Wine industry data for the past couple of years has shown a downturn.

A restless economy, a younger generation more interested in pre-made and canned cocktails and rising prices of grapes have all been blamed.

Washington state, home to 1,100 wineries, has bucked that trend some. A large portion of the state’s wineries use the direct-to-consumer model of selling wine because they produce less than 5,000 cases a year.

In Kitsap County, most of the wineries make less than 3,000 cases a year, but most are also selling what they make.

From Bainbridge Island to Olalla, Kitsap winemakers are welcoming new customers both younger and older as well as tourists and most are either growing or at least staying fairly even.

“My sales are only slightly down, maybe five percent from last year,” said Mike Lempriere, owner and winemaker of Perennial Vintners on BI. “But that’s nothing to worry about in general.”

Lempriere said that many of the wineries on BI have a “built-in” customer base, where customers are either club members or come in regularly. “When COVID hit, most of us got a huge bump in direct-to-consumer sales,” he said. “But that fell back to normal fairly quickly.”

He is one of just 18 winemakers who not only make wine in Puget Sound, but grow grapes here as well, making what are known as “cool climate” wines. Those types of grapes hail originally from places like Alsace, Germany, France or Austria and include wines like Siegrebbe, Melon d’ Bourgogne and Zweigelt, among others.

“My winery and Bainbridge Vineyards are pretty special because we actually grow grapes here, so from that standpoint people who have an interest in cool climate grapes, we’re their go-to,” Lempriere said.

Mary Ellen Houston, owner of Olalla Vineyard and Winery, grows 3 acres of grapes there, but also gets grapes from Eastern Washington. “I’m a numbers gal, and my numbers are up from last year,” Houston said. “Every year, they continue to improve and part of that is that I’m nestled perfectly between Gig Harbor and Port Orchard.”

Houston said that she believes the biggest drivers to her winery are social media and word of mouth, along with the road signs on Highway 16.

“As a small business, I don’t have a lot of money to invest into marketing,” she said. “So I use whatever free advertising I can.”

Houston said that her clientele has changed quite a bit as she sees a lot more younger people coming to her winery, which bucks another trend in the industry. “When we first opened, our customers were between 40 and 65, and they still are, but we’re also seeing a lot of 20- and 30-somethings come in with either wedding parties or just groups of friends.”

Houston said she also creates a number of events that include arts, crafts, various food and wine pairings, and invites people to come in and spend time at the winery.

“If you have a fun event, that’s how you sell wine,” she said. “This state is a unicorn in some ways. We’re outliers and people here like their wine, or mead or beer or whatever, and that tells me that they’re making it part of a healthy work-life balance.”

Both wineries self-distribute their wines, which can be found in stores like Harbor Greens, Olalla Bay Market, Bay Hay and Feed on BI, Marina Market in Poulsbo and others.

Other Kitsap wineries

Bainbridge

Eleven Winery: elevenwinery.com

Rolling Bay Winery: rollingbaywinery.com

Fletcher Bay Winery: fletcherbaywinery.com

Eagle Harbor Winery eagleharbor.wine

Poulsbo

State 42 Wines: state42wines.com

Hard Hat Winery: hardhatwinerypoulsbo.com

Bremerton

Grumble and Wine: grumbleandwine.com

Olympic: olybrew.com

Kingston

Shared Dream Cellars: shareddreamcellars.com

Main block of grapes at the BI vineyard.

Olalla Vineyard and Winery courtesy photo Mary Ellen Houston, owner of Olalla Vineyard and Winery.