Celebrate California Wine Month

(Wines&Vines) - —The Wine Institute (WI) and the California wine industry will celebrate the ninth edition of California Wine Month in September. While many local and regional associations and individual wineries will mark the event with promotional events, Wine Month has a larger significance in the national and worldwide wine markets. 

Wine Institute vice president of communications Nancy Light described the origin and purpose of Wine Month for Wines & Vines readers who might be asking, “Isn’t every month wine month in California?”

California Wine Month was launched in 2005—when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor—as an outgrowth of California Wine Week. “We’re in a very competitive market,” Light said. “Even with the growth of a lot of California wine regions, we didn’t see a lot of statewide California wine events. Wine Month is designed to provide an umbrella for all events.”

Although wineries and regional organizations are encouraged to mark Wine Month with events of their own, Wine Institute sponsors major promotions both within and outside of California. “We’re celebrating our home industry at harvest, at a couple of different levels” Light said. It’s all a part of WI’s bigger program: global promotion of California wine.