How to Start a Winery in California: Type 02 Fees From $155, Tasting Rights and $30 Direct Shipper Permit

If you want to start a winery in California, the license at the center of your plan is the Type 02 winegrower license issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). That license lets you produce wine and hold tastings. With add-on permits, it can also let you sell and ship wine to California consumers. This guide covers how to start a winery in California in the order most applicants take it, with the fees and rules as of October 29, 2026. It is informational content, not legal or tax advice.

What the Type 02 Winegrower License Covers

Three features of the Type 02 license shape your plan from the start.

• It is available year round. The September priority drawing covers only general licenses, so a Type 02 application does not depend on it. Do not plan around a drawing date.
• The annual fee depends on gallons produced. Your production estimate sets your fee tier, so be realistic about volume before you file.
• It supports tastings. Under Business and Professions Code 23356.1, a winegrower may hold tastings of wine it produced or bottled, or had produced and packaged for it, on or off the winery premises.

Materials and Information You Need Before You Apply

Pull these together before you file anything. Most of the steps below depend on one of them.

• A business name confirmed as available with the Secretary of State
• A registered agent in California and a California office address for the entity
• An annual production estimate in gallons, supported by a crush plan, vineyard acreage, or supply contracts for grapes or bulk wine
• The street address of the production and tasting premises, plus the zoning information for that parcel
• A floor plan for the tasting area, and a written decision on whether you will serve food
• A list of the wines you will pour, sell, and ship
• A business bank account in the entity name and a business insurance quote
• A federal employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS

Step-by-Step: How to Start a Winery Business in California

Step 1: Form your entity with the Secretary of State

Most wineries operate as an LLC or a corporation. An LLC files Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) for $70. A stock corporation files Articles of Incorporation for $100. File through bizfile Online at https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/. Online filings are normally processed within about 5 business days or less. Paper filings take 10 or more business days. Expedite options are 24-hour for $350, same-day for $750 (received by 9:30 a.m.), and 4-hour for $500 (drop-off only, precleared).

To hold a name while you finish the paperwork, reserve it for $10. The reservation lasts 60 days and cannot be renewed for consecutive periods. An LLC name must include “limited liability company,” “L.L.C.,” or “LLC.” “Limited” may be shortened to “Ltd.” and “company” to “Co.” The name cannot contain “bank,” “trust,” “trustee,” “incorporated,” “inc.,” “corporation,” or “corp.” Check availability at https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/name-availability.

California requires every LLC and corporation to keep an agent for service of process. The agent must be an individual who lives in California or a corporation holding a Corporations Code 1505 certificate. An LLC must also keep an office in California. That office does not need to be a place of business activity.

Calendar your ongoing filings now. An LLC files a Statement of Information (Form LLC-12) for $20. It is due within 90 days of filing the articles, then every two years during the six-month window ending on the last day of the anniversary month. A corporation files a Statement of Information (Form SI-550) for $25 every year. If an LLC misses this filing, the Franchise Tax Board assesses a $250 penalty after a Secretary of State notice.

Step 2: Confirm zoning and county use permits

Before you sign a lease or buy property, check with the county planning department. Counties set their own rules for tasting rooms, agricultural zoning, and events, and those rules vary. Ask whether tastings, retail sales, and events are allowed on the parcel, and whether a use permit is required. This guide does not state any county rule or fee, so get the answer in writing if you can.

Step 3: Register for taxes and local requirements

California has no general state business license. The Secretary of State issues none, and the CDTFA seller’s permit is not a business license. Your real requirements are the entity filing, your tax registrations, and whatever your city and activity require.

• CDTFA seller’s permit. Register with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration if you sell taxable goods, such as bottles or merchandise in the tasting room. The seller’s permit is free. The statewide base sales tax is 7.25%, and with district taxes, city rates run from 7.25% to 11.75%. The resale certificate has no required form. Start at https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/sales-use-tax.htm.
• Franchise tax. Every LLC organized or registered in 2024 through 2026 owes the $800 minimum annual franchise tax from its first year. An LLC whose first taxable year begins in 2027, 2028, or 2029 pays $400 in year one under RTC 17941(g)(2), so confirm the first-year amount with the Franchise Tax Board. The LLC fee is $900, $2,500, $6,000, or $11,790 once California-source total income reaches $250,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, or $5,000,000, respectively. A newly incorporated or qualified corporation or S corporation owes no $800 in its first taxable year. Corporations pay 8.84% corporate income tax, and S corporations pay 1.5% of net income with an $800 minimum.
• Employment Development Department. Register with the EDD once you have employees.
• Local business tax. Most cities charge a local business tax or registration certificate. Of the 483 California cities, 445 report revenue from one. There is no common formula, so ask your city clerk or finance office what applies at your address.
• Fictitious business name. If you will operate under a name other than your entity’s legal name, file a Fictitious Business Name Statement with the county clerk-recorder in the county of your principal place of business. File within 40 days of starting, and publish it in a newspaper once a week for four weeks. The statutory fee is $10 plus $2 for each additional name or owner under Business and Professions Code 17929, but counties charge more, and newspaper publication is a separate cost. The statement expires after five years, so calendar the renewal. Details are at https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/fictitious-business-names.

