02/22/07 Washington Wine Country pt 4

Welcome to Vine to Wine, this is your host Linda Moran. Last week I attended the annual conference of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. I walked away feeling both inspired and discouraged. During my 25 years in the wine industry, I have been mostly involved in consumer focused wine education. I work hard to help people recognize that wine is an enhancement to their lives and it is not necessary to know everything about it to enjoy it. I host this radio program, the mission of which is to make the topic of wine as approachable as possible and to help you feel comfortable. I hear from and meet listeners expressing their gratitude for the approach to wine offered by this program. I have even talked with people who never really drank wine until they spent time listening to the program. I feel so good to realize that in my own small way I am making a positive contribution to the Washington Wine industry. I looked back over my programs from the previous year and found that about seventy percent of them referencing a wine region or a specific varietal or wine were about Washington. So what's up? You Washington wine drinkers are not consuming the majority of the wine we are making in Washington. We sure can`t say that about Californians. At the grape growers' conference, although we all recognized that great wine begins in the vineyard, I walked away thinking yes I agree. However, it is only one of the beginnings. Please come visit Washington Wine Country and begin tasting all that we have to offer and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.