Quincy port uneils plans for wine warehousing facility

Project provides storage capacity for growers

QUINCY — The Port of Quincy recently unveiled plans to secure funding to construct a bonded wine warehousing facility to improve the economic and distribution potential of the northern Columbia Basin and north central Washington wine industry.

"The wine industry in north central Washington is at a critical period in its development," said Curt Morris, chair of the Port of Quincy Commission, in a statement.

The area has significant potential as a major wine region and the number and quality of wineries continues to increase, Morris added, but wine production remains small relative to other, more established areas in the state.

"We were aware that the Port of Benton had established that kind of facility to meet the needs of growers in the lower Yakima Valley," port commissioner Brian Kuest said. "With an increasing number of producers and the success that we're seeing, it makes some sense to have a centralized storage site to house some of the wine being produced here in the upper Basin."

With more wine producers and bottlers bottling under their own brand, Kuest said, storage is becoming a problem.

"A lot of producers do not have the storage capacity or facilities to store bulk wine," he said.

Kuest said a facility would be a positive for area growers, and it appears some money would be available to help facilitate this kind of a project.

"With Columbia Colstor adding construction on port property, we've got things going on that make that a logical fit," he said, noting a site has not specifically been selected, but "we certainly have room in our industrial parks to accommodate that."

Public affairs consultant Pat Boss said the port district aims to further distribution and transportation opportunities in Grant County.

"Clearly, the wine industry in this area is taking off, and we're looking at what other areas have done," he said, again referring to the Port of Benton. "The growth has been phenomenal, and if it continues to grow like it is, there's definitely going to be a need for more wine warehousing facilities, and we're trying to anticipate that."

It's a project Kuest said has been in the works conceptually for six to eight months, and he thinks the timing is right to make it a reality. Growers the port talked to agree, he added.

Kuest estimated the facility would be accessible to all Grant County producers in need of storage.

"There are half a dozen producers/bottlers right now establishing their own brand or have established their own label, and others coming on board that want to label their own wine," he said. "Even if they're contracted to (another) winery, they still need the capacity to store, even if they're not bottling or processing their own."

The Port of Quincy will be working with federal and state policy makers in 2006 and beyond to secure nearly $4 million in funding to construct a state-of-the-art bonded warehouse at the central Washington Regional Freight Facility at the Port of Quincy to help provide wine storage and distribution for the area.

According to the port's press release, a bonded wine warehouse would lower operating costs for current wine producers in north central Washington, allow them to increase production and encourage new producers to start up in the region.