2020 Washington Wine Annual Report

Dear Washington State wine industry colleagues and friends,

Fiscal Year 2020 (July 2019-June 2020) was on track to be one of our busiest years ever. From July through February, our team was laser-focused on executing programs and events all over the country that engaged high level trade and media in order to drive opportunity and growth for Washington wineries.

In March 2020, COVID-19 put a halt to travel, yet our team has taken on the challenge to innovate and market Washington wine in new, creative ways. We’ve significantly enhanced our presence and activity on social media, and increased our digital marketing efforts tenfold. We worked collaboratively with our partners to plan and execute virtual media tours, online seminars, and even Zoom winemaker dinners. We created two different digital conversation series to engage our network of wine professionals both nationally and internationally. Constituent communications became an even higher priority, to keep our wineries and vineyards well informed about the many changes and adjustments coming from the Governor’s office. We launched a new brand logo and a new marketing campaign, Drink. For WA., to support Washington wineries as well as our neighbors and friends in the restaurant and hospitality industries. We are thoughtfully addressing the social justice movements, and our board formed a Diversity & Inclusion Task Force to help lead the industry in ongoing learning and dialogue. Our research program continues to soar, and the online seminar format allows more of our industry to engage and give input on the future of Washington wine.

I encourage you to read through this report, to see examples and metrics from FY20. This is a year nobody could have predicted, but it’s also been an opportunity to get creative, be flexible, and work together (apart) like never before.

We are proud to work for you and with you, our extraordinary wineries and vineyards, each and every day.

Cheers to the future of Washington wine,

Steve Warner

President
Washington State Wine Commission

COVID-19 & OUR RESPONSE

A TASTE OF TASTE WASHINGTON

When Taste Washington was canceled on March 5, we launched A Taste of Taste Washington, which featured 72 of the wineries that would have been pouring at Taste Washington, sharing their stories across all of our social media platforms.

SIP GLOCAL

After Gov. Jay Inslee announced Washington’s stay-at-home order on March 23, we launched @SipGlocal on March 25, a project handle that showcased what Washington wineries were doing to support their local communities, in an effort to encourage others, near and far, to support whatever local means to them. This digital movement travelled the world with our Wine Zones program, which was an IG Live conversation series with Dr. Jamie Goode, who was joined by a weekly featured wine expert. Each episode ended where this movement began: in Washington State with a Washington winemaker. We also launched a letter-writing movement, A Message in a #WAwine Bottle, and received over 180 letters in less than two weeks. And to round out the movement, we launched Sommlight, a conversation series that looks at the non- suit side of somms, seeing what makes them most alive. We will continue producing episodes on a weekly basis through 2021.

STATE NIGHT

On May 1st, the 40th night of our stay-at-home order, we hosted State Night, a statewide date night, encouraging Washingtonians to place an order of takeout and pair it with a local bottle of wine. It was so successful, with over 1,000 people participating, that we’ve turned this into a monthly program. Partnering with local restaurants, State Night continues to remind people to #DrinkForWA and #EatForWA, which hits two elements of our latest campaign, launched June 24, 2020.

VIRTUAL ACTIVATIONS

We went digital with our 2020 cross-border AVA media tour, hosted two Washington wine consumer seminars, and hosted two virtual winemaker dinners with media guests from NYC.

We have continued to execute many additional, original programs into FY2021 that fit within the limitations of this year, including our Drink. For WA. campaign, a media dinner series entitled While We Wait, and a Road Trip alumni virtual reunion series.