Ashley Trout in Wine Enthusiast

Ashley Trout in Wine Enthusiast

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. More accolades for a Walla Walla winemaker recognized this time by Wine Enthusiast magazine as one of the magazine's Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers of 2018.

Brook & Bull Cellars owner and head winemaker Ashley Trout has been in the wine industry since she was 18 when she found herself in the Walla Walla valley ...

TROUT ... "I looked for colleges that people had good things to say about in small towns and wound up at Whitman and my motto while I was there was 'when in Rome, try everything. Do it.' And, a week after I started college I saw an opportunity to be the nighttime punch-down person at a winery, Reininger Winery, and that was '99".

Wine Enthusiast selected Trout and other winemakers, sommeliers, brewers, distillers, and educators on its list of professionals who've left a lasting influence on the world of food and drink ...

TROUT ... "The job very much fits my personality and there's something about getting my hands dirty and creating something tactile, being physically exhausted and having it be a process that you have to come back to over and over and over again to complete. There's something about that long-term artistic mulling over and getting dirty and physical that I just can't stay away from."

Trout spent eight years at Reininger Winery before starting Flying Trout Wines in 2006. She sold Flying Trout in 2010 before launching Vital Wines and what's now Brook & Bull Cellars in 2016. Trout is married to winemaker Brian Rudin and has two young children.

Vital Wines dedicates all proceeds to support SOS Health Services, which provides emergency healthcare for vineyard and winery workers in the valley.

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BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. With us again is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, let's talk about EntVocate 18.

AW: #EntVocate18 for the first insect week, created by the Entomological Society of America, which I'm a member. It's a chance to advocate to DC for evidence-based decision making and the science of entomology!

BL: Be nice, but why should we care about insects?

AW: You should care because insects transmit diseases to plants and humans, like Zika and west Nile. More people die from mosquito transmitted diseases than shark attacks.

BL: So, insect week is suddenly scarier than shark week?

AW: Yes! Not only diseases but bedbugs, oranges are dying from an insect transmitted disease. Entomologists work on pests that threaten our health, food supply and economic security.

BL: But, why the week of August 19th?

AW: It includes National honeybee day on the 18th and World mosquito day on the 20th.

BL: Well I won't let it "bug" me, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.

https://www.entsoc.org/sites/default/files/files/Science-Policy/Impt-of-Entomology.pdf

https://www.entsoc.org/sites/default/files/files/Science-Policy/2018/ESA-Talking-Points-and-Communication-Tips-July-2018.pdf

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