January 26, 2006
Yakima vintner pledges support of farmworkers’ children through scholarships
Vintner Gary Jackson, owner of the St. Hilliare Cellars in Yakima, believes the region’s farmworkers are seriously underappreciated — and he’s doing something about it with his latest products.
Jackson is donating 5 percent of all profits from two new wines, Fiesta en Blanco, a Chardonnay, and Fiesta en Roja, a merlot, to create a series of $500 college scholarships for farmworkers and their children.
Each time the percentage of sales from the two wines reaches $500, Jackson said, he’ll cut another check. “It’ll be automatic, like an ATM machine,” he added with a laugh.
The first scholarship went to Nick Rojas, the talented Hispanic student at Yakima’s Perry Technical Institute who designed the two wines’ colorful labels. “It’s an example of what happens when someone is given an opportunity,” Jackson said. “And he has gotten quite a few graphic arts jobs as a result.”
The next scholarship will be given to a UW student, who has not yet been named.
Jackson, a UW alumnus who earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1960, was a newspaper publisher before entering the wine business about 15 years back. He said the idea for the Fiesta Scholarships, as they are called, came from the hard work and ambition of one of his most dedicated and longstanding workers, who started out shoveling manure seven days a week and rose to become farm manager.
“Every time he gets an opportunity he advances,” Jackson said. “And I’ve also seen this in youth in the Yakima Valley — given the opportunity to better themselves, they appreciate the opportunity and they really shine.”
He’s annoyed that such integrity and hard work often goes unconsidered by those who consume the wine and other products. “You go to a wine department and everybody … forget(s) about why that wine is there,” Jackson said. “It’s there because Hispanic farmworkers made it possible. Without their labors you would have no wine in the state of Washington.”
Jackson said he’s not interested in participating in the choice of scholarship recipients; he’ll leave that up to the institutions. Nancy “Rusty” Barceló, vice president and vice provost for minority affairs and diversity, with whom Jackson conferred on the scholarship process, said eligibility rules for the grants are currently being created.
Jackson visited the UW campus on Friday, Jan. 20, to deliver the first Fiesta scholarship dollars to be awarded to a UW student.
Barceló praised Jackson’s contribution heartily. “Providing scholarships to the children of farmworker families is a very meaningful way of acknowledging their contributions to the state’s economy,” she said.
Jackson said he hopes to alternate scholarships between the UW and Washington State University, but that, so far, the Pullman area of Washington has not yet generated strong sales.
Jackson said his Fiesta in Blanco retails for about $7.99 and his Fiesta en Rojo about $9.99 in stores. The two wines, he said, are currently available exclusively at Larry’s Markets in the Puget Sound region.
Of his product and scholarship project, Jackson said, “Why buy a merlot and Chardonnay that doesn’t do anything except spend your money when you can recognize farmworkers’ efforts and help contribute to scholarships for their children?”
