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Rep. Bob Hasegawa, serving the 11th District Serving parts of South Seattle including Beacon Hill, Georgetown, South Park, Allentown, Boulevard Park, part of North Highline Unincorporated Area, Burien, City of Sea-Tac, all of Tukwila and Southcenter, the southern and eastern parts of Renton, Fairwood, Benson Hill and adjacent unincorporated areas of King County. |
Hasegawa to buy first bottle of wine at Legislative Gift Center on August 10 at 10 a.m.
August 5, 2009
OLYMPIA – Grapes are joining apples as a Washington state trademark, in
fact, our state is the second largest premium wine producer in the United
States. Alcohol had never been sold anywhere on the Capitol Campus, until it
occurred to a lawmaker that it would be a good idea.
The bill (HB
1415), sponsored by Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle), went into effect last
week and the gift center will begin selling Washington wines on Monday,
August 10 at 10 a.m. The first bottle will be purchased by Hasegawa, who
said he authored the legislation because it makes perfect sense to add
Washington’s fine wines to the many other locally-made products sold at the
gift center.
“The state has put economic development efforts into the
wine industry and this is the showcase of the results,” said the lawmaker.
“In just a decade our wine industry has evolved from 160 to 615 wineries and
they provide full-time employment to about 20,000 workers. This industry has
grown so much that it currently has an impact of $3 billion on Washington’s
economy and $4.7 billion nationwide. Our state’s wine history is a huge
economic development success.”
Under Hasegawa’s measure, the
Capitol’s gift center will sell wine produced in Washington by licensed
wineries for off-premises consumption. Wine will be sold only to individuals
21 years of age or older for personal use.
The wine to be sold at
the gift center is selected through a lottery by the Washington State Wine
Commission. An announcement was sent to all the wineries in the state asking
them to participate in the drawing. The gift center can carry only 12 labels
at a time while another dozen is held in reserve. When the wine sells out,
the next winery selection will be moved in.
The Legislative Gift
Center opened its doors in January of 2007. So far it has done well over
$200,000 in sales. It hosts tourists from all over the world as well as
foreign dignitaries and other officials.
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