Oregon's growing reputation for wine in other US states boosted sales at Willamette Valley Vineyards in 2009.

Willamette said yesterday (29 March) that net sales rose by 3% for the 12 months of 2009, to US$16.56m, compared to $16.05m in 2008.

It attributed the rise to a growing reputation for Oregon-produced wine in the US.

"The increase in total revenue is mainly due to increased sales to out-of-state distributors, which improved over 7% as compared to 2008," said Willamette.

The company's net profits for the year rose by 3% to $731,470.

However, operating profits fell to $1.1m, against $1.36m in 2008, largely due to higher costs but also related to sales promotions on the firm's wines.