California winemakers squeezed by a historic sales slump just got a new lifeline: starting January 1, 2027, wineries that buy their grapes from other growers, not just those grown on their own land, will be allowed to pour tastings at the state's certified farmers' markets for the first time. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 917 on August 27, opening a sales channel previously unavailable to hundreds of small producers.
The bill, authored by state Sen. John Laird, strips out the so-called estate-grown requirement that had limited farmers'-market wine sales to winegrowers who bottled fruit raised entirely on their own vineyards. As reported by North Bay Business Journal, that restriction dates back to Assembly Bill 2520, which launched the state's farmers'-market wine program in 2000 and authorized licensed winegrowers to sell bottled estate-grown wine at those markets. Laird said the new law “gives small producers more opportunities to sell products directly to consumers” and delivers “real relief to hurting California wineries,” according to the same report.
SB 917 also triples the number of winegrowers allowed to conduct instructional tastings at a single market during operating hours, from one up to three, though market operators still retain that discretion over how many pourers they allow, according to a legal analysis published by DPF Law. That marks a shift from Assembly Bill 2488, the 2014 law that first expanded Type 79 permit holders' privilege to offer limited instructional tastings but capped licenses at one per market and tastings at 3 ounces per person per day.
How the Permits and Pours Actually Work
Under the new rules, Type 02 winegrower license holders may obtain a Type 79 certified farmers'-market sales permit, and a single winegrower can hold more than one such permit to cover multiple markets. Each Type 79 permit remains location-specific and may be used no more than one day per week at a single certified farmers' market, and the permit itself may be valid for up to 12 months. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control charges a fee for a Type 79 permit in addition to the underlying Type 02 winegrower license.
Pour limits remain unchanged from the 2014 law: winegrowers may pour up to 3 ounces per person per day, and customers may not leave the tasting area with an open wine container. Instructional tastings must occur in an area separated from the rest of the market by a barrier, and the pours remain subject to California's Responsible Beverage Service training requirements. Under SB 917, winegrowers who sell wine at the markets must complete that mandatory training, according to a summary published by GovBuddy. Across all the Type 79 permits a winegrower holds, total annual sales are capped at 5,000 gallons.
A Crowded Field of Small Producers Seeking a Way to Sell
The law arrives as thousands of small wine brands struggle to find any path to market. More than 6,000 wine brands operate in California, with the vast majority producing fewer than 5,000 cases a year, a scale that makes securing wholesale distribution through traditional three-tier distributors nearly impossible, according to an analysis published on Substack. California hosts more than 700 certified farmers' markets statewide serving over 3,000 small farmers, per the same account, giving SB 917 a wide potential footprint. Closer to home, Sonoma, Solano, Marin, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties had more than five dozen certified farmers' markets as of July 1, per the California Department of Food and Agriculture, as cited by the North Bay Business Journal.
Nick Conti told the outlet that licensed wineries now have more direct access to consumers under the expanded rules. The bill's sponsors, Family Winemakers of California and the California Association of Winegrape Growers, have pushed for the change as part of a broader push to widen direct-to-consumer sales options during a punishing downturn.
An Industry Shedding Vineyard Acreage by the Tens of Thousands
The backdrop to SB 917 is a wine industry in genuine distress. California winegrape growers removed more than 38,000 acres of vineyards between October 2024 and August 2025, roughly 7.5 percent of the state's total vineyard acreage, with industry leaders projecting another 40,000 acres could come out in 2026 due to persistent oversupply and declining wine sales, according to Valley Ag Voice. California's 2025 grape harvest fell below 2.5 million tons, the smallest crush since 2000, as weak demand and excess winery inventory left roughly 1.2 million tons of grapes without buyers, per Vinetur.
Growers have also leaned harder on mechanization. Approximately 90 percent of California's vineyard acreage is now mechanically harvested, according to Wine Business. SB 917 is part of a broader effort to modernize the state's tasting rules; Wine Business reported separately on California's efforts to modernize those rules.
A Companion Bill That Didn't Make It
Not every industry-backed proposal succeeded this session. A companion bill, AB 1585, would have required wines labeled American or United States in California to contain 100 percent U.S.-grown grapes, addressing the fact that federal standards currently allow up to 25 percent imported bulk wine in American-labeled wine. Co-sponsored by Family Winemakers of California and the California Association of Winegrape Growers, AB 1585 stalled in the state Senate in June after opposition from global beverage companies, according to a Wine Institute statement. Hoodline covered that fight in Lodi Growers Battle Big Bottlers, detailing the split between small domestic growers and larger international producers.
Farmers'-market wine tastings themselves are not new to the North Bay. SB 917 now expands the state's direct-marketing wine program beyond estate-grown pours. When the rule change takes effect on January 1, 2027, growers across the North Bay's crowded farmers'-market circuit will find out just how much difference three tasting slots instead of one can make for wineries trying to sell their way out of an oversupplied market.
