04/30/07 Reaching 500

The wine industry in the state of Washington has been growing, no doubt about that. But this past week a milestone of sorts was achieved. Robin Pollard, Executive Director of the Washington Wine Commission. POLLARD: We were notified this week that we have reached the 500 winery mark. The winery down in Walla Walla is our newest member of the family as I like to say and it just is an indication of just how tremendous and phenomenal the growth has been in the state of Washington. But according to Pollard, there doesn't seem to be any slow down. POLLARD: The Washington State Liquor Board who monitors and approves license applications is indicating that they are continuing to get a steady stream of applications. Washington State is the second largest wine producing region behind California but Pollard puts it all into perspective. POLLARD: We're about the size of Napa in terms of acreage and number of wineries so that kind of helps put it into some kind of context but the fact is that our industry is spread throughout the entire state of Washington which is a great thing because it really does fuel the state economy and local economy around the state, but California added a total of 500 new wineries in 2006. Looks like we have a way to go. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.