Legislation Would Raise Wine Production Threshold

Illinois wine producers are pushing for legislation to increase self-distribution to stores and restaurants, bypassing a state law requiring a middleman for transactions. Under current law, only wineries that produce less than 25,000 gallons a year are allowed to self-distribute their wine, with a maximum of 5,000 gallons to sell themselves to retailers. New legislation would raise the production threshold to enable smaller wineries to bypass distributors.