Heather Unwin Focusing on Opening Markets for Walla Walla Wine

Heather Unwin called her hiring as Executive Director of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance an honor and humbling.

Starting January 3^rd, Unwin's focus will be on how to expand markets for Walla Walla wineries big and small.

“You want to give them something that ties them to you, that has them want to come back to you. So the stories people tell and how we tell our story that, for me, for marketing is actually where everything comes down to.”

For smaller winemakers, Unwin wants to find a clearer path to sell their wine by bringing more people to Walla Walla and for larger winemakers taking advantage of the Walla Walla Valley reputation for producing great wines.

Unwin said she’s excited to work with an industry that is focused on education and hospitality.

“What is so cool is that tourists, visitors, people who are passing through, what they get when they’re in Walla Walla is a sense of belonging and a sense of all the places in the world where maybe I feel like a stranger or I’m just passing through, this is a place I can come to and feel like I belong here and it feels like a home town that so many of us don’t really have anymore.”

Unwin is succeeding Duane Wollmuth who tragically passed away this past summer.

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