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Industry says Oregon wine business worth $1.4 billion a year |
Published: February 1, 2006
by the Associated Press
in the News Register
PORTLAND — An industry-funded study says wine has become a billion-dollar business in Oregon.
The Oregon Wine Board released a report that says the economic impact of the wine business and related activities was $1.4 billion in 2004.
That includes the value of winery revenues, retail wine sales, the value of related businesses such as vineyard maintenance and distribution, tourism and a range of sales rung up by supporting industries.
"We knew we were a powerful growth engine within the Oregon economy," said Ted Farthing, executive director of the board. "We needed to quantify our value."
In recent years, the board has cited a figure of $100 million for the economic impact of its businesses. The $1.4 billion figure released Tuesday came from a report commissioned by the industry group and conducted by Full Glass Research of Berkeley, Calif.
The $1.4 billion includes retail wine sales. Without those, the direct economic impact of the state's wine industry is at $801 million, the study said.
"In less than 35 years, this industry has gone from being a dream and a hobby to one of Oregon's more significant agriculturally-based businesses," said Jim Bernau, founder of Willamette Valley Vineyards in Salem.
The study may be a debating point in a land-use battle between the wine business and developers.
Wine industry representatives said they would present it to a land-use panel recently appointed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. They want new safeguards for undeveloped land that could become vineyards. That land tends to be in hills lacking the prime flatland soils first in line for protection under the state's land-use planning system.
"If we pave over our grape-land inventory, we won't have a future," Bernau said. "Once those hillsides are committed to development, there's no going back."
Jon Chandler, head of the Oregon Home Builders Association, said the situation may not be so dire as the state wine board thinks.
"The wine guys have been panicking ever since Measure 37 passed," he said. "What we all need to do now is take a deep breath and let the governor's task force get on with its work." |
