Wine tasting room visitor spending includes much more than the tasting fee. In the 2018 Willamette Valley visitor survey, travel parties spent on wine, dining, lodging, retail purchases, and tasting-room fees. More recent Oregon Wine Board estimates put winery-based tasting-room visitation at about 4.14 million people in 2024, while a separate California economic-impact estimate measured 25.2 million annual wine-related winery visits.
Table of contents
- Daily spending by visitor segment
- Wine purchases during the trip
- Tasting-room fees and other costs
- Visits, winery stops, and trip length
- Overnight stays and spending intensity
- Oregon and California wine-tourism scale
Daily spending by visitor segment
The 2018 Willamette Valley Winery Association - Visitor Profile Study – Final Report of Findings measured daily spending per travel party, not per individual visitor. That distinction matters: the average party covered approximately 2.3 people. The figures below describe what each party spent on selected categories during a day in the region.
Wine purchases to take or ship home varied substantially by visitor segment. Oregon-resident wine tourists spent an average of $154.17 per party per day. Out-of-state wine tourists spent $247.43, while wine-club members spent $213.57. Non-wine-club visitors spent $156.70. Heavy wine consumers recorded the highest amount at $267.71, compared with $85.03 among light wine consumers. These are survey averages from 2018, not current-year forecasts.
Dining also differed by origin and location within the valley. Oregon-resident visitors spent $67.72 per party per day on restaurants and dining out. Out-of-state visitors spent $194.44. By valley area, the averages were $137.98 in the North Valley, $158.67 in the Central Valley, and $118.26 in the South Valley.
Lodging showed the widest origin-based gap in the reported categories. Oregon-resident visitors spent $31.46 per party per day on lodging, compared with $204.75 among out-of-state visitors. Area-level lodging averages were $120.15 in the North Valley and $152.53 in the Central Valley. The survey’s category averages should be read as reported, party-level spending measures rather than a universal budget for every tasting-room visitor.
Wine purchases during the trip
The survey separated wine purchased for taking or shipping home from wine consumed during the trip. Oregon-resident visitors spent $31.00 per party per day on wine consumed during the trip. The corresponding out-of-state average was $85.64. Regional averages were $60.94 in the North Valley, $70.33 in the Central Valley, and $60.38 in the South Valley.
Wine-club membership produced a smaller difference for on-trip wine consumption than for wine taken or shipped home. Wine-club members spent $56.06 per party per day, while non-wine-club visitors spent $53.61. The comparison suggests that the survey captured different spending patterns by category: membership was associated with a much larger gap in take-home or shipped wine than in wine consumed during the trip.
The 2018 survey also reported how often visitors bought higher-priced bottles at retail stores or winery tasting rooms. A total of 24.2% of respondents said they never bought bottles priced at $50 or more. Among Oregon residents, 30.4% said they never bought bottles at that price level, compared with 19.2% of out-of-state visitors.
| Bottle-purchase measure | Oregon residents | Out-of-state visitors |
|---|---|---|
| Bought $20–$29.99 bottles monthly | 24.7% | 32.1% |
| Bought $50-or-more bottles several times per year | 27.5% | 33.0% |
| Never bought $50-or-more bottles | 30.4% | 19.2% |
The same report found that out-of-state visitors were more likely than Oregon residents to buy $20–$29.99 bottles monthly: 32.1% versus 24.7%. They were also more likely to buy bottles priced at $50 or more several times per year: 33.0% versus 27.5%. These percentages describe reported purchase frequency in the 2018 survey and should not be treated as a forecast of current bottle sales.
Tasting-room fees and other costs
Tasting-room fees were a distinct spending category in the 2018 Willamette Valley study. Oregon-resident visitors spent an average of $23.69 per party per day on tasting-room fees. Out-of-state visitors spent $49.56. By location, the averages were $40.07 in the North Valley, $40.92 in the Central Valley, and $26.27 in the South Valley.
The visitor profile also reported fee spending by club status. Wine-club members spent $32.37 per party per day on tasting-room fees. Non-wine-club visitors spent $40.39. That result differs from the take-home wine category, where club members spent more than non-members. It shows why a tasting-room spending estimate should identify the exact category being measured instead of treating all winery purchases as one number.
