Is it possible to make your garage a legal winery?

For years (like everyone else who loves wine) I have been toying with the idea of starting my own tiny winery. The big thing holding me back is being able to find affordable space that I can legally produce wine at. I’ve looked through the East Bay and Central Valley and can’t find any space that makes economic sense for a small start up.

I recently read in Sevenfifty The Wine Mavericks That Heralded a New Generation at U.C. Davis | SevenFifty Daily about a label in Orinda, CA called Les Lunes who produces in a basement. This made me think its possible, but I have no idea where to start.

I know there were changes in the TTB to make it easier for small labels to get started without a bond. But how do you get approval and from whom to use your garage?

It’s very tricky. Assuming you have an eligible zoning, you can get a so called Conditional Use Permit. It costs about $5-10K to apply, it takes up to 6 months and there is no guarantee you will be approved. Depending on where you live, residential zoning may or may not be eligible for a CUP. Almost certainly in cities or congested areas, it isn’t. I live in Los Angeles, and here it’s impossible. For a Commercially zoned property, you might be able to, but even that is tricky. Unfortunately, winemaking is equated to alcohol manufacturing and demands the absolute highest industrial zoning. Just to give you some perspective from here in LA County, they demand the same zoning from a winery (M3) that they do for an oil refinery or waste material recycling. That’s the reality. On top of that, you ill have to deal with drains, separators, sinks from Dept of Health etc as well.

Look for a custom crush opportunity with an existing winery. You would become an alternate producer and need to have a written agreement. You would rent space and equipment and perhaps winemaking help from the existing winery. If you are making less than a 100 gallons and not selling it, the rules are not prohibitive. You would need some legal advice for the non commercial making of wine. There are a number of law firms in northern CA that can help you.

Actually if you make wine at home for personal use there are no legal issues or permitting needed - as long as volume is <200 gal per family per year. Offering for sale is where all the red tape comes in [cheers.gif]

That would be four barrels or about 90+ cases. More than enough for one year’s consumption. You could give it to your friends and local charities. And enter it in home winemaker wine competitions. May of us ITB started as home winemakers.

Thank you for your responses and insights! I’ll look into the conditional use permit, that idea sounds the easiest. I was taking enology classes at Las Positas College and one of the professors there told me conditional use was now illegal. That info got me off track, but now I’ll revisit.

I think its 100 gallons per legal drinking age adult [drinkers.gif] I’ve made 80+ cases a year, but had to cut back on production as two of the guys who helped drink the wine moved out of state.

https://www.ttb.gov/wine/wine-faqs?id=2675

The customers who make wine at the center must be qualified to produce wine for personal or family use under federal, State and local rules. If State and local rules impose different requirements or limitations than the federal rules noted here, the stricter rules and limits should be applied. Under Federal law, any adult may, without payment of tax, produce wine for personal or family use under regulations in 27 CFR 24.75, which provide the following:

The individual must follow applicable State and local laws.
The individual must be 18 years of age or the legal age to purchase wine in the locality whichever is older.
The individual may produce, without payment of tax, per household, up to 100 gallons of wine per calendar year if there is one adult residing in the household, or 200 gallons if there are two or more adults residing in the household.
The individual may remove wine from the place where it is made for personal or family use, including use in contests or tasting.
The individual may not produce wine for sale or offer wine for sale.