Changes at WAWGG Pt 2

Changes at WAWGG Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The Washington Winegrowers Association is the new name of what was, until last week, the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers.

Executive director Vicky Sharlau says it's a change they've been growing into for a while ...

VICKY SCHARLAU ... "So, we have growers with wineries and wineries that have wine grape acreage. So, for us to be able to better serve the industry that is now much flatter, we need to be able to address their needs at the state and federal level, whether it's advocacy, and certainly on the education side, that we need to be able to step it up for them because we've got so much more going on, not only in Olympia, but in Washington D.C., and there's a greater demand than what we can provide and need to provide the industry."

Scharlau says it's not that they're fitting more groups under their umbrella ...

VICKY SCHARLAU ... "I think that umbrella already included everybody, but what this does is recognize everybody within the umbrella. So, when we talk about providing services to the wine industry, we do so from those who provide a product or a service to the industry, but also to the growers and the vintners, and we don't draw a line between those categories of members any more, and haven't for quite some time, but the name change is reflective of the recognition of that."

You can also find a revamped website at WAwinegrowers.org.

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