‘THIS IS HOW A WINERY MEDIA RELATIONS CAMPAIGN IS SUPPOSED TO WORK’
BY ALAN GOLDFARB
July 28, 2025
This is how a media relations campaign is supposed to work*.
Case in Point -- What I confidently believed to be a salient pitch to a wine writer on behalf of one of my clients, went something like this: “Here's a guy I know that you'll get a kick out of. A lovely man, with a wonderful sense of humor, and a whole lot o' info about the wine industry. (Winemaker) has been in the trenches for a long while. Almost all his career has been spent making wine for those big corporate entities -- you know the ones. But now, in the twilight of his odyssey, he's gotten the chance to make quality wine for a small producer. Oh, and did I mention that he gives good quote?”
Less than an hour later, said wine scribe emailed back, “That sounds fun!”
It was on.
I immediately sent him the media kit that I created, and confirmed the journalist’s contact info; and less than 24 hours later, the client’s wines were on their way.
A couple weeks after that, the media member’s long-form story was posted. This is in part, what he wrote about the client’s winemaker and the wines:
“I liked them all (the wines)... They all were clean, with a lot of acid to balance the sweet fruit. But (my wife, who doesn’t like white wine) really liked them. Like she asked to drink them. We hadn’t drunk this much white wine in a long time... “I told (the winemaker) about the conversion he had performed on (my wife). He was nonplussed. Unless nonplussed means the opposite of what I think it does. He was unsurprised. Maybe plussed.”
The piece goes on:
“When I poured a (client’s) chardonnay against (a) Burgundy last night at a dinner party with chicken thighs and corn risotto … (my wife) preferred the (client’s wine). It was brighter, funner. Less austere. But still clean. Things I used to be.”
Wowee!
A couple of days later, the winery owner wrote me after I alerted him to the posted article:
“We couldn’t be happier,” he emailed. “Through the article, we made five sales. We put it up on our social media platforms, it was reposted and we expect more sales from the article. Thank you.”
The last simple phrase – “Thank you” -- doesn’t come too often from my clients, for whom I always secure plenty of media “hits” and doesn’t often land in my inbox.
But that’s OK. That’s because I know I create a constant flow of articles, posts, reviews, mentions, and podcast interviews for my clients. Which often result in ROI. I know I’m a good media relations consultant.
But that is how media relations works. And notice I didn’t call it PR. That’s because I don’t interact directly with the public. I serve as liaison between my clients – wineries -- and the media. Thank you for your service.
*Note: Wine writer and client are not identified here because doing so would be a conflict of interest. Essay is presented as an example of what a winery media relations campaign can accomplish.