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November 18, 2016 CapitalPress.com 5 Willamette Valley named 2016 Wine Region of the Year By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Oregon’s Willamette Val- ley wine producers are on a definite roll. Distinguished awards for individual vin- tages, investment by some of the industry’s biggest names and now this: Wine Enthu- siast, one of the industry’s bibles, has named the valley its 2016 Wine Region of the Year. The Willamette Valley was up against heady competition: the Champagne and Provence wine regions of France, Sono- ma in California, and the Greek island of Crete. The magazine cited the valley’s rapid evolution, be- ginning from scratch 50 years ago when a handful of pio- neering winemakers — only one of whom had agricultur- al experience — began cul- tivating Pinot noir grapes, a cool-weather varietal notori- ously touchy about being ush- ered into a bottle. They figured it out. The valley has since become rec- ognized as one of the world’s premier Pinot noir regions, and is home to 530 wineries and nearly 20,000 acres of grapes. The valley grows multi- ple other varietals as well, and skilled viticulturists have taken up the torch in Southern Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge and Eastern Oregon, all of which are expanding vine- yard acreage and producing well-regarded wines. Big companies from out- side the state have taken no- tice, most notably Jackson Family Wines of California and Louis Jadot of France, both of which bought Oregon vineyards and set up shop. “Outside investment has accelerated,” Wine Enthusiast said in announcing its 2016 Wine Star award winners, “propelled by the recognition that Willamette Valley Pinor noir can challenge Burgundy (France) in its ability to cap- ture the nuance and power of the grape.” The Willamette Valley earned the award due to the “outstanding quality of its wines and the tectonic shift in wine investments these have engendered,” the magazine said. Earlier this fall, Wine En- thusiast chose a Pinot gris by Eugene’s King Estate Winery as its best value of the year. In a prepared statement, Oregon Wine Board Chair- man David Beck said the state’s producers are primari- ly small- to mid-size farmers, more than half of whom make fewer than 5,000 cases a year. “This award is the direct reflection of the attention and care given by Oregon’s grape- growers and winemakers from vine to bottle,” he said. The magazine’s Wine Star award for American Winery of the Year went to Bonterra Organic Vineyards, of Men- docino County, Calif. Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Pinot noir grapes fill a tote in this photo from Oregon’s 2014 harvest. Wine Enthusiast magazine named the Willamette Valley its 2016 Wine Region of the Year, citing its wine quality and the outside investment it has attracted. Regulations, predators top new CPOW president’s concerns By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File Program specialist Taylor Keeton calculates the falling number for a wheat sample Aug. 9 in the Spokane Valley, Wash., office of the state Department of Agriculture grain inspection service. At right, technician Mike Espinoza washes beakers from the test. A grain company has filed a tort claim alleg- ing that the state didn’t follow federal procedures in performing the tests. Grain company files tort claim against state agency over falling numbers By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press A Wilbur, Wash., grain company claims it was dam- aged because state grain in- spectors violated federal pro- cedure when they adjusted for altitude while testing wheat for falling numbers in Spo- kane. Glacier Grains Inc. filed a tort claim Oct. 28 against the Washington Department of Agriculture Grain Inspection Program. The company claims $7,869.55 in damages. Hector Castro, spokesman for WSDA, said the agency has 60 days to respond. He declined to comment further. Grain elevators use the Hagberg-Perten falling num- ber test to measure starch damage due to sprouting. A low falling number indicates a high level of alpha amy- lase, an enzyme that degrades starch and diminishes the quality of wheat products. Grain with a falling number below 300 typically receives a discount in the Pacific North- west. Rain and temperature fluctuations are the primary causes. “I believe the state de- partment of agriculture is not following the federal proce- dure for conducting the fall- ing number test,” said Ben- jamin Wyborney, a Spokane attorney representing Glacier Grains. His father and broth- er, Robert Wyborney and Pete Wyborney, are listed in the claim as president of Glacier Grains. Discounts for falling num- ber vary depending on the elevator, according to the Washington Grain Commis- sion. Some companies dock a penny per point below 300, so 299 would cause a one-cent discount. Others discount by the quarter, meaning that 299 would be docked the same as 276, 25 cents. This year’s total crop was 157.3 million bushels, ac- cording to the commission. Forty-two percent of the sam- ples tested by WSDA had low falling numbers. Under USDA require- ments, offices must adjust for altitude at locations above 2,000 feet. The Spokane of- fice is at roughly 1,920 feet, Wyborney, the lawyer, said. He believes the office is making the altitude