Oregon may add wine country license plates- excludes Southern Oregon

KTVL News Channel 10 reports that Oregon may add wine country license plates benefitting Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties. Of course, Oregon has many more counties with contributing wine countries- Linn, Lane, Douglas, Hood River, Benton, Washington, Umatilla, Wallowa, Josephine, and Jackson, so why are these counties left out?

Krystle Henderson / KTVL.com

MEDFORD, Ore. -- There may be a new addition to the choices you get for Oregon license plates. Lawmakers may add a wine country plate to the list.

Many winemakers are pretty excited about that. In the Rogue Valley, workers at EdenVale Winery are calling the plates moving billboards.

The hitch: the plates would carry an extra fee.

That money would go to tourism projects in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, not to local wineries.

"Southern Oregon has really grown, we're certainly a large contender in terms of Oregon's wine country," said Anne Root with EdenVale. "We should get equal access to the state money that's collected on behalf of these license plates."

Root said that's always been an issue for them -- getting the word out that great wine is down here in Southern Oregon too.