GROWLER-WINE BILL Pt 1

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. More and more places are popping up where you can fill up a "Growler" with your favorite beer, but if a state Representative has her way ... you'll soon be able to fill those growlers with your favorite wine.

Representative Sharon Wylie introduced House Bill 1039 that would give wineries another option for marketing their product, but not everyone is on board ...

SHARON WYLIE ... "Not all the wine industry is in favor of this. There are parts of the wine industry that are not comfortable with it, but it's worth discussing because it has some things that people really really want. They want the refillable bottles, and if you're a wine lover you know that there is "gas cans" that can put special gas in if you drink part of a bottle to keep it really fresh. So, there are ways of maintaining quality, but the control of the label is one of the main reasons there's objection to this."

But, Wylie says the bill has supporters too ...

SHARON WYLIE ... "What's in favor of it is that the bottles can be reused, it saves energy, it recycles the bottles, it's environmentally better, and for somebody that really loves a particular wine, to be able to refill their bottle with their favorite wine is a real bonus. And it doesn't force anyone to do this. It's only for wineries that feel like this is a real asset to growing their business."

Wylie says Washington has a very healthy and quality wine industry, but some wineries are a little off the beaten path and need options to promote their wine and allowed to be creative with their marketing.

We'll have more on the wine growler bill tomorrow.