The Chronicle
Latest dispatches
22 results across all types
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Using Seasonal Food Pairings to Drive Engagement and Educate New Wine Drinkers
Wine has a vocabulary problem. Ask someone who is newer to wine what they tasted in a glass and you'll often get a pause, then something like "I don't know, it was good?" The language of wine was built by and for people who already know the terrain. The tannins, the finish, the terroir. For everyone else, it can feel like showing up to a conversation where everyone else got the reference guide in advance. That barrier has a cost: it's keeping wineries from connecting with curious newer drinkers searching for a route in. But there's a way through it that doesn't require dumbing anything down or abandoning what makes wine interesting. Food is where it starts. Everyone eats. Everyone has opinions about what tastes good together. A new wine drinker who can't tell you what "grippy tannins" means can absolutely tell you that the Syrah they opened with their lamb chops in October tasted completely different than the same wine had alone. That moment, when a pairing clicks into place, is the en
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How the Farm-to-Table Movement Is Influencing the Way People Think About Wine
Somewhere between the rise of the farmers market and the death of the anonymous supply chain, American consumers went through a genuine shift in how they think about what they put in their bodies. They started asking questions that would have seemed unusual a generation ago. Who grew this? Where? What did they use on the soil? Is the farm actually what it says it is, or just a logo on a package? That scrutiny started with food. It didn't stay there. The farm-to-table movement reshaped the restaurant industry by making provenance the point. A dish wasn't just something that tasted good. It was something with a story, a geography, a set of values embedded in how it was made. Diners started reading sourcing notes the way they used to read reviews. And somewhere along the way, that same instinct crossed the table and arrived at the wine list. The questions wine buyers ask today differ from those they asked twenty years ago. Where was this farmed? Who made these decisions? How was this land
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Drinking Less, Choosing Better: How to Market Wine to the Mindful Consumer
The Shift in Drinking Habits Is Here Something structural has changed in how Americans relate to alcohol, and if you've been watching your DTC numbers, you've probably felt it before you could name it. Gallup's 2023 consumption survey found that the share of U.S. adults who drink has dropped to 62%, the lowest level since 1948. The IWSR has documented consecutive years of volume decline in still wine in the U.S. market. The casual, habitual wine buyer who grabs a familiar label on autopilot and treats wine as a grocery category is drinking less or shifting away entirely. Volume-driven marketing built around that consumer is chasing a contracting audience. That sounds threatening. It isn't, if you're willing to look at who is still buying. The consumer who remains is choosing quality over quantity, spending more per bottle precisely because they're buying fewer of them, and actively looking for brands worth their loyalty. The wineries that adapt their marketing to speak this language ho
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Context Is Everything: How Occasion-Based Marketing Is Changing the Wine Industry
Why the "What" Matters Less Than the "When" Walk into any grocery store wine aisle and watch how people actually choose a bottle. They're not mentally parsing acidity levels or imagining oak finish. They're thinking about tonight. A dinner they're bringing a bottle to. A friend coming over. A Tuesday evening that deserves something special. The moment comes first. The wine fills it. That sequence is not new, but most winery marketing still operates in reverse, leading with the product and hoping the consumer connects it to their life on their own. Increasingly, they don't. They move on to the brand that did that work for them. Occasion-based marketing is not a trend. It's a recognition of how purchasing decisions have always worked for most buyers, and a willingness to meet them there. Why Tasting Notes Alone Aren't Moving Bottles You're Speaking a Language Most Buyers Don't Use Tasting notes are a professional shorthand developed by and for people who spend significant time thinking a
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Spring Is Coming: Is Your Tasting Room Marketing Ready?
The weather is shifting, trip-planning season is underway, and tasting room traffic is about to pick up. This is the good news. The bad news? If you're reading this and thinking "we'll get to our spring marketing when spring gets here," you're behind.
