03/07/08 Wine Grape Scholarships

Wine Grape Scholarships. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The grape and wine industry in the Washington and in the Northwest is growing exponentially. Each and every year, more AVA's and wineries located themselves in the area because of climate and rich growing conditions. Consequentially there is a continually need to bring more knowledgeable people into the industry. With that in mind the Washington Wine Industry Foundation has recently awarded a number of scholarships. Foundation spokesperson, Andrea Baker. BAKER: There's three scholarships we offer and out of all three scholarships we're giving away over $10-thousand dollars. All the scholarships are for students in the study of viticulture and enology. Just in case you don't know, that is the study of grape growing and winemaking. The three different scholarships have various requirements. The Clore Scholarship, named for Walter Clore requires some effort. BAKER: What they have to do is fill out a 2-page application, they have to write a 500 word essay and provide 2 letters of reference. In addition, there is the Horse Heaven Hills Scholarship that requires Washington students to live in Benton, Klickitat or Yakima County. BAKER: And then the third scholarship we offer is the John Farmer Scholarship and that's for anyone in the state of Washington studying viticulture and enology. Some 40 students applied for a part of the 3 scholarships. Contact the Foundation for more information on next year's scholarships. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.