The Investment Opportunity in Willamette Valley Wine Country is huge

...However, Willamette Valley currently suffers from a lack of amenities visitors demand

Looking at my handy weather app on my phone, which promises “Superior Accuracy”, it shows that over the next 14 days, twelve of them will include rain here in the Willamette Valley. Looking at Napa Valley, it shows that rain will occur just twice in that same two-week period.

Both are considered important and prominent “Wine Country” locations and destinations. Both are positioned near and accessible to major transportation hubs. Both possess unquestionable natural beauty. And both attract tourists from around the globe.

In a normal (read: non-pandemic or wildfire) year, Oregon will generate around $900 million from wine tourism. This is for the entire state and not just the Willamette Valley where the vast majority of wine travel ends up.

Napa Valley, in that same “normal” year, will see tourists to the Valley spend upward of $2.25 Billion.

This is not a pure apples-to-apples comparison and the difference between the Napa and Oregon wine tourist economy is likely more vast than the 1.5x difference the above two numbers represent. This time of year, I start wondering just how much of that difference can be attributed to the vastly different weather patterns as opposed to the vastly different measures of name recognition and visibility and reputation between the two regions.

Not too long ago a good friend of mine inquired as to when they could make a trip up to Salem to spend a couple days playing golf with me. Put bluntly, he asked when can be pretty sure we won’t run into rain? Optimistically, I told him, “late April ought to do the trick.” I have to reassess. Clearly, the correct answer is mid-May.

“IT HAS MOUNT RUSHMORE TOO”
Somewhere in the middle of the eight seasons of that great series, “The West Wing”, there is an episode in which a representative of President Bartlett’s administration attends a meeting of the State Democratic party in Bismark, North Dakota. Quietly, she listens to a pitch that the state change its name from “North Dakota” to simply “Dakota. The presenter makes the case that while North Dakota takes in hardly any tourist income, the state just below it, with the word “South” attached to its name rakes in millions of dollars in tourism revenue and that the primary difference, the presenter says, is that the word “North” in the name delivers connotations of cold and frigid weather while the state below them has the word “South” attached to their name.

The representative from the White House, when queried as to their reaction to this dichotomy responds, “They also have Mount Rushmore?”

Like South Dakota compared to North Dakota, Napa wine country has a great deal more to offer than Oregon wine country besides its longer-standing reputation. To begin with, it has far less water tumbling from the sky. But most important, it has something that Oregon does not yet possess and until it does won’t blast off as the kind of wine tourism destination it could be: far more investment in visitor infrastructure.

In the following categories, Oregon’s Willamette Valley offers no comparison to Napa Valley:

1. Lodging
There are some lovely lodging opportunities in the Willamette Valley. Yes, there is the Allison Inn and Spa. And the Atticus Hotel in McMinnville is lovely. But compared to the abundance of luxury hotel experiences in Napa there is no comparison

2. Dining
The dearth of high-quality dining in the Willamette Valley is sort of shocking when you consider its proximity to local goods and produce as well as the Pacific Ocean. Yes, a few fine restaurants can be found south of Portland, but any honest local will tell you they are few and far between. It could be argued that the proliferation of fine dining will increase as more and more visitors come to the Willamette Valley, but from my perspective, there is such a gap between what current tourism could support and what currently exists that fine dining in Willamette Valley is the one tourism category that could improve the fastest and have the most dramatic impact on the region’s reputation with visitors.

OPPORTUNITY ABOUNDS
On the other hand…

Consider the advantages of Willamette Valley beyond those already mentioned. The natural beauty and varied geography of the Willamette Valley with its nooks, crannies, vistas, and the back roads one can take to traverse the region give it a significant advantage over Napa. I honestly don’t think it’s even a fair fight comparing the two.

Meanwhile, the wineries here in the Willamette Valley are sophisticated, diverse in their architectural style, don’t charge $500+ per “tasting experience” and deliver up wines of remarkable quality that are easily comparable to the best made anywhere in the world.

Finally, the nearby opportunities for outdoor recreation in the Willamette Valley far exceed anything in Napa. While it’s true that most folks don’t go to wine country for the recreation value, this aspect of Willamette Valley is a bonus that should not be overlooked.

But this also leads to acknowledging the reality that so many visitors to Wine Country are looking to indulge themselves and this means accommodations and restaurants that can meet the desires of the well-heeled, and even the medium-heeled, potential visitors. This is all the more true when in springtime, it’s highly likely the weather in the Willamette Valley will force people to seek out indoor destinations that warm them and keep them dry.

This is not so much a set of criticisms of my Willamette Valley, the place I call my new home. Rather, it should be seen as a recognition of a significant upside that exists in this part of the country. Every dollar invested in hospitality in the Willamette Valley will return far more than the same dollar invested in Napa Valley.