Step 4: Calculate your Type 02 fee

The annual Type 02 fee depends on the gallons you produce. Use your production estimate to find your tier.

Annual gallons produced	Annual fee
Up to 5,000	$155
5,001 to 20,000	$215
20,001 to 100,000	$425
100,001 to 200,000	$500
200,001 to 1,000,000	$705
Each additional million gallons or part of a million	$490 more

ABC fees rise 3.31% on January 1, 2027, so budget for the increase in your second year. The application fee is separate from the annual fee. ABC’s fee schedule lists $1,135 for the non-general category and a lower figure for a duplicate Type 02. Confirm on ABC’s fee schedule which category and amount apply to your filing before you send payment.

Step 5: File the ABC Type 02 application

File once your entity exists and your premises and production estimate are settled. You can apply at any time of year. Complete every section, match the entity name exactly to your Secretary of State filing, and list the premises address you will actually use. This guide does not state an ABC processing time, so ask ABC for current timing before you set a launch date.

Step 6: Plan your tastings within the rules

Under Business and Professions Code 23356.1, a Type 02 winegrower may hold tastings of wine it produced or bottled, or had produced and packaged for it, on or off the winery premises. Off-site events need care. At an off-site event sponsored by a private nonprofit organization, no wine may be sold or ordered on the spot. An order can be taken if the sale is completed at the winery. Build your event paperwork and staffing around these limits.

Step 7: Add the permits your sales model needs

Each sales channel may need its own ABC permit.

• Type 82 direct shipper permit, $30 a year. Needed to ship wine to California consumers.
• Type 79 certified farmers’ market permit, $155. For selling at certified farmers’ markets.
• Type 85 limited off-sale wine license, $490. For limited off-sale wine sales.

Request only what you will use in your first year. Confirm current forms and any timing with ABC.

Step 8: Get the food and drink rules right

Whether you need a county health permit depends on what you serve. Under Health and Safety Code 113789, premises set aside for wine tasting are not treated as a food facility when two conditions hold. First, no beverage is offered except bottled wine, beer, and prepackaged non-potentially-hazardous drinks. Second, no food is offered except crackers, pretzels, or prepackaged non-potentially-hazardous food. A tasting room that serves a menu is a food facility and needs a county health permit. Ask your county environmental health department for its permit fees and process, because this guide does not state them.

If you want to pour glasses of wine for drinking alongside a full restaurant, ask ABC which license fits before you open. A winery with an eating place at its production premises can offer to-go wine sales under Business and Professions Code 23401.5. AB 2663 extended that authority through December 31, 2029.

Step 9: Complete the federal steps

You also need a federal wine permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and approval for your wine labels. These federal steps are separate from ABC. This guide does not give a federal timeline, so plan label design and permit filing around your bottling schedule, and confirm each step directly with TTB.

Step 10: Staff and build out the space

Responsible Beverage Service certification applies to servers, so train everyone who pours. If you build out or remodel the tasting room, a contractor license threshold of $1,000 applies, so a project of $1,000 or more generally requires a licensed contractor. Confirm the rule with the Contractors State License Board before you hire anyone. If you hire employees, the state minimum wage is $16.90 in 2026 and $17.40 from January 1, 2027. That figure comes from a secondary source, so verify it before you set pay.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Waiting on a drawing. A Type 02 is available year round. The September priority drawing covers only general licenses.
• Guessing your volume. The fee tier depends on gallons, so revisit your estimate each year and keep production records.
• Serving a menu without a health permit. Food beyond crackers, pretzels, or prepackaged food, or drinks beyond bottled wine, beer, and prepackaged non-potentially-hazardous drinks, takes the tasting room outside the Health and Safety Code exemption.
• Selling on the spot at off-site nonprofit events. In that setting, you can take an order only if the sale is completed at the winery.
• Choosing a series LLC. California does not allow a domestic series LLC.
• Signing a lease before the county check. Zoning and use permits come first.
• Missing filings. An LLC that misses its Statement of Information faces a $250 penalty.
• Treating the seller’s permit as a business license. It is not one, and your city may still require a local business tax registration.
• Assuming the first-year franchise tax is always $800. The amount depends on when your LLC was organized or first taxable year begins, so confirm with the Franchise Tax Board.

What Results to Expect

Following these steps in order may help you move from an entity filing to a licensed tasting room with fewer surprises, and it may reduce back-and-forth with agencies. No agency guarantees a timeline, an approval, or a specific outcome. Your costs and timing depend on your county, your city, your production volume, and your federal filings.

Official Resources

• California Secretary of State, Business Programs Division: https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs
• bizfile Online: https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/
• Business entity search: https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business
• California Department of Tax and Fee Administration: https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/
• California Small Business Development Center network: https://californiasbdc.org/
• Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control: confirm the Type 02 fee schedule and application forms on the agency’s official website

This article is informational content, not legal or tax advice. Rules, fees, and deadlines change. Confirm each figure with the agency named before you file or pay. Talk to a qualified California attorney and a CPA before choosing an entity or structuring ownership, especially if you plan multiple locations, outside investors, or a restaurant.