Five years ago, small-town Prosser, Washington in the lower Yakima Valley started to buzz.  New wineries and vineyards were going in faster than ever before. From just five wineries operating in 2000 to the current 17 (26 by 2007), Prosser-area wine country has become attractive to more than a few members of the wine industry, wine-related businesses and countless wine tourists. Next year, the number of wine producers operating in the Prosser area of Washington State will exceed five times that of just five years ago! 

If you have followed the growth Prosser's wine country, you have probably noticed what amounts to a paradigm shift in its profile as a wine region.  Washington's eastside-dominated wine industry is beginning to rotate around the lower-Yakima-Valley town of Prosser.  The emerging hub was not written into any overarching industry plan, but as the industry goes, so goes wine tourism.

Before Stimson Lane Vineyards and Estates (today's Ste Michelle Wine Estates) announced it would build a large new winery in Prosser for its Snoqualmie Vineyards, there were just five wineries to attract wine enthusiasts. Even so, Prosser was included regularly in wine-tour plans through the Yakima Valley and Red Mountain appellations. 

       The 2002 announcement that Snoqualmie Vineyards would join the small group of Prosser-area wineries was good news for wine-country tourists, but it was news of seismic proportions for members of the Northwest wine industry and those considering entering it.  Answers to the "why Prosser" question were supplied by news stories in mainstream and industry publications, and the area gained not only increased respect from the trade, but serious consideration from prospective businesses researching locations for new wine-related businesses.

Locally, the Snoqualmie Vineyards announcement sent waves of excitement, and a little anxiety, through city and county government.  (Prosser is the county seat of Benton County.)  The handwriting was appearing on their collective walls, and stepped-up strategic planning was clearly in order.  New goals and local-government programs and projects focused on the subject of wine tourism and economic development needs. The potential for the area to become a hub for wine tourism was obvious enough to attract public and private grant dollars for a wide variety of related local projects.

The rate of new-business licensing began to accelerate a few years ago, and has shown no sign of slowing.  Dozens of new licenses have been issued by the City recently, with a large portion being for wine-related businesses.  Economic Development has become a serious subject in Benton County (third-fastest-growing county in the state) and public agencies -- the County, the City and the Port District -- joined hands to provide assistance to prospective businesses and and to work together to enhance the wine-tourism atmosphere of the area.  No doubt these efforts have helped turn the Prosser area into an epicenter of Washington's wine industry and a magnet for wine tourists, causing prospective businesses to take a close look at Prosser. 

More than a few wine-industry members have been doing just that... and the closer they look, the more the Prosser area looks like a smart choice for locating new or expanded businesses.  Winemakers recognize the area as central to Eastern Washington growing areas, areas that are connected by major highways leading beyond their own area to the growing areas of Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, the Walla Walla Valley and other parts of the vast Columbia Valley appellation.  Ease of premium grape sourcing and wine shipping is increasingly essential to winemaking professionals.