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Ms. WOOLSEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for being 

 late. I was just sitting here thinking that the mayor of my town, 

 when I was on the city council, used to call me the "late Ms. Wool- 

 sey." He would have been furious at my schedule around here, be- 

 cause I never manage to be anyplace on time. For example, right 

 now I should also be at the budget hearing with Representatives 

 Penny and Kasich keeping them on the hot seat. 



I am here today because this hearing is very important. I have 

 reviewed the testimony and I do have some specific questions that 

 relate to my district 



I appreciate your being here. The district I represent is the Sixth 

 Congressional District in California, Marin and Sonoma Counties. 

 We have a thriving wine and wine-grape industry. The market pro- 

 motion program, which is one of the FAS export promotion pro- 

 grams, plays a very important role in the success of the vintners 

 and the growers in Sonoma and Marin. 



Earlier this year, Chairman Condit came out to my district and 

 we had a congressional hearing in Sonoma County on the USDA's 

 role in the wine industry and how the USDA could better play that 

 role. On the issue of trade, a number of the witnesses who were 

 either vintners or growers testified that they found the market pro- 

 motion program to be extremely beneficial to the wine industry. 



One of the issues discussed at the hearing in my district on the 

 wine industry was whether a wine desk could be established at the 

 USDA. Many members of the wine and winegrape industry would 

 really like the USDA to embrace them more fully by establishing 

 a wine desk. However, the USDA has not responded favorably to 

 this idea. I would like to know what you think of establishing a 

 wine desk. Is this a possibility? 



What do I need to do, what do they need to do and what do you 

 need to do to make it happen? 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. Well, it is essentially, I believe, a question of 

 resources. And as wine has become an emphasis in our MPP ef- 

 forts, as it has become a more important U.S. export, of course we 

 have increased the amount of time that our analysts and our pro- 

 motion personnel devote to it. I can't honestly say, at this point, 

 that I think we will have the resources to establish a separate wine 

 desk simply because our folks are already very much stretched. 



But we do, I am sure, in terms of the overall effort that we de- 

 vote, occupy the time of at least a couple of our staff. If you sum- 

 marize the contributions of all of them on wine, I don't think we 

 are at all neglecting wine. 



Ms. WooLSEY. Would there be a chance that the High-Value 

 Product Services Division could further address the needs and con- 

 cerns of the vintners and growers? Grapes are one of the ten high- 

 est agricultural commodities in this Nation. People just don't real- 

 ize that. I believe the USDA needs to recognize how valuable the 

 wine and winegrape industry is by addressing their concerns. 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. We will certainly do everything we can to be 

 in very close contact with the industry. I think we have by and 

 large succeeded in having a very solid contact with the wine indus- 

 try. We want that to continue, obviously, and if that means devot- 

 ing some additional time and attention, we will certainly try to do 

 that. 



