4-9 FB Wine Incubator

 Those of you who have raised young ones, whether they be human or animal, probably have a pretty good notion of what an incubator does. But if you had a lot of grapevines on your property with dreams of turning them into wine? One definition for an incubator goes as follows: An apparatus in which environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, can be controlled, often used for growing bacterial cultures, hatching eggs artificially, or providing suitable conditions for a chemical or biological reaction.

 Well a coalition of folks ranging from the University of Idaho to the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission has instituted a winery incubator in Caldwell that is drawing much praise. First…what does an incubator do? Here’s Ron Bitner, owner of Bitner Vineyards: “It’s low rent facility space that’s been made available by University of Idaho.  It’s got cooling units and drain floors and it’s a way to get young wineries get started  because starting wineries is expensive.” There are now some 40 wineries in Idaho and growing. Bitner says that he welcomes competition coming from new wineries entering the Caldwell corridor because he would like to see an area in Idaho that competes with Washington State’s Walla Walla area.