Walla Walla Spring Release Part 2

Walla Walla Spring Release Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance recently held their Spring Release to good crowds and new wineries. Elizabeth Martin-Calder, executive director of the Alliance says that the popularity of wine just keeps growing and that is good news. MARTIN-CALDER: I think that the most important thing is that overall we definitely saw our numbers and our sales go back up and that's always important to us. So it feels like there is good momentum and we're going to recapture some ground there. For the last couple of years due to the downturn in the economy wines and premium wine sales especially have fallen off a bit but that trend is reversing. MARTIN-CALDER: It doesn't mean that our job is done, we'll always be out there pushing them and making sure that people understand that they are an exceptional value especially in Washington State when you compare them to California wines but we're happy to see that they're getting their notoriety back. That's not the end of the wine season either according to Martin-Calder. MARTIN-CALDER: We're getting ready again to host our signature event Vintage Walla Walla, it's a different format this year. There are still just a few tickets available but this year what we are doing there's a really fun barbeque Friday night. Just a chance to enjoy some frivolity and good fare and warm hospitality with our winemakers and the second evening on Saturday we'll be doing our rare vintage pour that is where wineries open up their library wines. See their website wallawallawine.com for details. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.