adjust- AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — Agency overreach is the biggest challenge ranchers face, the new leader of Cattle Producers of Washington says. Kettle Falls rancher Scott Nielsen was elected president during the group’s annual meet- ing in Airway Heights. “We have a system to deal with regulations through our representatives, our elected government,” Nielsen told the Capital Press. “We’re being regulated out of business, and it’s not being done through our electeds. Regulation without representation is tyranny, and I think we’re experiencing some tyranny.” Nielsen said agencies should work through the legislative process, as ranchers must. “I think our legislators would be appalled to know how some of those things are,” he said. “I think we can get our electeds to put some checks and balances on the regulators. I think we Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Kettle Falls, Wash., rancher Scott Nielsen is the new presi- dent of the Cattle Producers of Washington. can make headway there.” CPOW also reaffirmed its position that predators should not be able to prey on livestock. “Agencies are responding to social pressures, and (Wash- ington Department of Fish and Wildlife) should be relying on science-based approaches,” Nielsen said. “We’re going to hold them accountable to the things they say.” CPOW left the state’s wolf advisory group in 2015, calling it “inept and pointless.” Niel- sen said CPOW can still be in- volved without a representative on the group. “That is a classic example of social management,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with groups trying to do that, I just don’t like agencies using those groups as their steering tool. We should be helping shape opinions and we will.” Nielsen doesn’t believe the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Part- nership trade deal will advance since it’s so unpopular politi- cally. “There isn’t a candidate out there right now who supports TPP,” he said. The most hopeful thing on the horizon? “There’s a lot of negative stuff out there,” Nielsen said, but he believes the industry is coming together. “Ranchers are a bunch of rogue guys who go do their own darn thing and they’ve always been that way,” he said. “Those guys are starting to recognize we’re getting slaughtered one by one. ... But those of us that are there, they’re recognizing we’ve got to work together to come up with a solution.” ment “arbitrarily.” “I do not believe they have authorization to deviate from the federal procedure,” he said. The Spokane laborato- ry conducts one-third of the state’s falling number tests. Other laboratories are in Col- fax and Pasco, Wyborney said. “If I am correct and the state lab is doing the test wrong, that is causing about a 27-second reduction in the falling number,” Wyborney said. State law requires an ad- ministrative claim to be filed with the Office of Risk Man- agement, Wyborney said. After 60 days, if not satisfied with the results of that claim, the company can file a civ- il complaint, he said. If not satisfied then, it could appeal through the court system. “I don’t know how far it’s going to go — that is the typi- cal road map,” he said. The claim is the only one from the last decade an ana- lyst was able to locate pertain- ing to falling number tests, said Linda Kent, spokeswom- an for the Department of En- terprise Services. By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press COEUR D’ALENE, Ida- ho — Wheat farmers say the current farm bill doesn’t ad- equately protect them against extended periods of low pric- es. That was one of the results of a National Association of Wheat Growers survey shared by legislative director Josh Tonsager during the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. A majority of respondents also said the yield data used to calculate payments is in- accurate. They would prefer yield data used by the USDA Risk Management Agency and crop insurance be used in- stead of data from the USDA National Agricultural Statis- tics Service. Most farmers who re- sponded had purchased reve- nue protection crop insurance. The survey will help the or- ganization identify priorities as discussions of a new farm bill begin next spring. Farmers have until Dec. 15 to respond to the survey. NAWG CEO Chandler Goule said the association is going to keep its game plan for the farm bill close to the vest. “It’s very important we keep this confidential,” Goule said. “If we come in, put our farm bill principles together and then lay them all down on the table, print them and send them around, we have pretty much wiped out our hand of having anything to leverage.” Some of the policy chang- es likely in the next farm bill will focus on cotton and dairy farmers. Their insurance pro- grams haven’t worked as planned, Goule and Tonsager said. NAWG wants to establish a Wheat Caucus to meet with congressional leaders and their staffs about industry priorities. “The idea would be to have a venue in place where we can have champions on the Hill helping us out to discuss our issues,” Tonsager said. “Even some basic edu- cational things, about the different classes of wheat, what they’re used for” would help members from non-wheat-producing ar- eas understand the crop, he said. 47-4/#6 NAWG survey reveals issues to resolve in next farm bill
