Wine Science Center
The Washington wine industry has been growing by leaps and bounds, with new wineries opening nearly every month. On October 19th Governor Gregoire, along with Washington State University President Elson Floyd, wine industry leaders from around the state, and supporting partners gathered in Richland to dedicate the site for the future Wine Science Center at WSU Tri-Cities. Prior to the dedication Governor Gregoire had this to say as she conducted a ceremonial signing of a $5 million Legislative Award, approved earlier this year by the Legislature as an investment to be used in the Wine Science Center’s construction.
GREGOIRE: We need to do the kind of research and development that’s opportunity for us to continue to be number one in the world in terms of quality. So this is a tremendous investment in our industry.
$17 million has been raised to date, guaranteeing the advancement of Phase 1 of the Wine Science Center construction, which is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2013. Major donations include the Washington State Wine Commission’s contribution of $7.4 million, a newly announced donation from Spokane Industries of $600,000 worth of stainless steel wine tanks to help equip the facility, and a 2.6 million grant from the EDA to WSU “to support the purchase of equipment to be used in product development and workforce training in Benton and Franklin counties.” An additional $4 million is still needed to complete the project.
I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.