as far as you can go. You can also make wine with friends and family. Certainly you can give wine away but I think there are limits to that per the TTB.

 

[DonnyDarko19]

Of course, each state has different laws, but this guy in NY has (or had) a winery operation out of his apartment that was totally legal (I think he may have upgraded to an actual licensed winery, but not 100% sure). Everything he did fell under the rules for home winemaking, but people would buy memberships that are basically "shares" of the wine he makes. I think there are different levels of memberships that would entitle the "share holder" to a certain amount of finished wine from each batch they pitched in for. That offset some costs for supplies and ingredients. He even used some of the money to help pay for his rent since the space was used to make the wine. I know Texas is more stringent when it comes to booze, but might be something to look into. Here's the link to a story about this dude and you can Google him and his winery to find more articles.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new...ery-club-nyc-apartment-winery-matt-baldassano

 

[Raptor99]

In addition to the TTB, each state has its own laws.

 

[Raptor99]

I found a good resource here: Homebrewing Statues

The button to show individual state laws isn't working for some reason. Hopefully they will fix their website soon. Here is the link for Texas:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/Texas/
You can find your state by replacing Texas in the url above with the name of your state. if there is a space in your state name put in a dash instead like this: New-Jersey. Since the button is broken, that is the only way I can find right now to access their summary of state laws.

 

[Don77469]

Hello, I have been making wine as a hobby for a couple of years and I have friends and family would would like to purchase my wine. I have tried to research what a winery license “G” in Texas entails but I can’t find much on it other than the price. Has anyone gone through the process of applying and getting approved for a small winery in Texas?

Hi, I am thinking of doing same…I live in Jefferson, Tx…reach out and maybe we can both go through process .. maybe use same lawyer, etc

 

[winemaker81]

You can find your state by replacing Texas in the url above with the name of your state. if there is a space in your state name put in a dash instead like this: New-Jersey. Since the button is broken, that is the only way I can find right now to access their summary of state laws.

The button is now working on the site.

The NC Wine site has a page devoted to information for starting a winery in NC. While not directly useful for TX, it may provide ideas of what may be required. There is information beyond just permitting, including creating a business plan, designing the winery, etc.

https://www.ncwine.org/starting-a-commercial-winery
I searched for "start winery in texas" and found 4 links that may be applicable.