1/22/08 Wine Grape Meeting

Wine Grape Meeting. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Get ready for the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers Annual meeting. This years topic according to Executive Director, Vicky Scharlau is "How To." SCHARLAU: Well every year the education committee sits down and determines what some of the most important issues are facing the industry and they had - this year in particular a lot of technical issues come up so the theme over all is "How To: Washington." That theme encompasses a great deal. SCHARLAU: We're talking about how to AgWeatherNet and how to Bordeaux, i.e. hoe do we compare in contrast our grape growing and wine making with the Bordeaux region of France. How to TTB for those that want to get into the winery side of the business, how to tell if you're sustainable. She says they have also created a lot of mini-sessions that are packed with great information in a much shorter time frame and they have developed a Spanish only session. SCHARLAU: Well we've added in a how to grow grapes in espanol. So we have a Spanish language session on Tuesday afternoon that will really be all afternoon talking about the techniques and information that those people in the wineries and the vineyards that speak Spanish will get a much deeper understanding and appreciation for how to grow grapes in Washington State and how that grape growing is tied directly to making great wine. The annual meeting will be held February 6-8 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, Washington. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.