Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/450509
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower FEBRUARY 1, 2015 13 mandated that WSU designate a portion of its budget to fund viticulture and enology research. The amounts for research from the sales tax and WSU's budget vary each year because they are based on percentages and not fixed amounts. Funds for viticulture and enology research have more than doubled since the mid-2000s, mostly due to grow- ing wine sales and significant investment from industry. Nearly $129,000 for research was received from the wine sales tax in 1981. The wine industry has also significantly increased its support of research. After industry approved a referen- dum in 2007 that set a ceiling for assessments at $12 per ton for grapes and 8 cents per gallon for wine, the Wine Commission committed to spend 5 percent of its assess- ment budget on research, a significant step at the time. Industry assessments then were below the ceiling at $10 per ton for grapes and 6 cents per gallon for wine. In 2011, the Wine Commission board agreed to assess industry at the maximum rates allowed ($12 per ton, or 8 cents per gallon) to raise $7.4 million over ten years for a new Wine Science Center. The $23 million facility, scheduled to open to students this fall at WSU Tri-Cities, includes a research winery, research vineyard, classrooms, research and teaching laboratories, greenhouse, and more. "Research is an investment in our future," said Warner, who now places research at the top of every Commission meeting agenda and routinely talks about research during meetings with growers and winemakers. Growers are well aware of viticulture research done by WSU scientists and Extension educators, he said, but most winery operators have never heard of Extension or WSU's enology research. "The Wine Science Center will be a world-class research facility, and we need to have a solid research program to go with it," he said." You don't want to buy the best house on the block and then not have the money to put furniture in it." • MELISSA HANSEN/GOOD FRUIT GROWER