07/27/06 Washington Wine A Big Hit

Washington Wines Big Hit. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Seems wine lovers in Florida like wines from Washington State. The Washington Wine Industries first national branding effort in Tampa, Florida was a complete success according the Washington Wine Commission's Robin Pollard. POLLARD: We did a measurement to determine what kind of increase we saw in wine sales and we found a 45% increase which is phenomenal. That was, over that 2 month time period a year ago, for sales in Tampa it was indeed a 45% increase. Approximately 40 wineries too part in the campaign. Tampa was chosen for its demographics and wine consumption. POLLARD: We looked at a number of what we call mid-sized markets. We had a limited advertising budget. Tampa really rose to the top because wine consumption is extremely high if not one of the highest areas around the country, yet they have a fairly low awareness of Washington wines so we knew it would be a good market to actually go in and test consumer awareness increase after our marketing efforts. The Washington Wine Commission plans to return to Florida next spring for another 12 week marketing blitz, and will add additional national markets to the mix in future years. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.