Washington wine industry surveyed about research priorities

The Washington State Wine Commission is asking wine grape growers and wineries to fill out a survey to help identify top research priorities for the statewide wine and grape research program.

Feedback from the survey will be used by the Wine Research Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the Washington State Wine Commission, to help prioritize which viticulture and enology research projects to fund. The survey will help ensure that research topics proposed are relevant and address important industry challenges. Several new topics were added to the priority list after a similar survey was sent out to the industry last year.

The Washington Grape and Wine Research Program, administered by Washington State University, combines funding support from the Washington State Wine Commission, Auction of Washington Wines, WSU’s Agriculture Research Center, and state taxes collected on all wines sold in Washington. This year, the program will fund projects totaling more than $1 million.

Past research outcomes have provided significant economic value to grape growers and wineries, including irrigation water savings of up to 50 percent in red wine varieties, reduced pesticide usage, tannin management, improved wine quality, and more. WSU and industry officials estimated that an innovative spray technology developed by WSU to control cutworms and widely adopted by growers, annually saves the industry $35 million in reduced pesticide costs, improved worker safety, and improved yields.

The Washington State Wine Commission encourages all Washington wine industry members who would utilize viticulture and enology research to participate in the short survey.

Washington State Wine represents every licensed winery and wine grape grower in Washington State. Guided by an appointed board, WSW provides a marketing platform for Washington State wines. Funded almost entirely by the industry through assessments based on grape and wine sales, WSW is a state government agency, established by the legislature in 1987. To learn more, visit www.washingtonwine.org.