It's harder to get a hotter official spokesperson than this. The Washington Wine Commission has picked the sun - as in that fiery mass of incandescent gas in the sky - to be its representative for a new marketing campaign targeted at wine lovers in Boston and Austin, Texas.

The campaign, which started this fall, plays on the commission's slogan that Washington has the "Perfect Climate for Wine," and emphasizes that eastern Washington's vineyards get up to 300 days of sunshine each year. The campaign includes print and radio advertising, along with television commercials.

It follows on the heels of a successful effort in Tampa, Fla., according to commission president Robin Pollard, who says that two-year campaign generated a 60 percent increase in sales of Washington wines.

The commission began mounting out-of-state marketing campaigns after some "sobering" survey findings among East Coast wine drinkers, says Pollard.

"There was a fair amount of confusion between Washington and Washington, D.C.," she says. "Several participants commented, 'How in the heck can you grow grapes on the Potomac?'"

Now, Pollard says. "Our objective is to work a market and work it hard for a couple years," then let individual wineries take over the task of promoting their own products.