When someone browses a catalogue for home wine making supply equipment the first thing that pops into their head is “Cool! You can make wine at home!” Then, unfortunately, the second thing that pops into their head is “oh, I better not because I’ll probably get in trouble.” Now, while it is true that you can not make wine in your home and sell it outside your back door with no restrictions the truth of the matter is that making wine at home is legal and has been legal since 1978 when then President Carter signed a federal law making the production of homemade wine legal. Carter gets a ton of blame for inflation and the fall of the Shah of Iran, but no credit for legalizing homemade wine…what an oversight! Ok, in all seriousness, you can make wine in your home legally provided you follow certain baseline standards of behavior.

Basically, according to federal regulations a person living in a home by himself can legally make up to 100 gallons of wine per year. 2 or more people in the home can make up to 200 gallons per year. As long as a person stays within those guidelines then they are in compliance with federal law…it is as simple as that. However, what also needs to be pointed out here is that there may be also local and state laws that govern the production of homemade wine as well. Generally, these laws are not restrictive if the person is making the wine on a small scale. If the person attempts to mass produce tremendous quantities of wine then the authorities will usually step in.

Of course, most people only make a small amount of wine per year for personal use, gift giving or as a hobby so these laws will not effect them. As such, there is no reason to worry if you are thinking of taking part in this hobby.