Can your winery ship wine to Kentucky?

Kentucky DTC wine shipping requirementsCan a winery ship wine directly to consumers in Kentucky?Yes — Broader than most states: a direct shipper Type A licensee may ship ALL types of alcoholic beverages it is authorized to sell (distilled spirits, wine and malt beverages), not wine only. Remote ordering is permitted; the sale is deemed to occur at the consumer's Kentucky address. A Direct Shipper Type A license issued by the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, applied for through the ABC's online BELLE portal; the licensee must ALSO register separately with the Kentucky Department of Revenue. Volume limits apply; the exact cap is in the table below. Last verified 2026-08-01 against primary sources; next review due 2026-10-30.

DTC shipping

Generally permitted

Permit required

Yes — a Direct Shipper Type A license issued by the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, applied for through the ABC's online BELLE portal; the licensee must ALSO register separately with the Kentucky Department of Revenue.

Licence

Direct Shipper Type A License (KRS 243.030(33)). 'Type A' is the alcoholic beverage licence; the Type B licence, KRS 243.030(39), covers cannabis-infused beverages only and costs ten times as much.

Application fee

$100.00 per annum (Direct Shipper Type A). A $50.00 nonrefundable application-processing fee is charged on each NEW application and is credited against the $100 licence fee if the licence issues — so year one is $100 total, not $150; the $50 is forfeited if the licence is refused. If fewer than six months remain in the licence period when the new licence is issued, only one-half the fee ($50) is charged.

Bond required

Volume cap

Wine: 10 cases per consumer per month. These are stated as AGGREGATE limits by beverage class under one licence — distilled spirits 10 liters per consumer per month; wine 10 cases per consumer per month; malt beverages 10 cases per consumer per month; cannabis-infused beverages 10 cases per customer per month. There is NO annual per-consumer cap, no producer-size tier and no statewide aggregate cap on the shipper. CAUTION: Kentucky states the wine limit in CASES and does not define 'case' volumetrically anywhere in KRS Chapters 241–244.

Sales tax

true — the direct shipper licensee must charge Kentucky sales tax on the sale, must sell with all applicable taxes included in the selling price, and must state the sales tax amount separately on the consumer's invoice.

State sales-tax rate

6% — the general Kentucky sales and use tax rate. There is no separate wine, alcohol or DTC sales-tax rate.

Excise tax

Yes — the KRS 243.720 alcoholic beverage excise tax, reported and paid by the direct shipper to the Department of Revenue on wine whose title passes to a Kentucky consumer. This is separate from, and additional to, the KRS 243.884 wholesale sales tax equivalent that a direct shipper also owes.

Excise rate

Wine: $0.50 on each gallon, with a proportional rate per gallon for containers larger or smaller than a gallon, but not less than $0.04 on the sale or distribution of any retail container of wine. Kentucky applies NO ABV tier within wine — the single $0.50/gal rate covers everything meeting the KRS 241.010(81) definition of wine, which runs up to 24% ABV.

Shipment reports

Quarterly — but filed with TWO agencies, not one. Each direct shipper licensee submits the same quarterly report to BOTH the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control AND the Department of Revenue, showing: total beverages shipped into the state per consumer; the name and address of each consumer; the purchase price and the amount of taxes charged to the consumer; and the name and address of each common carrier. This is separate from the MONTHLY trafficking statement owed to the Department of Revenue under KRS 243.850.

Record retention

Not 3 years. Two different periods apply and the longer controls in practice: 4 years for sales and use tax records (KRS 139.720(2), 'not less than four (4) years from the making of such records'), and 2 years for ABC licensee records under 804 KAR 4:100. Records must also be produced to ABC and the Department of Revenue on request and the licensee must submit to audit.

Product registration

Not resolved by any primary source. Kentucky's brand registration statute, KRS 244.440, is written entirely around the wholesale channel — it requires a distiller, rectifier, winery or nonresident wholesaler to register 'the names of the wholesalers in this state to whom distributing rights have been granted', which a DTC-only shipper has none of. But no ABC statement, regulation or page says direct shippers are exempt, and 804 KAR 4:410 identifies the registrants only as 'Licensees required to register product brands and flavors'.

Approved carriers

Kentucky publishes no approved-carrier list and approves no carriers by name. The requirement is structural: shipment must be made through a COMMON CARRIER (KRS 243.028(7)), and Kentucky licenses carriers that transport alcoholic beverages to consumers through a Transporter's License ($210 per annum, KRS 243.030(8)) — KRS 243.200(1) authorises a transporter's licence to be issued to a motor carrier authorised by the Transportation Cabinet or FMCSA, or to another person engaged in business as a common carrier, and a holder 'may transport alcoholic beverages ... to an individual consumer'. The carrier must mark packages 'Alcoholic Beverages, adult signature (21 years of age or over) required', must be asked for adult-signature-only service, must inspect government-issued ID for proof of age, and must not deliver into areas where alcoholic beverages may not lawfully be sold.

Regulator

Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), Public Protection Cabinet — for licensing and the quarterly shipment report. The Kentucky Department of Revenue is a second, mandatory contact: it takes the registration, the sales/use tax return, the KRS 243.720 excise, the KRS 243.884 wholesale sales tax and the KRS 243.850 monthly statement.

Last verified

2026-08-01

Next review due

2026-10-30

Verified 2026-08-01 by primary-source audit against 33 primary sources; next review due 2026-10-30. How we verify.

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