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Why Visual Content Is No Longer Optional for Wineries
Your next customer will see your winery before they ever taste your wine. They'll see it on Instagram while planning a weekend trip. They'll see it on your website while deciding whether to book a reservation. They'll see it in an email while considering whether your wine club is worth joining. And in every one of those moments, they're making a decision based on what your visuals tell them about who you are.
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Strategic Influencer Marketing for Wineries: A Practical Guide
Learn how to build a compliant influencer program for your winery. Covers TTB and FTC requirements, choosing influencer tiers, vetting, and measuring ROI.
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Navigating the New Wine Landscape: 2026 US Market Trends for Wine Brands
Wine sales dropped 6% in 2024 as Boomers age out. Learn the 5 market trends reshaping wine marketing in 2026 and what your winery must do to adapt now.al.
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The Archetype Advantage: Using Brand Archetypes to Build a Loyal Wine Club
The wineries with the most loyal clubs don't compete on discounts. They compete on identity. Learn how brand archetypes reduce churn and build emotional loyalty.
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Why Most Winery Branding Looks the Same (And How to Stand Out in 2026)
Why does every winery brand look the same? Break free from visual and messaging clichés with strategies that attract attention and build loyalty.
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The Multi-Label Problem: When Brand Architecture Confuses Instead of Clarifies
Brand architecture isn't about organizing your wines. It's about organizing your customer's memory.
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Geographic Diversification: Why Your Next Customer Isn't in California
Your next customer isn't in California. They might be. But they might also be in Chicago, or Atlanta, or Austin, or Boston. And whether they ever visit your tasting room shouldn't determine whether you can build a relationship with them that makes them a customer for years.
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Accessibility Isn't Affordability: Removing Barriers Between Your Brand and Your Audience
When you systematically remove barriers, something interesting happens. You don't attract price-sensitive customers looking for deals. You attract confident customers who buy more because they understand what they're buying and trust they're making the right choice.
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Community as Competitive Moat: Turning Customers Into Cultivators
You know the customer who mentions your winery unprompted at dinner parties? Who brings friends to tastings without being asked? Who corrects people when they mispronounce your vineyard name? That customer is worth more than ten people on your mailing list who bought once and forgot about you.
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Earning Consumer Trust by Using AI
The magic trick isn't the AI. The magic trick is using AI to make human attention economically viable at scale. To identify the moments where human expertise and connection will matter most, then delivering that expertise precisely when it counts.
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Winery SEO Checklist: 5 Must-Do Steps to Rank on Google
Organic search drives 53% of web traffic. Learn five must-do SEO steps to make your winery findable when customers search for wine online.
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From Harvest to Holidays: Turning Fall Winery Events into Year-Round Customer Loyalty
Learn how to transform harvest season visitors into loyal customers by capturing quality data, implementing smart segmentation, and creating targeted follow-up campaigns that drive holiday sales.
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The Q4 Revenue Gap: Why Most Businesses Miss 35% of Their Annual Potential
Strategic Q4 planning drives 35-40% of annual revenue for prepared businesses. Learn the four-phase approach that separates market leaders from those scrambling for leftovers.
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Maximizing DTC Wine Sales This Fall: Preparing for Holiday Demand
Learn proven strategies to boost winery DTC sales during fall and holidays with targeted marketing, promotions, and online optimizations that convert browsers into buyers.
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Millennial-Focused Wine Marketing: Connecting with Gen Z & Gen Y Consumers
Discover effective strategies to market wine to millennials and Gen Z through digital channels, authentic storytelling, and experience-driven campaigns.
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From Tasting Room to Text Message: Why SMS Marketing Is the New Pour
SMS marketing delivers 98% open rates—far higher than email. Discover how wineries can use text message campaigns to increase DTC sales, reduce no-shows, and boost wine club retention.
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Segmentation Strategies for Wine Clubs: One List Doesn’t Fit All
Learn how to divide your wine club into strategic segments based on behavior, preferences, and engagement levels to increase retention, boost sales, and keep members engaged.