Winery Permits in Illinois: Every License You Need

Illinois wine runs from Shawnee Hills to the Wisconsin border

Illinois has roughly 110 to 130 licensed wineries and produces around 600,000 to 800,000 gallons of wine per year — modest by Napa or Finger Lakes standards, but the industry has tripled in the last twenty years. The Shawnee Hills AVA in deep southern Illinois (established in 2006, the state's first federally recognized AVA) accounts for the largest cluster, with Norton, Chambourcin, Vignoles, Traminette, and Chardonel as the workhorse hybrids. The Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA — the largest AVA in the country by area, spanning parts of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota — covers the northwestern hills around Galena and the Jo Daviess County wineries. Central Illinois farm wineries, a small but growing cluster around the Chicago suburbs, and a handful of urban "garage" wineries inside Chicago round out the state.

A new Illinois winery typically needs 10 to 13 separate permits across federal, state, county, and municipal agencies before the first bottle leaves the property. The Illinois Liquor Control Commission (ILCC) runs a tiered winery license framework that is friendlier than most Midwest states for small producers, but the county zoning patchwork — especially in the Shawnee Hills, where the wineries are concentrated in conservative rural counties — adds a layer that surprises operators moving in from outside Illinois. Here is the full list, agency by agency.

1. TTB Federal Basic Permit and Bonded Wine Premises

Every commercial winery in the United States needs a Federal Basic Permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and must operate as a Bonded Wine Premises (or Bonded Wine Cellar, depending on activity). File Form TTB F 5120.25 (Application to Establish and Operate Wine Premises) and Form TTB F 5100.24 (Application for Basic Permit Under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act). Filing is free. Review currently runs 90 to 180 days for a clean Illinois application.

The application package includes detailed premises diagrams, complete bonded-area description, ownership disclosures for every principal with 10% or more interest, source-of-funds documentation, and a signing officer fingerprint card for each principal. Under the Craft Beverage Modernization Act, most small Illinois wineries are exempt from the federal wine bond, but you still need the Basic Permit on file before producing a single gallon. TTB assigns a Wine Premises number that appears on every federal excise filing, every COLA label approval, and every transfer-in-bond record for the life of the operation.

One Illinois-specific note: TTB will not issue a Basic Permit until the state-level Illinois winery license is at least pending. Coordinate the federal and state applications so the TTB review is wrapping up around the time the ILCC Manufacturer's License is approved. Most Illinois operators file the TTB application first because federal review is the longer of the two, then file the ILCC application 30 to 60 days later.

2. TTB COLA (Certificate of Label Approval)

Every wine label sold in interstate commerce needs a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) under 27 CFR Part 4. File through TTB's COLAs Online system. Filing is free. Review currently runs 15 to 45 days per label.

For Illinois wineries selling only within Illinois, the COLA waiver under 27 CFR 4.50(b) applies, but the moment you ship a single bottle across state lines, every SKU needs an approved COLA. Illinois wineries selling under the Shawnee Hills AVA or the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA need to satisfy the 85% in-AVA grape sourcing rule (and 75% in-Illinois for the "Illinois" state designation). The mandatory health warning, government warning, and sulfite disclosure rules apply on every label.

3. Illinois Liquor Control Commission — Winery (Manufacturer) License

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission (ILCC) issues the state-level winery license. Illinois uses a tiered structure under the Illinois Liquor Control Act of 1934 (235 ILCS 5/) that scales the privileges and the fee with the production volume:

First-Class Wine Manufacturer's License: Production cap of 50,000 gallons per year. Annual fee $600. Includes on-premises tasting, retail sales of the winery's own product for off-premises consumption, and limited self-distribution privileges. By far the most common winery license in Illinois — roughly 90% of state wineries hold this class.
Second-Class Wine Manufacturer's License: Production cap of 250,000 gallons per year. Annual fee $1,200. Same on-premises and self-distribution privileges as First-Class.
Wine Manufacturer's License (no class designation): Above 250,000 gallons per year. Annual fee $2,400. Required to use a licensed Illinois distributor for any sales outside the winery's own premises.
Winery Shipper's License: Required for any out-of-state winery shipping direct-to-consumer (DTC) into Illinois, and also held by in-state wineries as a layer of permission. Annual fee $350 (under 250,000 gallons) or $1,000 (250,000+ gallons). DTC volume capped at 12 cases per Illinois household per year.
Wine-Maker's Premises License: Allows an Illinois winery to operate up to two additional retail/tasting locations away from the production facility. Annual fee $100 per off-site location.

