Winery Licenses

A domestic winery is any winery located in Montana. (16-3-411, MCA)

A domestic winery license lets you:

• Import in bulk, bottle, produce, blend, store, transport, or export your wine
• Sell your wine at wholesale to wine distributors
• Sell and deliver up to 4,500 cases per year of your wine to retailers, including agency liquor stores.
• Sell your wine at retail directly to your customers at your winery
• Provide your wine for consumption at your winery for a fee or free of charge
• Apply to obtain up to 12 special permits per calendar to provide wine for on-premises consumption at special events. You may also sell bottles of wine you produce in original packaging to attendees of your special event.
• You may NOT import "shiners" (already bottled unlabeled product). You MUST bottle your own product.

You may apply for a domestic winery license using the Domestic Winery License Application - Form DWL (PDF).

A foreign winery is a winery located outside Montana and may only ship to licensed table wine distributors in Montana and direct to consumers (this does not include licensed retailers) with a direct shipment endorsement.

You may apply for a foreign winery license using the Montana Foreign Winery or Importer Registration (Form FWIR) in our TransAction Portal (TAP).

An out-of-state winery is located outside Montana and may delivery directly to licensed retailers in Montana using their own equipment; contract with a common carrier to ship to licensed wine distributors; or may contract with a common carrier to ship the winery's wine to licensed retailers and direct to consumers with a direct shipping endorsement.

You may apply for an out-of-state winery license using the Out-of-State Winery License Application (Form FWIR) in our TransAction Portal (TAP).

• New License Fee: $400
• Application Processing Fee: $200
• Renewal Fee: $200

Note: The application processing fee only applies for original applications and is not applied to renewals. Domestic and Out-of-State Winery licenses are renewed on June 30 each year.

A foreign winery importer's registration fees are based on how many cases of wine they ship to Montana.

Renewal: Foreign Winery Importer registration is renewed on September 30 each year.

All wineries selling and distributing wine in Montana must report wine sales and pay winery taxes.

All domestic winery locations must follow certain rules, including:

• Your business must be recognizable as a winery.
• Your business must be physically separated from any other alcoholic beverage business unless you have applied for and been approved for an on-premises retail license to be stacked/co-located at your winery's premises.
• You may not operate under a concession agreement.
• You may not let customers buy alcohol through automatic vending machines or self-service devices.
• You must keep unauthorized people from your manufacturing area.
• You must have a designated sample room, or an approved on-premises retail license stacked/co-located at your winery's premises in order to sell wine directly to the public. You may include a deck or patio if it is enclosed and only accessible from the on-premises consumption area.
• You may only sell and serve wine in the designated areas.