08/29/07 Winemaker of the Year

Winemaker of the Year. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. For someone who just won Sunset Magazine's Winemaker of the Year, Bob Betz has a way of deflecting the accolades. BETZ: To me the most single important take away from this whole thing is what it means to Washington State. I've been a part of Washington wine-making since the mid 70's and have watched this area and been a participant in the growth of this area from just this dot on the viticultural map. Betz and the Betz Family Winery was selected from thousands of winemakers throughout the western U.S. for the award. Some of Betz wines have been nominated in the past for the magazines awards. Betz says the award took him by surprise. BETZ: We thought one of our wines had done well in their tastings because about a month and a half ago, probably middle of July they sent out a photographer and said gee, we'd like to get a picture of you and so said "great," come on and here are the barrels and so we took just a quick picture and I had no idea it was something of this dimension. Sunset Magazine is based in California and for a Washington winemaker this is quite an honor. BETZ: Any kind of recognition is always a real positive attribute and there are so many ways of looking at this. Betz Family Winery specializes in red wines. BETZ: Well I'm also and fan and a believer that all wine would be red if it could. There is just something so satisfying about red wine. We make very few wines. We make cabernet sauvignon. We make a wine that is merlot dominant but also blended with a couple other varieties and then we make a couple of syrah's. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.