A Winery's Path to Markets Isn't Always Easy

A few Sundays ago, customers at the Bethesda Central Farm Market noticed a special vendor: Black Ankle Vineyards of Mount Airy. So after the usual farmers market samples of peaches and nectarines, cheeses and breads, they could refresh with some good Maryland vino.

And why not? A vineyard is a farm, after all, and the eat-local devotees who have fed a resurgence of farmers markets are increasingly receptive to local wines and their improving quality.

But local alcohol laws do not always look favorably on wineries sampling and selling their wares at farmers markets. Maryland restricts its 30 or so wineries to three special-event permits per county per year, so Black Ankle and other Maryland wineries must pick and choose among the festivals and other venues where they can show their wines.

For Ed Boyce and Sarah O'Herron, the husband-and-wife couple behind Black Ankle, it might not be worth using those rare exemptions on farmers markets. Boyce said sales in the four hours the market was open topped an average weekday at the winery but fell far short of revenue they could expect at a small wine festival.

"It's exciting for us to have the opportunity to be here for the first time at a farmers market and share our produce, much as the other people are sharing their produce," O'Herron said as customers sampled her 2006 Crumbling Rock Bordeaux-style blend and 2007 Leaf-Stone Syrah, both award-winning wines. With regular attendance, she said, they could get to know their customers (and neighbors, as their family lives in Silver Spring). But being limited to three appearances per county in any given year makes regular stops in Bethesda impossible, she added.

Mitch Berliner, co-manager of the Bethesda market, said he organized Black Ankle's appearance on Sept. 12 -- and a wine dinner at nearby Redwood restaurant the next night -- to raise support for efforts in next year's legislative session in Annapolis that would make it easier for wineries to participate in farm markets.

"Vineyards are farms. They raise fruit. They make an agricultural product," Berliner said, "and they deserve to be here on an equal footing with the other farms. I'm a farm-market junkie, and as I travel across the United States in different wine-producing areas, I often see wines that come from those states. Even our neighbors across the river in Virginia have wineries participating in farmers markets."

Berliner has lined up Basignani Winery of Sparks, Md., to participate in the market on Oct. 18, alongside an oyster-shucking event featuring bivalves from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Maryland state Del. Brian Feldman (D), chairman of the Montgomery County delegation in Annapolis, said he intends to introduce legislation that would allow state wineries to participate in farmers markets, but added it most likely would apply only to Montgomery.

"We would like to push for a broader bill that would affect the entire state. But a county measure would likely be easier to get through," he said.

The District requires an expensive special permit for anytime a market wants to have a winery participate as a vendor, and it requires that patrons be carded to receive a sample taste. "We looked into it a few years ago but decided it wouldn't be worth the effort," said Bernadine Prince, co-director of FreshFarm Markets, which operates five markets in the District and four in Maryland.

Virginia law is more accommodating. Each winery is allowed up to five "remote" permits per day, which can be used for festivals, for tasting rooms away from the winery or at farmers markets.

Not all farmers markets welcome wineries, however. The dozen markets operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority are wine-free, but customers of Smart Markets, which operates five markets in Fairfax County, can find wineries among the vendors. Fabbioli Cellars, Hiddencroft Vineyards and North Gate Vineyard from Loudoun County are regulars, said Jean Janssen, founder of Smart Markets.

The Loudoun Valley HomeGrown Markets Association welcomes wineries to the six markets it sponsors. The day before Black Ankle's guest appearance in Bethesda, I met Amanda White, sales manager for Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, at the Leesburg market, where she had 12 wines for sampling and sales. White said Willowcroft has been a regular at the market for several years; Corcoran Vineyards, North Gate Vineyard and Zephaniah Farm Vineyard are also among the wineries at the association's markets.

During the warm summer months, Willowcroft's unoaked chardonnay was its best seller at the markets, White said. But she admitted wine can be a tough sell at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning. "People just stand there clutching their coffee and say, 'Did you just ask me to try wine?' " White said. "So we do most of our sales between 10 and noon."

October is Virginia Wine Month. Learn about winery festivals, travel packages and other events at http://www.virginia.org. Dave McIntyre can be reached through his Web site, http://www.dmwineline.com, or at food@washpost.com.