The First-Class Wine Manufacturer's License is the workhorse. It bundles privileges that other states charge separately for: on-premises tasting, on-premises sales by the bottle and by the glass, on-premises retail sales of the winery's own product for off-premises consumption, self-distribution to retailers and restaurants without going through a wholesaler (up to 5,000 gallons per year self-distributed), direct shipping to consumers within Illinois (under the Winery Shipper's License layer), and the right to operate up to two off-site Wine-Maker's Premises (typically tasting rooms in tourist towns like Galena or Carbondale). The 5,000-gallon self-distribution privilege alone is worth tens of thousands of dollars per year compared to wholesaler-only states.

ILCC processing for a First-Class Wine Manufacturer's License runs 90 to 180 days for a clean application. The Personal Subsistence Form for every principal, the Site Plan, the lease or deed for the production premises, the local-government approval letter (required for every Illinois liquor license — see Section 6 below), the bond ($500 surety bond, separate from the federal wine bond), and the standardized financial disclosure all have to be exact. Errors trigger an ILCC deficiency letter that resets the clock. The license is then renewed annually on the license anniversary date.

4. Illinois Department of Revenue — Sales Tax and Liquor Gallonage Tax

Illinois wineries register with the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) for at least two tax accounts:

Illinois Business Authorization (sales tax, ROT): Required for tasting room sales, merchandise sales, and DTC shipments to Illinois residents. State sales tax (Retailers' Occupation Tax) is 6.25%, plus county and municipal local tax that ranges from 0% to 4.75% on top. Most Shawnee Hills wineries (Union, Johnson, Jackson, Williamson Counties) collect 7.25% to 8.25%. Galena/Jo Daviess area wineries collect 7.5%. Chicago urban wineries collect 10.25% (the highest combined rate in the state). Returns due monthly (Form ST-1) or quarterly depending on volume.
Illinois Liquor Gallonage Tax: Filed monthly by the 15th of the following month using Form RL-26 (Liquor Revenue Return). Illinois excise rates under 235 ILCS 5/8-1:

Wine Type	Illinois Excise Rate
Wine 14% ABV or less	$1.39 per gallon
Wine 14% to 20% ABV	$1.39 per gallon
Wine over 20% ABV (fortified)	$8.55 per gallon (taxed as spirits)

At $1.39 per gallon, Illinois's wine excise rate is on the higher end of the Midwest — well above Michigan ($0.51), Wisconsin ($0.25), and Indiana ($0.47), and several times higher than California ($0.20) or Texas ($0.204). The First-Class Manufacturer's License does not exempt the gallonage tax (unlike some other states' farm-winery carve-outs). Wineries that ship DTC to consumers in other states also register, collect, and remit sales and excise tax in those destination states under the post-Wayfair and post-Granholm DTC framework. The Cook County Liquor Tax adds another $0.45 per gallon on wine sold or delivered into Cook County, and the City of Chicago Liquor Tax adds another $0.36 per gallon on wine sold or delivered inside the city limits — so a Chicago urban winery effectively pays $2.20 per gallon in stacked state-county-city wine excise before sales tax.

5. Local zoning, Special Use Permit, and Site Plan Review

Every Illinois winery operates under a county or municipal zoning approval. Outside the City of Chicago, zoning is a county-by-county and township-by-township patchwork, and the rules vary dramatically by region:

Shawnee Hills (Union, Johnson, Jackson, Williamson, Pope, Hardin, Saline, Massac Counties): Most counties allow wineries by right in Agricultural districts under the Illinois Agricultural Areas Conservation and Protection Act, but tasting rooms with food service or event space require a Special Use Permit. Fees $200 to $1,500. Processing 2 to 6 months. Some counties (Union County, the heart of the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail) have winery-friendly ordinances; others (more conservative rural townships) treat tasting rooms as nonconforming uses and require public hearings that can drag on for a year.
Galena / Jo Daviess County: County zoning allows wineries in A-1 Agricultural districts with a Conditional Use Permit. Fees $300 to $2,000. Processing 3 to 9 months. Galena itself sits in a National Historic District, so any tasting room inside the city limits faces an additional Historic Preservation Commission review.
Central Illinois farm wineries (Sangamon, Macon, McLean, Champaign Counties): Mostly A-1 Agricultural zoning with Special Use Permit for tasting room. Fees $250 to $1,500. Processing 2 to 6 months.
Chicago suburbs (Kane, McHenry, Lake, DuPage, Will Counties): Mix of A-1 Agricultural and R-1 Estate Residential. Winery tasting rooms typically require Special Use Permit and Site Plan Review. Fees $1,500 to $7,500. Processing 6 to 12 months. Larger lot-size minimums and stricter parking and traffic requirements than downstate.
City of Chicago: Urban industrial zoning required for wine production. M1, M2, or M3 manufacturing districts. Most Chicago wineries are small urban "garage" wineries in M1 districts on the West Side or in industrial corridors. Fees $3,000 to $10,000. Processing 6 to 14 months. Chicago Department of Planning and Development plus Department of Buildings plus a Special Use Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals if the tasting room sits in a mixed-use district.

