Every self-respecting oenophile and wine-industry member will be at least marking, if not celebrating, the 40th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris on Tuesday.

Yet there was another event in 1976 that had a similarly profound effect on the industry and on American wine, even on the wider foodie culture staring out at us from magazines, newspapers, TV shows and restaurant menus. On June 4 of that year, the New York Legislature passed the state`s Farm Winery Act. Gov. Hugh Carey signed it the same day.

The act allowed small producers, including grape growers, to sell wine directly to the public as well as directly to restaurants and other retailers. Before that, New York wineries were required to sell at least 95 percent of their wares through a distributor. It also reduced the licensing costs for setting up a winery from about $1,600 (more than $6,700 adjusted for inflation) to $125 (about $525 in today`s dollars).

The bill was a political solution to an immediate problem at the time: There was a glut of grapes upstate and growers were worried about widespread spoilage. Legislative leaders and Carey`s administration responded by overriding the concerns of larger wineries, which didn`t want the competition they knew the act would create, and made it easier for these growers to sell directly to consumers - farm-to-table or farm-to-bottle, as we call it today.

Several states had already passed similar legislation; Pennsylvania was the first east of the Mississippi, in 1968. But none had more impact than New York`s. The state was the second most populous in the union then and its biggest city was, just as now, the nation`s financial, media and cultural capital.

Full article can be found at source napavalleyregister.com