Virginia wine sales see continued growth

ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - If the wine industry is growing across the country, then it's currently exploding in Virginia, especially in the Blue Ridge.

Just this past year, Virginia wine sales reached a record high of more than 6.6 million bottles sold, a 6 percent increase from the previous year.

Owner Greg Bublitz of White Rock Vineyards & Winery left California to come to Roanoke because he believed this would be a great location to open his business.

"Because this is the region that can produce good grapes," explained Bublitz.

Governor McAuliffe announced Virginia's wine industry currently contributes to more than $1.37 billion annually to Virginia's economy, marking an 82 percent increase from the last Economic Impact Study in 2010.

The uptick in sales that Bublitz experienced at his winery has left mostly dust in the wine tasting room.

"We had a tremendous amount of customer sales, it was up by 15 percent," says Bublitz.

The Economic Impact Study of Wine and Wine Grapes indicates this growing industry is being driven by small wineries like White Rock.

"Their impact is just as great when there are more, than that would be for a large winery," said vice president Catherine Fox of Virginia's Blue Ridge.

No doubt the 14 wineries in the Blue Ridge are making for a busier year of tourism.

"Currently, Virginia's Blue Ridge travel expenditures are 800 million," says Fox.

While this number doesn't account for just the wine industry, Fox explains when it comes to tourism, everything is interconnected.

Then it folds into our restaurants then our restaurants begin to seek Virginia wines so the growth becomes a great trickle down affect," says Fox.

A growing industry that keeps pouring more flavors to our own community.