Archives West Finding Aid

In the late 1970s, an informal industry group called the Washington Wine Society (made up of Wade Wolfe, Bob Betz, Walt Clore, Max Benitz, Mike Wallace and others) approached the Washington State legislature for research funding. In 1981, Senator Max Benitz sponsored legislation that provided research funding through half cent per liter tax on all Washington wine sales, collected by Washington State Liquor Control Board and disbursed to Washington State University and the University of Washington. The legislation also identified an industry oversight committee made up of representatives of the Washington Wine Society. The Society was later renamed the Washington Wine Grape Advisory Board (WWGAB), and between 1982 and 1998 the WWGAB was made up of ten to twelve internally selected industry volunteer members. In response to concerns about governance and structure, the WWGAB was formalized in 1998 as a subcommittee of the Washington Wine Commission, and its name was changed to the Wine Advisory Committee (WAC). The Wine Advisory Committee provides recommendations to WSU for the expenditure of state wine and grape related research funding. (From the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers website Research page, "History" section, Accessed June 28, 2010)

Beginning in the 2000s, these reports and proposals were reviewed at an annual Wine Research Review meeting, held at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, Washington.