America's Best Wine Region Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. A runner-up for the past two years, but this year USA Today named the Walla Walla Valley as “America’s Best Wine Region” in it’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice awards.
Robert Hansen, executive director at the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance, says conditions in the Valley continue to attract more and more interest …
HANSEN … “There’s truly an interest and, you know, we can grow up to 40 different grape varieties here, or are growing over 40 grape varieties here so, yeah, there’s a lot of opportunities for different types of investments.”
This year, Hansen says the pandemic has brought challenges …
HANSEN … “Obviously, tasting room revenues are down, due to the fact they had to be closed for a while and now there’s limitations, how many people can be in a tasting room or not even be in a tasting room because we’re required to have outside tasing in most cases.”
But for now, Hansen says it’s back to business …
HANSEN … “Right now, the wineries of the valley, both in Oregon and Washington, are open for tasting. A majority is done outside, but it does vary and we are recommending that tasters make reservations and contact the wineries prior to visiting.”
Like everyone else, Hansen we’ve had to think outside the box …
HANSEN … “Yeah, I thought we’re being creative. I think the curb-side pickup, really hitting the membership and consumer lists at the wineries for shipments when, when we could ship. Right now, shipping’s a little difficult with the weather being a little warm for wine to ship.”
Tune in tomorrow for more … on Walla Walla, America’s Best Wine Region.
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BL: Welcome back to another “Fruit Bites” brought to you by Valent U.S.A. And as always, joining us is Valent’s Allison Walston. And this week Allison, something’s bugging me … or you really … in a good way …
AW: Ahh. My favorite part of Fruit Bites is yapping about insects. So we are at harvest and now is the time to start looking at your fruit to determine your insect pest levels. This will help create a solid plan for next season.
BL: What type of pests will you see?
AW: San Jose scale, if you see those red spots, flag or mark those trees to come back at delayed dormant with Esteem and oil. If you see codling moth, mow up any dropped & infested fruit. Try to clear away any wood piles. And prepare for mating disruption and rotating products for control next year.
BL: What about mites?
AW: with mites, you could do a post-harvest spray of a miticide to knock down overwintering females. Or be sure to include oil and a miticide come spring when those females wake up and start laying eggs.
BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I’m Bob Larson.
