(WSLS 10) – If the wine industry is growing across the country, then it’s currently exploding in Virginia, especially in the Blue Ridge.

Just this past year, Virginia wine sales reached a record high of more than 6.6 million bottles sold, a 6 percent increase from the previous year.

Owner Greg Bublitz of White Rock Vineyards & Winery left California to come to Roanoke because he believed this would be a great location to open his business.

“Because this is the region that can produce good grapes,” explained Bublitz.

Governor McAuliffe announced Virginia’s wine industry currently contributes to more than $1.37 billion annually to Virginia’s economy, marking an 82 percent increase from the last Economic Impact Study in 2010.

The uptick in sales that Bublitz experienced at his winery has left mostly dust in the wine tasting room.