The zoning approval dictates the operational envelope: maximum production gallons per year, tasting-room hours, allowable on-premises consumption, number of marketing events per year, wedding-event allowance (a contentious topic in several Shawnee Hills counties), food service permissions, parking minimums, signage standards, and septic or sewer connection requirements. Material changes require an amendment, which is its own multi-month process.

6. Local liquor commissioner — Local Liquor License

Illinois is unusual: every liquor license under the ILCC also requires a separate Local Liquor License from the local liquor commissioner (typically the mayor in incorporated municipalities, the county board chair in unincorporated areas). Without the local license, the state ILCC license cannot issue. This is the single most-missed step for out-of-state operators who assume the ILCC license is sufficient on its own.

The local liquor license process varies by municipality but usually requires: a separate local liquor license application, a local fingerprint and background check for every principal, a public notice posted at the property for 14 to 30 days, a public hearing before the local liquor commissioner, proof of dram-shop insurance, and a local license fee that ranges from $100 (small rural townships) to $4,400 (City of Chicago Class A Liquor License). The local license must be renewed annually, typically on May 1 (the standard Illinois liquor-license year start date), and the renewal fee must be paid before the local license expires or the state ILCC license is also suspended.

Some municipalities and counties also impose a quota on the number of liquor licenses available. The City of Chicago, for example, maintains a complex moratorium system on packaged-goods and tavern licenses by precinct, and several Shawnee Hills townships limit the total number of winery licenses per square mile. Check the local quota before signing the lease or closing on the land — a quota denial can kill the entire project regardless of how clean the ILCC and TTB applications are.

7. Illinois Building Code — Building Permit and Certificate of Occupancy

Every new winery building, every tasting-room buildout, every bottling-line addition needs Illinois Building Code approvals through the county or municipal building department. The biggest items:

Building Permit: Required for any new structure or material modification. Fees scale with project valuation, typically 0.8% to 2.0% of construction cost in Illinois jurisdictions plus plan-check fees. Plan check runs 6 to 16 weeks. Illinois sits in Climate Zones 4 and 5, which require strict insulation, air sealing, and energy code compliance under the Illinois Energy Conservation Code.
Certificate of Occupancy (CO): Issued at the end of construction once all final inspections pass. No CO means no legal operation. The CO carries an Occupancy Group classification (typically A-2 for tasting rooms with food service, F-1 or F-2 for production buildings). For broader detail on the CO process, see our complete Certificate of Occupancy guide.
State Fire Marshal review: Required for the tasting room as a Place of Assembly if occupancy exceeds 50 people. Annual operating permit required after CO issuance. The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal also regulates above-ground and below-ground tanks (relevant for some larger wineries with bulk wine or fuel tanks).
Illinois Capital Development Board variance: Required if any portion of the project cannot meet the state-adopted code as written. Adds 3 to 9 months.

8. Health, septic, and water permits

If the winery operates a tasting room with food service, additional permits come into play:

Local Public Health Department Food Service Sanitation Permit: Required for tasting rooms offering food service. Annual fees $150 to $900 depending on county and facility type. Each Illinois county or multi-county health district runs its own program under the Illinois Food Service Sanitation Code. For broader detail on what county health inspectors check, see our health department inspection guide.
Illinois Food Service Sanitation Manager Certification (FSSMC): Required for at least one supervisor per food service location. ANSI-accredited course plus exam, $100 to $150. Renewed every 5 years. See our food handler permit guide for the full breakdown.
Septic system permit (rural wineries): Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) or the local health department issues septic permits under the Illinois Private Sewage Disposal Code. Wine production generates significant process water (4 to 7 gallons per gallon of wine), so most rural wineries need a commercial septic system sized for production wastewater, not residential flow. Engineering and installation $15,000 to $60,000 in southern Illinois; $25,000 to $80,000 in the Chicago suburbs where lot sizes and percolation tests get stricter.
Illinois EPA Water Pollution Control Permit: Required for wineries discharging more than 1,500 gallons per day of process water to a surface water or high-volume groundwater source. Most small wineries are below this threshold, but mid-sized production facilities (10,000+ gallons annual production) regularly trip the threshold. Permit fee $200 to $2,000 plus engineering.
Illinois EPA NPDES Permit: Required for any surface-water discharge of crush water, sanitation water, or tank-washing water. Annual fees $500 to $3,500.

