Wines In Walla Walla Hit New Auction Heights Pt1
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The reputation of Walla Walla wines continues to grow as demonstrated at the second annual Reveal Walla Walla Valley trade auction held recently.Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance Executive Director, Heather Unwin says it's a chance to promote locally made, incredibly rare wines ...
HEATHER UNWIN ... "They won't make these wines ever again. Everyone had to pick. It was all the same vintage. They're futures so they're all still in barrels. And they're made specifically, the Wine Alliance, we develop the packaging, the cartons. All the packaging is something that the Wine Alliance, we buy the bottles and the cartons for our wineries and then the wineries create this wine for the auction and then it's done as a fund raiser for the alliance."
Unwin says bidders came from across the country and from north of the border ...
HEATHER UNWIN ... "So, we had Alberta, Canada, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington."
I asked Heather how the participating wineries are selected...
HEATHER UNWIN ... "So, the wineries, all of our wineries are invited to participate. We don't select them. So, the wineries are all invited to participate because, you know, we are basically saying hey, do you want to donate five cases of wine? And it's a lot of time and effort on their part, let me tell you. But we don't restrict it. We don't say you have to be this big."
The rapid-fire bidding snapped up 30 auction lots in under 45 minutes and brought in $88,300, a 28% increase over last year's inaugural event.