True to the collaborative Oregon spirit, four Oregon winemakers came together last fall when large grape purchases fell through following concerns about the impact of smoke from last summer’s wildfires. What has cultivated from this collaboration are the Oregon Solidarity wines.

King Estate Winery and Willamette Valley Vineyards teamed up to help winegrowers in the Rogue Valley whose contracts were abruptly cancelled.  The two wineries purchased as much stranded wine grapes as possible, paying the full contracted rates to help the growers.

They were joined by Silvan Ridge Winery and The Eyrie Vineyards and collaboratively made a Rogue Valley AVA labeled rosé of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot noir, creating the Oregon Solidarity wines. Net proceeds from wine sales will be donated to the Rogue Valley Vintners to help support vineyards in the region. 

Currently released is the rosé of pinot noir, which will be followed by a May release of the chardonnay and August release of the pinot noir. The wines can be purchased online or through many retailers around the state.

Read more about the Oregon Solidarity wines on NPR and TravelOregon.com. 

Photo by Willamette Valley Vineyards

Travel Oregon's 2019-2021 Draft Strategic Plan will be posted and available for public comment starting March 28. Watch for the Oregon Tourism Commission meeting notice in your inbox, which will contain a link to the Draft Strategic Plan and to the online comment platform. Comments can be submitted online through May 1, or in person at the April 14 Commission meeting in Eugene. Final adoption of the plan will be at the June 11 Commission meeting.

This biennial Draft Strategic Plan was developed with extensive input from Oregon's travel and tourism industry, community leaders and stakeholders, by incorporating the latest industry research and data through an industrywide engagement survey and a series of 10 Oregon Tourism Listening Sessions held across the state.

Inspired by the viral success of the Only Slightly Exaggerated campaign last spring, Travel Oregon is launching part two of the animated campaign on April 6, giving viewers a creative glimpse of the magical feeling of being in Oregon.

The new 1:45 minute video continues a visual narrative, showcasing different locations, experiences and thrilling adventures in Oregon.   

Like the original, this new video features a cast of animated human characters, native flora and fauna and a few new fantastical beings, including mystical cloud-people and a sea-stack creature, to name a few. The campaign will run through May 31.

Please explore and check back for the industry partner toolkit. We will be sharing new campaign assets and plans for advertising, social media and communications so partners are able to leverage our efforts in our target markets of Seattle, San Francisco, Boise, Tri Cities, Bend, Eugene and Portland. All creative assets will be uploaded by April 5.

If you have specific questions ahead of launch please reach out to Kelda@TravelOregon.com. Our efforts are stronger together and we appreciate industry support.

Through this innovative content sharing partnership with the OWB, Travel Oregon and our partners benefited from 67 new tasting room listings being added to OTIS and another 364 updates to Wine & Wineries listings. What’s more, OTIS will receive daily updates from OWB. Learn more. 

Launched in 2011, the Travel Oregon Forever Fund has received more than $220,000 donations in support of 28 projects across the state, with more than $42,000 raised in 2018. On February 14, Travel Oregon hosted the seven 2018-2019 project beneficiaries during the annual Forever Fund Beneficiary Lunch to celebrate Oregon’s 160^th birthday and to learn about each project’s progress.

You can review the 2018 Forever Fund annual report online and you can learn more about the Forever Fund at GiveBacktoOregon.org.

Are you interested in learning more about what Travel Oregon and the industry are doing in domestic travel trade? If you’re a tour operator, an industry partner, business or organization doing work related to travel trade, opt in to receive timely information and updates related to that work. This newsletter will provide insight on how to promote your region or business to the domestic travel trade market, opportunities for partners to submit information about group offerings and upcoming FAM opportunities. 

Be sure to sign up now so the first Domestic Travel Trade newsletter lands in your inbox this spring. 

Photo by Port of Portland