(PE) - New rules that allow small wineries to set up shop at certified farmers markets and offer tastings was praised this week by local wineries and the operators of farmers markets, who said it will give a tremendous boost to boutique wineries.

“There’s not enough room on the shelves in the supermarket for the little guys,” said Gale Cunningham, operator of farmers markets in Temecula and Corona.

The state legislation that changed the law on tastings was approved early this month as an urgency statute, which means it went into effect immediately.

Gale Cunningham said earlier this week that she hasn’t heard from anyone interested in setting up at Old Town Temecula farmers market, but she expects she will later this year.

In 2002 or so, Cunningham said a winery attempted to sell from a booth at the market but without samples it was hard to make a go of it.

“They came for two or three months,” she said. “She cooked with the wine, the smell was great, but it was not really profitable for them.”

There is a huge waiting list for a spot at the popular Old Town Temecula market on Saturday mornings – about 300 applications are sitting in a pile – but Cunningham said she would try to find space for a winery.

“We would totally be up for something like that,” said Danielle Teece, tasting room employee at Vindemia Vineyard and Estate Winery.

Vindemia, located in the northwest corner of Wine Country, produces around 3,200 gallons of wine a year.

Teece said being able to offer tastings would make booking space at a farmers market palatable for the winery because it would allow for a more substantial conversation about the wine: how the grapes were grown, how the bottle was selected, how it was priced, etc.

“It’s important to convey the message,” she said.

The legislation that created the new rules has a number of restrictions that were added to help appease critics who questioned the wisdom of adding wine tastings to farmers markets.

For instance, the wine offered for tasting has to be made with grapes grown by the winery and bottled by the vendor, only wineries that produce less than 5,000 gallons a year are eligible and a farmers market can only allow one licensee at a time.