New Wine Center To Grow Wine Industry

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Construction should be mostly completed this year and some professors could move in early next year at the new Wine Science Center at Washington State University. A grand opening is planned in March at the $23 million center. Students could start taking classes next fall. One wine industry executive, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates CEO Ted Baseler, says the Wine Science Center at Richland will do for Washington's wineries what the University of California Davis did for California's wine industry. The new building includes chemistry, microbiology and plant pathology labs as well as 192 fermentation tanks. Classroom desks are wide enough to accommodate wine-tasting glasses.