Lyme — A proposal from a local farm winery to offer weekend wine tastings has spurred a debate among residents on social media and in conversations, with some saying that the plan supports the rural town's vision for local agriculture while others argue it is too commercial for its location. 

After about 150 people showed up to a scheduled hearing last Monday at Town Hall, the hearing was rescheduled for a larger venue. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Lyme Consolidated School.

Sunset Hill Vineyard, which will present its plans Monday and has been producing wine for the past seven years, is seeking a special permit to offer wine tastings by appointment only on weekends from May to October.

The winery, located in a rural RU-80 zone on the corner of Elys Ferry Road and Route 156, is proposing to offer tastings by appointment from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m. on some Sundays, which would serve as rain dates. 

Parking on the property can accommodate 12 vehicles, according to the hearing notice.

The family-run winery produces Cab Franc, Chardonnay and St. Croix wines for a total of about 250 to 350 cases of wine each year, according to its application.

The winery says it will consider purchasing grapes in the future from other local vineyards or M&M Grape Co. in East Hartford to make wine on the premises, which would enable the winery to have the capacity to produce 800 to 1,000 cases of wine per year, the application states.

Matt Caruso, who is a partner in the business with his father, Sal Caruso, said the vineyard fits in with Lyme’s commitment to its agricultural heritage.

“We’re trying to keep agriculture alive in the town and make use of our open space and add a nice agricultural vineyard to our town,” said Matt Caruso in a phone interview.

Caruso said having tastings, in which people could also purchase bottles of wine to take home, is critical for the vineyard's economic viability.

He said he and his father would drive to purchase the grapes, and it would not mean large commercial trucks driving in and out of the property.

He also said the vineyard has no interest in having tour buses come onto the property, hosting weddings or opening a café on the property.

State law allows vineyards to import no more than three times the amount of grapes grown on the premises, so the winery could not legally exceed the production of 1,200 to 1,300 cases per year, he said.

But the vineyard would only have the capacity to produce about 800 to 1,000 cases.

He said he wants to keep the farm winery small, because the small size creates an atmosphere that distinguishes it from other wineries.

He said he is seeking to have wine tastings outdoors in the vineyard. 

The tastings would entail no more than four wines with a half-ounce pour for each visitor.

Caruso said when he met with the town's zoning enforcement officer last Monday, he learned that about 20 to 30 people had sent in letters about the application, about evenly split between supporters and opponents.

He said more letters have been sent in since then.

Chip Dahlke, who for years ran a farmers market at his Ashlawn Farm on Bill Hill Road, stated his support of the vineyard on his Facebook page on the day of the hearing last week that had to be rescheduled:

"I urge everyone to get down to the Town Hall in Lyme tonight at 7:30 to support Sunset Hill Vineyard. Since there's not much to do here in Lyme sometimes we go overboard in our concerns for any little change. This is a 10 acre family farm that grows a little grape and wants to sell a little wine on Saturday afternoons by appointment only. Watch out Chicken Little! The sky is falling and it's raining magnums of cabernet. Here quick....Go fetch me a net!" 

His comment led to 55 "likes," 26 shares and about 14 people to comment.

Deb Swaney-Jones wrote: "As a 7 generation Old Lyme and Lyme family our communities need to evolve and develop farming into a business that folks can enjoy and see. We have tons of farms failing as they cannot survive. There are 22 wineries in CT today that are focusing on sustainable farming and local Markets to support a very shrinking state. You can easily set business rules that support the continued beauty of local Lyme...."

Humphrey Tyler, who lives in Lyme and had expressed his concerns about the application in response to Dahlke's Facebook post, emphasized in a phone interview Friday that opponents of the application are not against small farms or agriculture, or the vineyard itself.

But he said he feels granting the application would be a violation of the covenant the town has made with neighboring property owners.

"The issue here is granting an exception to the town zoning laws so that what is now a residential or agricultural use property can be turned into a retail-use property," he said. "That is a very big change for the neighboring property owners."

Currently, two establishments in town have liquor licenses, which allow them to sell beer: the Hadlyme Country Market and the H.L. Reynolds Co. General Store.

k.drelich@theday.com

Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich