Wineries Receive a Season Pass to Wayland Summer Farmers' Market

In late June, the Wayland Board of Selectmen approved a seasonal application for wineries to sell their product at the Summer Farmers’ Market held Wednesdays from noon to 5 p.m. at .

The inclusion of Massachusetts Farm Wineries for an entire season is a first in Wayland. When it became legal to sell wine at farmers’ markets last summer, most communities approved the sale for one day at a time, not the entire season, according to Kip Kumler, owner and winemaker at Turtle Creek, a winery in Lincoln, Mass.

Wayland selectmen were no exception, approving a one-day-only license for the Winter Farmers’ Market at Russell’s.

“This winter, they could have done it longer, but I think they just wanted to try it,” said Kumler, who helped write the legislation passed in August 2010 allowing Massachusetts Farm Wineries to offer tastings and sales at farmers’ markets.

Kumler said the ability to return to the same farmers’ market on more than one occasion during the season is an important step in getting local wines known among Massachusetts residents.

“It’s just much broader exposure,” Kumler said. “People who frequent the market can have more opportunities to sample the wine.”

He added that, because farmers’ markets are episodic, selling the wine there could actually have a positive impact on local wine stores. Customers who sample and even purchase wine at the markets won’t always be able to find it there, so they will eventually go to local wine stores to purchase the wine they sampled at the farmers’ market.

“We’re trying to have great customer service,” said Tim Skehan, CEO of Russell's Garden Center. “Also, the farmers have been asking for this. There is a pretty significant wine operation in the state.”

Though the license is approved for the entire July 23-Oct. 12 Summer Farmers’ Market season, the wineries will rotate selling their products at Russell’s. This is different than during the Winter Farmers’ Market when multiple wineries staffed booths on the same day.

“It’s working out very well,” said David Nielson, owner and winemaker of Coastal Vineyards, about selling at farmers’ markets. “It’s fantastic, especially for wineries that have difficult-at-best areas for tasting rooms. It gives us a whole new venue to sell at, and bring our wine to the customer as opposed to the customer coming to us.”

Critics of the law expressed concerns about underage drinking and over-indulging at farmers’ markets, but Kumler said he hasn’t had any negative experiences yet.

“You don’t really see the people you’re worried about at these markets,” Kumler said, adding that all registered Massachusetts Farm Wineries Association member wineries must have at least one person who is TIPS (Training for Intervention Procedures) trained. “People don’t go to a farm winery to get a cheap drink and get drunk. It’s a much more personal business.”

Kumler said it’s too soon to tell whether the ability to sample and sell wines at Massachusetts farmers’ markets has improved business or grown a devoted locavore customer base. But he’s optimistic.

“The farmers’ markets might represent a step forward in viability that wasn’t there before,” Kumler said. “It’s going to enable a small winery to survive where it couldn’t have before.”

Nielson, however, said there’s no denying that selling at the winter farmers’ markets made a difference for Coastal Vineyards.

“I sold more in the winter market than I sold all of last year,” Nielson said. “It’s a perfect environment for wines.”