Wineries Enjoy Record Sales, Credit Health Benefits Studies Showing Advantages Of Modest Consumption Of Wine Help Fuel Sales Growth

Studies promoting the health benefits of wine have helped boost sales of Washington-bottled wine to record levels, an industry official said.

Simon Siegl, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission, said the state’s 88 wineries are reporting record sales for the fourth quarter of 1995, continuing the momentum that the industry built up during the past two years.

The gains came before a federal pronouncement on Tuesday that modest consumption of wine could be healthy for adults.

Exact figures for fourth-quarter sales of Washington wine are not yet available.

However, Washington wine sales for fiscal 1995, which ended June 30, rose 11 percent, a growth rate that was 10 times faster than the national average, Siegl said. Washington wineries sold 6.97 million gallons for the year, up from 6.23 million in fiscal 1994.

Siegl, traveling Thursday through Eastern Washington to attend a commission meeting and conduct a media tour, attributed the sales growth to growing consumer interest in Washington’s premium wines and a flurry of scientific and government announcements that wine can be part of a healthy diet.

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services on Tuesday for the first time said that a glass of wine daily may be part of a healthy diet for adults. In releasing the dietary guidelines, the panel of experts reversed a five-year-old recommendation against any drinking at all.

“We never want to promote wine as good medicine. It’s not medicine,” Siegl said. “And we’re not talking about people buying a case and dumping it into their system. But this is good news for consumers who now can feel good about their purchase and an occasional drink.”

Washington, which industry experts often cite as the No. 2 wine-growing region in the nation behind California, has increased its market share by producing premium wines at costs below other regions, Siegl said. Wine Spectator, a leading industry trade journal, last year cited five Washington wines in its list of the 50 best wines in the world for less than $10 a bottle.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Wine sales pop a cork