Marketing Colorado Wine Trails

Project Leader: Rocky Mountain Association of Vintners and Viticulturalists, Nancy Janes, President, Palisade, CO Technical Advisor: Doug Caskey, Executive Director, Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, Boulder, CO Project Year: 2004

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Project Summary

Colorado currently has fifty licensed commercial wineries, contributing more than six million dollars to the state's economy. The majority of these wineries are small, family-run enterprises that do not have the resources to market their product beyond farmers markets, wine shops, or festivals. Besides the original ten wineries in the state, there is a very low awareness of the wineries' locations and production.

Standardized road signs for Colorado wineries have been developed with the approval of the Colorado Department of Transportation. This sign program will direct tourists to the wineries for tours, tasting, and sales. The road signs are the beginning of the program. Promotional materials will also be developed, including brochures with a map illustrating the locations of all of the wineries and suggested itineraries for driving "Colorado Wine Trails". This publication will also be in the Colorado Official State Vacation Guide.

Wine tours are becoming very popular in the tourist industry, as well as agri-tourism. Colorado 's grape growers and wineries are perfectly situated to develop this very profitable segment of the tourism market.

Results

As of December 2004, thirty-nine "Colorado Wine Trails" signs were installed, advertising twenty-one wineries. Wineries that had a sign up claimed that they had a two to three-fold increase in visitors.

Please click here for the full text of the 2004 Annual Report (Word document).