Washington wine has long been hoping to gain broader awareness. However, that awareness is stubbornly bottlenecked by the limited production of most of the state’s wineries, the fact that very few wines make it beyond Washington’s borders, and other factors. Those factors seem unlikely to change any time soon. So what might change the calculus for the state?

Growing up, like many children, my brother and I were big fans of comic books. One that we particularly enjoyed, which pioneered in 1977, was the “What if…?” series from Marvel Comics. For example, what if Spiderman joined the Fantastic Four?

This got me thinking. What if the Wine Influencer in Chief, Taylor Swift, loved Washington wine?

It is well-established that Taylor Swift is a wine drinker. Images of Swift and wine regularly populate her social media feed, and references run throughout her songs.

It is also well-established that Swift can have an outsized economic impact. Just about every area that Swift visited on her Eras tour saw a financial windfall. It’s been estimated the tour generated $5B in consumer spending.

Now imagine Swift doing all this for Washington wine. She could show her 283M Instagram followers the latest Washington wine she is drinking. Swift could extol Washington’s diversity of offerings.

There could be lyric references. In songs like Dress, Swift could be “spilling Washington wine in the bathtub.” In Willow she could sing “lost in your current like a priceless Washington wine.”

There could be concert tie ins. Chateau Ste. Michelle recently partnered with Live Nation to help get its wines in front of young people across the country. Now imagine those wines and others being poured to Swifties (or, in cases, their moms and dads) all around the world.

Of course, something like this is unlikely to happen in our wildest dreams. Perhaps it might in a fever dream high.

Still, I wonder, what if?

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