QUESTION: What steps are you taking to better market your crops?

• Increasing quality, increasing protection against severe winters, sponsoring sustainable viticulture that will have international recognition. Serving on industry commission boards.

• Being certified organic.

• Consulting with the winery.

• Development of web site.

• Employ a marketing consultant.

• Enhancing our web site and online store. More local advertising.

• Establishing long term relationships with "smaller" wineries, who actually help promote the vineyards they receive fruit from. Also moving across the state borders to other states that have wineries that appreciate Washington State fruit for a specific style of wine.

• Formalize agreements early in the season rather than at harvest.

• Growing high quality grapes. Having prospects taste wine made from our grapes.

• Have more one-on-one contact with the wineries to build better relationships. Be more visible in publications. Help the wineries promote the product through vineyard tours. Donate to charity events in the name of the winery or vineyard.

• Improve wine quality.

• Improving quality of fruit shipped.

• Informational materials, including a web site.

• Meetings with wine media, winemaker word of mouth, consistently producing great quality winegrapes.

• More email contacts.

• Need more experience in this field.  Have a long term relationship with a winery but only 2 years remain on the current contract.

• Options are limited in our area, as nobody believes our northern district can do anything. We need to get several bottlings under our belt to get terroir established.  Have customer for sale to cover cash costs on annual basis. Balance can be put in bottles with 2-3 winemakers.

• Plan to make own wine.

• Stress to our customer base the special experience they get from visiting estate wineries like ours.

• Sustainable practices.

• Tasting room and wine sales of my grapes.

• Teach marketing sales staff how involved our production is to the forecasting.

• Thankfully we have had a good demand thru word of mouth and good quality fruit.

• This has not yet been a problem.  80% of my crop goes to four wineries with whom I have long-standing contracts.  The remainder goes to dozens of small-lot amateurs who keep coming back year after year, refer their friends to me, etc.  So far, I have had more customers than crop.