9. Illinois Secretary of State, federal, and labor registrations

Baseline business registrations every Illinois winery completes:

Federal EIN: Free, instant online application at IRS.gov. Required for the TTB Basic Permit, ILCC license, payroll, and banking.
Illinois Secretary of State entity registration: LLC filed at ilsos.gov for a $150 filing fee, Corporation for $150. Illinois LLCs file an Annual Report each year on the first day of the LLC's anniversary month, $75 annual fee. Illinois Corporations file an Annual Report each year, $75 minimum plus franchise tax (Illinois is in the middle of a multi-year franchise tax phase-out).
Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) registration: Once you hire your first employee, register with IDES for state unemployment insurance. New employer rate is approximately 3.95% on the first $13,590 of each employee's wages (subject to annual adjustment). Quarterly returns due by the end of the month after each quarter.
Illinois Workers' Compensation Insurance: Illinois Workers' Compensation Act requires coverage for every employer with 1 or more employees. Winery workers fall under National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) classification code 2156 (Winery), with base rates of roughly $1.50 to $4.00 per $100 of payroll in Illinois.

Estimated total Illinois winery startup permit cost

A typical small Shawnee Hills or Galena winery (5,000 to 15,000 gallons/year, tasting room seating 30-50, no full restaurant) will incur the following first-year regulatory costs:

Federal TTB Basic Permit and Bonded Wine Premises: Free (fingerprints and background checks ~$100 per principal)
TTB COLA filings: Free (consultant time $200-$500 per label if outsourced)
ILCC First-Class Wine Manufacturer's License: $600 annual
ILCC Winery Shipper's License: $350 annual
$500 ILCC surety bond: $50-$150 annual premium
Local Liquor License (municipal or county): $100-$1,500 annual
Illinois Business Authorization (sales tax): Free
Illinois Liquor Gallonage Tax registration: Free
County Special Use Permit + Site Plan Review: $200-$7,500 one-time depending on county (Chicago suburbs are the high end)
Building Permit + Certificate of Occupancy: $10,000-$120,000+ depending on scope
State Fire Marshal Place of Assembly permit: $100-$400 annual
Local Food Service Sanitation Permit (if food service): $150-$900 first year
Septic system (if rural): $15,000-$80,000 one-time
Illinois EPA permits (where applicable): $200-$3,500 first year
Illinois Secretary of State LLC filing + Annual Report: $225 first year
Workers' compensation insurance: $2,500-$10,000 first year
Commercial general liability + liquor liability + product liability + property: $10,000-$30,000 first year
Federal EIN: Free

Total first-year permits, fees, and insurance for a small Illinois winery: roughly $30,000 to $250,000+, before equipment, land, vineyard, buildout, payroll, or inventory. The wide range reflects the spread between a small Shawnee Hills farm winery using an existing on-site septic system (low end) and a Chicago suburban winery with a full commercial buildout, advanced septic, and a full-service kitchen (high end). The Cook County and City of Chicago stacked liquor taxes also push Chicago-area wineries toward Shawnee Hills or Galena production facilities with Chicago tasting-room satellites operating under the Wine-Maker's Premises License.

