What's In The Wine?

What’s In The Wine? I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

I’m a label reader. I want to know what is in what I am putting in me! Oddly enough that is a problem sometimes and labels can be misleading. According to the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers Vicky Scharlau, they are hoping to do something about that.

SCHARLAU: Part of the strategic planning for the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers, the board really felt they needed to focus on and work at both the state and the federal level on really the integrity of the grape because when it comes to the wine industry it’s all about where the grapes are from and the fact that the quality that we have not only in Washington State but really in the U.S. as compared to many of the wines of the world, are just superior.

Part of that process is really letting the consumer know where those grapes come from.

SCHARLAU: The board focused on this legislative session to introduce a grape integrity bill and the bill passed largely due to not only the growers in the state but also the wineries in the state that supported it. And our then legislator, now Director of Agriculture, Dan Newhouse who introduced the bill and was a strong supporter for making sure that if a bottle of wine said Washington, a consumer would know that it had at least 95% Washington grown grapes in the bottle.

Some wineries do buy grapes from other growers in other states. To date the ruling has not gone into effect but hopes are high that it will be forthcoming, and then when it says Washington wine…you will know it really is.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.