[FMC] Wine Sales at Farmers' Market

[Zachary Lyons]

Hi David, et al,

I am going to attach two documents from the Washington State Liquor  
Control Board -- an application for farmers market sales and an  
explanatory document.  And here is a link to the Washington State RCW  
for wine sales at farmers market:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?Cite=66.24.170

Here is the beer sales link (note the lack of language about use of  
Washington ingredients):

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=66.24.244

Note that Washington also does not allow sampling of wine at farmers  
markets.  The governing RCW clearly defines what it considers to be a  
farmers market.  The standard it uses is that of the Washington State  
Farmers Market Association (WSFMA), which serves as the independent  
regulatory body for farmers markets in Washington.

WSFMA adds additional rules for alcohol sales at farmers markets,  
requiring that wine. beer and hard cider producers may only sell  
beverages they made with at least 95% Washington grown or produced  
ingredients.  The Washington Wine Commission is fine with this rule,  
though it eliminates almost all beer.  Since Washington is a major  
grain and hops producing state, the WSFMA 95% rule is intended to  
encourage Washington brewers to work with Washington farmers to  
source more of their ingredients, as the purpose of farmers markets  
is to foster increased local sales of Washington farm products, not  
processed goods made from imported ingredients.

This separate WSFMA rule was made necessary when, after our  
legislature passed the Farmers Market Wine Bill in 2003, the beer  
industry took that bill, stripped out all language requiring the use  
of Washington ingredients, and slipped it through the legislature  
while they were are a titter over the Wine Bill and not paying  
attention.  The Wine Bill was carefully crafted by a task force of  
WSFMA, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and Liquor  
Control Board (LCB), Senate and House Agriculture Committee staff,  
Senate and House leaders, the Washington Wine Institute, and  
Washington Beer and Wine Distributors Association, and several key  
farmers markets.  The beer legislation lacked all but the beer industry.

I highly recommend convening a task force such as ours.  We worked  
out many issues and got all stakeholders -- pro and con -- on the  
same page, and in the end the Wine Bill passed the legislature  
UNANIMOUSLY.  Some features of our law include: no fee for farmers  
markets; one fee and application for wineries and breweries to cover  
all markets; LCB approving market site, not each individual winery,  
thus reducing administrative costs, time and paperwork; LCB/market  
manager liaison system that allows LCB inspectors to quickly and  
easily check in with market managers to assess winery and brewery  
compliance at markets, so that LCB does not have to constantly track  
each individual vendor at each market; and more.  The benefit of this  
system is that, in a state with over 100 markets and over 500  
wineries and dozens of breweries, LCB will only have to process and  
track 100 markets, and each beverage maker once a year, instead of  
tracking potentially 500 wineries X 100 markets.  This also allowed  
the bill cost to stay below a threshold that would have forced it to  
be reviewed before going to committee.

I hope this helps.  Please let me know if you have more questions.

Zachary Lyons
Executive Director, 1999-2005
WSFMA

 

On May 13, 2008, at 10:12 AM, Webber, David (AGR) wrote:

> Hoping some of you can point me in the direction of states that  
> allow local wineries to sell at farmers' markets. So far I am aware  
> of California, Oregon, Washington, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York  
> and possibly New Hampshire and Virginia. I am also looking for  
> copies of the legislation or regulations that allow for this and  
> what is considered a "farmers market" as it applies to allowing  
> wine sales. Thanks!
>
> David Webber
> Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
> (phone) 617-626-1754
> (fax)     617-626-1850
> David.Webber at state.ma.us
> www.mass.gov/agr
>
>
>
>
>
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> fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org
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