Renewal dates you need to track

Illinois winery licenses run on a mix of cycles. The annual ILCC renewal, the annual Local Liquor License renewal, and the monthly RL-26 gallonage tax return are the three dominant rhythms:

Federal TTB Basic Permit: Permanent, but Form TTB F 5120.17 Report of Wine Premises Operations due monthly. Federal excise tax (Form TTB F 5000.24) due semi-monthly or quarterly depending on volume.
ILCC Wine Manufacturer's License: Annual term, renewed by the license anniversary date (most Illinois liquor licenses renew on the same calendar cycle starting May 1, but winery licenses can also follow the original issue date). Renewal notice arrives 60 to 90 days prior. Late filing carries an administrative late fee and immediate suspension if the renewal isn't filed before the term expires. Operating with a lapsed ILCC license is a Class A misdemeanor under 235 ILCS 5/10-1 and grounds for fine, suspension, or permanent revocation.
ILCC Winery Shipper's License: Annual, by anniversary date.
Local Liquor License: Annual, typically May 1 in most Illinois municipalities. Some jurisdictions follow a calendar-year cycle (January 1) or a fiscal-year cycle. Confirm with the local liquor commissioner.
Illinois Sales Tax (Form ST-1): Monthly, due by the 20th of the following month. Quarterly filers due April 20, July 20, October 20, January 20. Annual filers due January 20.
Illinois Liquor Gallonage Tax (Form RL-26): Monthly, due by the 15th of the following month.
Illinois Secretary of State Annual Report: Annual, due on the first day of the LLC's anniversary month.
IDES Unemployment Insurance: Quarterly, due by the end of the month after each quarter.
Local Food Service Sanitation Permit (if applicable): Annual.
State Fire Marshal Place of Assembly permit: Annual.
Illinois EPA NPDES Permit: 5-year permit cycle with annual self-monitoring reports.
Workers' compensation policy: Annual, by policy effective date.
Commercial insurance policies: Annual, often staggered across multiple carriers.

The annual Local Liquor License renewal is the single most-missed deadline for Illinois winery operators. Many owners file the original ILCC and local licenses in the same week of year one and then quietly forget that the local license is a separate annual filing — and the local liquor commissioner's office usually does not send the same kind of formal renewal notice that the ILCC does. The monthly RL-26 gallonage tax return is the second most-missed, especially in the first year of operation. The annual Illinois Secretary of State LLC Annual Report is the third most-missed; many operators assume the $75 fee is automatic and skip the filing entirely, eventually triggering administrative dissolution of the LLC. For broader Illinois business license context, see how to get a business license in Illinois and business license renewal fees by state.

Check your full Illinois winery permit list

Use the free permit checker to see every permit your Illinois winery needs. Pick your county or city, select winery as the business type, and get the full list with fees, deadlines, and links to TTB, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, the Illinois Department of Revenue, your county zoning department, your county or municipal building department, the Illinois EPA, your county or multi-county health department, the Illinois Secretary of State, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, and the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission.

Already operating? Our California winery permits guide, Texas winery permits guide, Florida winery permits guide, and New York winery permits guide cover the regulatory peers on the federal TTB side. The Illinois brewery side is covered in our Illinois brewery permits guide for the fermentation and tasting-room overlaps. The Illinois restaurant side is covered in Illinois restaurant permits for wineries planning a tasting-room kitchen. The broader Illinois alcohol licensing framework is covered in how to get an Illinois liquor license and Illinois liquor license cost. The federal TTB Basic Permit that runs 3 to 6 months, the ILCC First-Class Wine Manufacturer's License that runs 3 to 6 months, the Local Liquor License public hearing that runs 1 to 3 months, the county Special Use Permit that runs 2 to 12 months (Chicago suburbs are the high end), the building department Certificate of Occupancy that runs 4 to 10 months, and the Illinois EPA NPDES permit (where applicable) that runs 4 to 12 months all need to start at roughly the same time if you want to bottle your first case within twelve to twenty-four months of closing on the land. The single most important strategic decision for any new Illinois winery is whether to locate the production facility in the Shawnee Hills (lowest cost basis, fastest zoning, friendliest county boards, but a 5-hour drive from Chicago) versus the Galena area (mid-range cost, mid-range zoning timelines, strong Wisconsin and Iowa tourism flow) versus the Chicago suburbs (highest cost basis, longest zoning timelines, but direct access to the 9-million-person Chicago metro market). The PermitDue dashboard puts every Illinois winery deadline in one place with reminders at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days so the annual ILCC Wine Manufacturer's License renewal, the annual Local Liquor License renewal, the annual Illinois Secretary of State Annual Report, the monthly Illinois RL-26 gallonage tax return, the monthly Illinois ST-1 sales tax return, the monthly TTB Report of Wine Premises Operations, the semi-monthly federal excise return, the quarterly IDES unemployment insurance filing, the annual workers' compensation renewal, the annual State Fire Marshal Place of Assembly permit, the annual local Food Service Sanitation Permit, and the annual insurance renewals never quietly slip past.