03/06/07 Potential Wine Market

Potential wine market. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Any marketing person knows that to be really successful you need to reach and have your product accepted by the widest demographic as possible. The Washington Wine Commission knows that there is a very large potential market waiting out there. The Wine Commission is hosting 2 Taste Washington Wine events in Spokane and Seattle. Chris Stone is the Washington Wine Commissions Consumer Marketing Director says the commission is putting together another wine event specifically targeted at the younger demographic. STONE: We're also introducing a whole new event to the weekend festivities. The events called "20-Something; The New Vintage," and it's an event to get the younger demographic a little more involved and excited about Washington wines. The 21 to 30  35 year old crowd. Stone says another important part of the Taste events is the tie in with Northwest restaurants. STONE: One of the real true hallmarks of Washington wine is its food friendliness. We want to make sure this event is  it is about the wine but the restaurant community is so very important to our success. In Seattle we'll have 60 plus restaurants and the Spokane event has 30 of the regions top restaurants. And he says a great way to wind the evening down is with dessert. STONE: In the Seattle event because we have so much more space we have a whole section of the event; it's a coffee bar, dessert lounge kind of thing. It's always real popular towards the end of the evening as you can imagine. Visit the Taste Washington web site for more details. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.