Non-wine retail purchases added another layer of visitor spending. Oregon-resident visitors spent $15.49 per party per day on non-wine retail purchases, while out-of-state visitors spent $54.61. Wine-club members spent $31.48 in this category. The source did not provide a matching non-club figure in the supplied results, so no additional comparison is made here.
Together, tasting-room fees, non-wine retail, and wine consumed during the trip describe spending at or around the visit that is separate from bottles taken or shipped home. The averages remain tied to the 2018 survey’s travel-party basis and Willamette Valley geography.
Visits, wineries, and trip length
The 2018 visitor profile measured a trip that generally involved several winery stops. Willamette Valley wine tourists visited an average of 3.7 wineries. They visited an average of 0.9 stand-alone tasting rooms. The distinction is useful because a winery visit and a stand-alone tasting-room visit were tracked separately.
Nearly all respondents visited a winery: 98.0% visited at least one winery. A smaller 40.8% visited at least one stand-alone tasting room. This difference indicates that stand-alone tasting rooms were only one part of the region’s winery-visit pattern in the survey.
Some segments recorded more stops. Out-of-state visitors averaged 5.0 winery visits. Central Valley visitors averaged 4.5. Heavy wine consumers averaged 4.0 winery visits during the survey trip. Across the full visitor profile, tourists purchased an average of 6.2 bottles at the wineries they visited.
These measures help place spending in context. A party visiting several wineries may encounter multiple tasting-room fees and purchase opportunities, but the supplied figures do not establish a per-stop spending amount. The reported $23.69, $49.56, and other fee averages are daily party averages, not arithmetic allocations across the average 3.7 winery visits.
Overnight stays and spending intensity
The Willamette Valley profile reported average total spending of $605.70 per travel party in the region during the 2018 trip. The typical party included approximately 2.3 people. The study also estimated $264.35 in daily in-market spending per wine tourist and reported a typical regional stay of 2.4 days.
Overnight visitors stayed an average of 1.3 nights in the region. Hotel guests spent an average of $304.81 per day on lodging. These measures use different descriptions of the visitor population, so they should not be combined into a new total without the underlying methodology. The $605.70 figure is a reported trip-level party average; the $264.35 figure is labeled daily spending per wine tourist; and the $304.81 figure is a daily lodging average for hotel guests.
| Willamette Valley measure | Reported amount | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Total regional spending per travel party | $605.70 | 2018 trip |
| Daily in-market spending per wine tourist | $264.35 | 2018 profile |
| Average time in the region | 2.4 days | 2018 trip |
| Average overnight stay | 1.3 nights | 2018 trip |
| Hotel lodging spending | $304.81 per day | 2018 profile |
The source for these figures is the Willamette Valley Winery Association visitor profile study. Its figures describe a 2018 visitor survey and are not current-year forecasts. They are most useful for understanding the relative spending intensity of resident, out-of-state, club-member, consumer, and regional segments.
Oregon and California wine-tourism scale
The Oregon Wine Board’s Economic Impact of Oregon Wine 2024 estimated that approximately 4,137,800 people visited an Oregon winery-based tasting room in 2024. The same report estimated 3,682,750 winery-based tasting-room visitors in 2022. Its estimate therefore described an increase of about 12.3% from 2022 to 2024.
The Oregon report estimated $860.97 million in wine-industry tourism revenue in 2024 after adjustment for tasting-room sales. It used a 2024 visitor-spending benchmark of $276.74 per person per day from Dean Runyan Associates data. Travel Oregon estimated that 18.8% of out-of-state travelers visited wineries in 2024, compared with 14.3% in 2022.
The report also estimated that Oregon winery visitor spending supported more than 9,109 jobs and over $329.1 million in wages in 2024. These are economic-impact estimates that combine winery survey information with Travel Oregon and Dean Runyan Associates benchmarks. The report states that tasting-room sales are excluded from the tourism estimate because they are included in winery revenues.
California provides a larger-state comparison, but the measures are not identical. The California Wines economic-impact report estimated 25.2 million wine-related tourist visits to California wineries annually in its 2022 report. It estimated $8.6 billion in annual wine visitor-related expenditures. Those California figures are annual modeled economic-impact estimates, not a point-of-sale census.
Finally, the Oregon Wine Board’s 2017 Direct to Consumer Sales Insights and Recap stated that direct-to-consumer sales represented 60% of winery revenue on average. This is a 2017 industry-average statement and should not be generalized to every winery or to later years.