Wine Research Awareness Pt 2
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. We talked yesterday about how awareness of Washington Wine Commission's research program has grown to 85% of the industry, up 25% in the past two years.The Wine Commission Research Manager, Melissa Hansen says it's a great program, unlike most ...
HANSEN ... "You know, because it's funded by the industry it's a unique program in that very few state wine groups have something like what Washington does. Number one, very few have a commission that represents both grower and winemaker. A lot of times it's just on the winery side or just on the growers side, but we represent both and because everybody helps support the research everybody owns it."
Hansen says the research is done with EVERYONE in mind ...
HANSEN ... "You know, it's not a private contribution from a big wine company that then they own the results. And so, it's really accessible for all sizes and it's done with all sizes of winery and grower in mind."
She says the program is great for everyone, but especially the little guys ...
HANSEN ... "And the small guys are really the ones that benefit the most because they don't have the staff that they could run their own trials or hire somebody who's got a research background. So, they can tap into the Washington State University science and research minds we have going for us."
Hansen says wine industry folks have many different ways to get research results, including trade publications, seminars like WAVE and WAVE-x, the Wine Commission's monthly newsletter, and even social media.