The Farm Winery Act was signed by New York Governor Hugh Cary on June 4, 1976. The New York Farm Winery Act of 1976 is a law that allows grape growers in New York to establish wineries and sell directly to the public, subject to a maximum of 50,000 US gallons (190,000 L) annually.
In the early 1970s, John Miller, of Benmarl Winery, and John Dyson, commissioner of agriculture, put together a plan to help revitalize the New York wine industry, which was floundering at the time. Governor Hugh Carey signed the plan into law in 1976. The law allowed small grower-producers to sell directly to consumers, as well as reducing certain fees and providing tax and marketing advantages. Originally, the law required farm wineries to sell only estate-grown wines, but it was amended in 1978 to allow the use of any New York-grown grapes in wine sold at a farm winery.
The farm winery act was created in concert with the Ag & Markets department. The NYSLA at the time, did not want this new kind of business emerging. But Carey and Dyson were determined. In an effort to boost the lagging agriculture scene, and in an attempt to foster more industry in the state, they passed the laws with an agricultural bent, circumnavigating the state liquor authority, who staunchly wanted to preserve the existing three tier system.
Other people instrumental in passing the legislation were Clinton Dominick, Jay Rolison, Walter Taylor, and Ben Feder. According to winemaker and former counsel to the NY Senate, Stephen Casscles added, "Dene Miller, Mark's wife, she was the brains behind it all. And a very nice lady."
At that time, small grape growers in New York state especially, were facing multiple challenges: large corporate wineries getting bigger and bigger, cheap wines were coming into the market from other parts of the world and the prices paid for local grapes were sinking fast. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, "The Farm Winery Act allowed these grape growers to make their own wine and sell it directly to consumers on the farm. They could also market wines to the restaurant, retail and wholesale trade. In later years, the Farm Winery Act allowed winemakers to buy grapes from New York growers and sell their wines in the same manner, as long as the wines were made with 100 percent New York grapes. Until this legislation was passed, the licensing fees for small farms to make and sell their own wine was prohibitive, and the laws in place limited the amount they could sell on their own to 5 percent of total production. That was not a feasible business model for most small, family-run operations."
The original legislation was adopted from an earlier attempt to remedy the situation in Pennsylvania. New Yorkers took the modified Pennsylvania small winery act, and amped it up. It was this legislation that was passed, and almost immediately emulated across the country.
"In 1976, New York State had 19 wineries; today, it has more than 100. Its best wines are now based on Old World grapes rather than the native American grapes and French-American hybrids that once predominated. And sales, although still largely concentrated inside the state, are booming, many producers say," wrote Howard G Goldberg in the New York Times in 1996, twenty years later. "Taken together, a string of deregulatory laws, a cooperative State Liquor Authority and competition from California, Oregon, Washington and foreign producers have motivated New York growers to strive for world-class wines."
More importantly, many states immediately followed suit. Copying the legislation and changing the appropriate wording, Connecticut, with Sherman Haight and Dr. Paul DiGrazia, among others, immediately adopted the act for Connecticut which passed in 1978. Dozens of states followed within several years. Suddenly, an entire new strata of winery appeared on the horizon. A whole new industry cropped up. From New England down to the Carolinas, from New Jersey to the Mid-West, farm wineries bloomed like dandelions.
A day to remember to be sure.