1/15/09 Celebrating Washington Wines

Celebrating Washington Wines. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. One of my few indulgences is tasting wine. Nothing quite like sitting down with several different types and tasting each with their special nuances. Of course living in a wine rich area like the Pacific Northwest is a bonus. So if you also like tasting some of the areas finest you might want to help Celebrate Washington Wines. Linda Bailey is with WSU's Alumni Relations. BAILEY: This is our 8th Annual Celebration of Washington Wines and the program supports the viticulture and enology program here at WSU which was started 8 years ago through our horticulture department. So it supports the industry as well as trains our future viticulturists and enologists. For those of you that like to dress to the nines and have an evening out, Bailey says this is for you. BAILEY: It's a black tie event and we have a live auction and a silent auction. We have so many items this year. We have a lot of wine items, a lot of trips, a cruise and it's a great dinner at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, WA. It's on Saturday, January 24th. All proceeds go back into the program. BAILEY: We've raised almost a million dollars to put into that program and so we were able to hire a new director that will start March 1st so that was really kind of the goal originally with the money from this auction was to be able to support that program. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.