06/01/06 Northwest wines going international

Northwest wines going international. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Over the past several years the northwest wine industry has become more and more accepted in the international community. Thanks in part to the on-going relationships being forged by industry professionals and the outreach of the northwest wine industry. Last week a contingent from numerous wineries and organizations traveled to Hong Kong for the VinExpo. Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission says that both Washington and Oregon wines are being very well received. POLLARD: We met a number of distributors and importers as well as restaurant and wine trade from all over Asia. They had an opportunity to taste a variety of Washington wines and I'd say without exception they we all very impressed. Some of them were familiar with our wines and with Washington wine country. According to Pollard a few of those attending had visited the northwest only a few weeks ago. She also says that many of the distributors showed a great interest for importing northwest wines. POLLARD: And I think the other thing that really impressed me was the size of the market potential in Asia. When you look at China alone, it's a very large population with a growing middle class and growing appreciation for high quality, premium table wine. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.