Wine Coming to Farmers’ Markets

California farmers' markets may now expand their offerings to include the sale of wine.

It used to be called California Cuisine. It was all about using fresh, local ingredients and matching them with local wines. It's the kind of thing Italians have always been famous for. But in America, our supermarket produce shelves feature fruits and vegetables from all over the world, often harvested unripe and held in cold storage. Sometimes we brush them and wax them to make them look alluring. But cooks have always favored the richer flavors of vine-ripened fruits and freshly picked vegetables, not to mention fresh fish from local waters.

It was bound to happen in California. With over 350 local plant and animal commodities to offer, thanks to a long growing season and wide spectrum of climates, and 900 miles of coastline, farmers markets are quickly becoming the place of choice to obtain fresh, local products - both for consumers and professional chefs. There are now over 400 certified farmers markets in California and are found in every region of the State.

In 2000 the California State legislature passed a bill allowing the final piece of the culinary puzzle to be put in place. Now Qualified Certified Farmers' Markets are allowed to sell wine along with their other comestible products.

We haven't seen many farmers' markets that are taking advantage of this opportunity, probably because farmers' markets are dominated by, well, farmers. Winegrapes are certainly an agricultural product, but wine is the product of wineries, not farmers. Nevertheless, we expect a growing trend to find local wines represented in Certified Farmers' Markets, particularly by small wineries with little distribution.

We envision, for example, consumers buying Petaluma ducks at a Sonoma County farmers' market finding a small producer of Russian River Pinot Noir nearby. Or shoppers at the Certified Farmers' Market at the Old Monterey Marketplace finding a plethora of local wines flowing down from the Santa Lucia Highlands nearby to match the seafood bounty of Monterey Bay and the cornucopia of fresh produce from the Salinas Valley.

September 2006 has been declared California Wine Month by Governor Arnold Schwartezenegger. A complete listing of California farmers' markets my be found here.

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