Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Family Wineries of Washington State Booth at the Western Washington Fair

Hansen & Hansen LLC
PO Box 1073
Puyallup, WA 98371

Representing Exceptional Washington Wineries

Re: Family Wineries of Washington State Booth at the Western Washington Fair

Hello Family Wineries of Washington State members:

A booth was provided at the Western Washington Fair to raise state residents’ awareness of Washington wineries existing throughout the state. We feel the booth was a great success and served the intended purpose. Over the five days we reached hundreds of people. We displayed a variety of wines and handed out winery rack cards as well as a case of the “Touring Washington’s Wine Regions” books from the Washington Wine Commission.

The booth was up on the morning of September 19th, and it remained in place until the evening of Wednesday, the 23rd. We want to thank FWWS members, Mike and Judy Cavett from FairWinds Winery for taking a shift on Wednesday, we appreciated the break. We were also relieved by a couple of friends on Saturday night so we could attend a Fair concert.

We displayed the bottles of 16 FWWS members to demonstrate a handful of the wines that are produced in Washington. Many people asked why their favorite winery wasn’t represented in our display. We explained that we could only show a sample of what is available, and that all WA wineries are invited to join FWWS. If their favorite winery wasn’t on the membership list, its absence only indicates that they haven’t joined the organization yet.

People were fascinated by the AVA maps and surprised by the number of wineries that exist within the Puget Sound region and throughout the state. The majority of people had no idea there are over 600 wineries in the state. We emphasized that wherever they go in Washington, there are wineries nearby to be visited.

This was only a minor contribution in the effort to promote FWWS and the Washington wine industry as a whole. It’s going to take a long time and a great deal of effort by everyone in the industry to increase demand for Washington wine. Every public tasting, wine festival, barrel tasting, winemakers’ dinners, etc. is helping to create loyal customers. We have a product to be proud of. Now we just need to make sure everyone knows about it.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent your organization at the Western Washington Fair. We are aware of other potential opportunities for your organization and will present them to you for your consideration in the near future. We look forward to working with you again.

Sincerely,

Doc and Sonie Hansen
Hansen and Hansen, LLC
253-227-3822
hansen-hansen@comcast.net