280: How to Write a Wine Industry Press Release That Actually Gets Picked Up

Want to get your winery featured in the press? Start with a better press release. Erin Kirschenmann, Managing Editor of Wine Business Monthly and founder of Novel Pairings, shares what makes a press release newsworthy. She explains how to tailor your message, capture editors’ attention with the five Ws, and why showcasing the human side of your brand matters. Learn how to craft more effective press releases and make your brand stand out.

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Transcript

[00:00:04] Beth Vukmanic: Want to get your winery featured in the press? Start with better press releases.

[00:00:09] Welcome to Sustainable Wine Growing with Vineyard Team, where we bring you the latest in science and research for the wine industry. I am Beth Vukmanic executive director In today's podcast, Craig McMillan critical resource manager at Niner Wine Estates with longtime SIP certified vineyard. and the first ever SIP certified winery speaks with Erin Kirschenmann, managing editor of Wine Business Monthly, and founder of Novel Pairings.

[00:00:35] Erin shares what makes a press release newsworthy. She explains how to tailor your message. Capture editor's attention with the five Ws and why showcasing the human side of your brand matters. Learn how to craft more effective press releases and make your brand stand out.

[00:00:54] If you're looking to earn Department of Pesticide Regulation credit hours, we've got you covered. We've released 11 online courses

[00:01:01] so that you can learn and earn hours on your schedule. Just go to vineyard team.org and click online courses to sign up today.

[00:01:14] Craig Macmillan: Our guest today is Erin Kirschman. She is the managing editor at Wine Business Monthly and wine business.com. She's also the founder of Novel Pairings. Thanks for being on the podcast, Erin.

[00:01:24] Erin Kirschenmann: Thanks for having me.

[00:01:26] Craig Macmillan: Today we're gonna talk about press releases and communication. And it may sound silly, but I think for a lot of us it'd be helpful. What is a press release and what makes for a good press release?

[00:01:37] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, no. This is not something that most people are taught, and I'm so glad we're talking about it because in my line of work. At a publication, the press release is absolutely essential. So in short, it is a brief official statement that is issued to media outlets or other influencers other types of media that will announce something newsworthy.

[00:02:00] And then in the wine industry, that could be your product launch, a new event, some sort of significant achievement, a new winemaker. These are written in journalistic style and the whole point of this is to get media coverage or public attention. So it is absolutely crucial to any business doing any type of marketing.

[00:02:19] Craig Macmillan: What are the things that really stand out as making a great press release when you receive something from someone and you're like, thank you,

[00:02:28] Erin Kirschenmann: Usually when it's tailored to the outlet I can't tell you how many press releases I have received that are very obviously tailored to more lifestyle magazines, you know, wine Business monthly. We are a B2B publication, so we tend to care about the news that is trade focused. I would much rather hear about your new winemaker or a new renovation to your facility. A replant to your vineyards.

[00:02:53] I do not want to hear about how your wine is perfect for your Mother's Day picnic basket, right? That is not us. That is great for San Francisco Chronicle, for, , house and garden, anything that's more tailored to moms and that lifestyle type of coverage. But oh my God, how many of these bad press releases I get on a regular basis? So first and foremost, you have to make sure that the press release you're sending is going to the right outlet.

[00:03:22] The second thing is it has to have an actual angle. A lot of press releases are simply, oh, we're releasing a new vintage of the same wine that you have had for the last 30 or 40 years.

[00:03:34] That's not really news. That's great for your marketing emails, that's great for your Instagram, but for the media, maybe not quite that helpful. Now, if it's a cult release or a limited edition or a one-off wine, absolutely send it to us If you're doing something that is, um. So as a charitable component, we wanna know about that. Those are more news angle releases.

[00:04:00] And then lastly, one that has a call to action, right? Why does this matter to my readers and to me, what am I supposed to do with it? You need your press release to spell that out for us, because I mean, I wake up every morning and I've got about 2000 new emails. Make it stand out.

[00:04:18] I know. Crazy, right?

[00:04:20] Craig Macmillan: You mentioned journalistic style, which is a very particular type of writing. Is there a structure for an excellent press release that follows those norms?

[00:04:29] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah. , So journalistic style really is simplicity at its finest, right? I wanna know the five Ws and the one H that we were all taught when we were writing essays in grade school. Who, what, when, where, why, how? and so I don't need the fluff. I don't need the marketing speak, I don't need to know state of the art or illustrious, right? I want to know the bare bones. ,

[00:04:53] And so that's something that's really important to keep in mind with a lot of press releases. The beauty of some of these is that once you've sent it to a publication, they can pull directly from your press release and put it into their article, right? Your press release should be. Written with that in mind. So take out all the marketing fluff, save it for the introduction before the press release when you're emailing the editor or the writer, and keep that press release as journalistic style as possible.

[00:05:22] Craig Macmillan: What's a, what's an appropriate length?

[00:05:23] Erin Kirschenmann: oh my God, uh, brief please. I don't need a two page press release. So keep it to about five or six paragraphs at most.

[00:05:34] And then there is a pretty common structure, right? So first and foremost, you need to have your clear, compelling headline. It needs to grab my attention, it needs to stand out in my sea of 2000 emails, and it needs to summarize the main news point, right? We know this about all, all news period, people read headlines and maybe the first one or two sentences. So you've gotta get all of that information. Out quickly. So a good headline, maybe a good subhead will make it a lot easier.

[00:06:05] Next you need your strong lead or your first paragraph. And again, that addresses those core five Ws, who, what, when, where, why. And then of course, how

[00:06:16] do not bury the most important point. Do not bury the lead. It is a common saying in journalism. And like I say this to my writers all the time, why is your lead down here in the 12th paragraph? I don't know what I'm reading up until you tell me that. So bring that right up to the top.

[00:06:33] Your second paragraph should really have that newsworthy angle, right? It is timely. It is interesting. It's relevant to my readers and to me. Okay? And this is where you really need to customize your press releases for the various outlets, right? Again, if it's coming to me, keep it that trade angle. If it's going to your local paper, keep it the local angle. So for the Central Coast folks. Hone in on why this is special to the central Coast, right?

[00:07:03] And then of course, we always love to get a good quote, and this is where I see a lot of people mess up on press releases. the quotes are supposed to add a human voice, not just credibility, right? It doesn't necessarily have to be the CEO saying, we are proud to partner with X, Y, Z. Right. It's the same quote that we read in all press releases. If your CEO is a funny guy, show that humor in the quote. If it's your CMO talking and she says this quippy, one-liner thing, that perfectly summarizes it. That's what I wanna see and I want to use in my articles and will make me want to interview that person, right? I need to see a human side to them.

[00:07:46] Wrap it up with some supporting details, background information, statistics. We love statistics in media, right? And it has to be, of course, from a credible source. Don't just make something up, please. and anything else that really strengthens your announcement, wrap it up with your boilerplate.

[00:08:04] A short about us section, your contact information. And some photos. We need photos. So that's kind of just like. The basics of a press release. It doesn't need to be groundbreaking, it just needs to be interesting.

[00:08:18] Craig Macmillan: What kind of content is appropriate? We've talked about a couple of things, but overall, what? What makes for good content?

[00:08:24] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, it, and I said it once and I'll say it a million times and probably for the rest of my career, but it actually has to be news, um, and news. By definition is new. It is different. It is something that you have not done before. It is something that has a direct impact on your region, on your winery, on your consumer.

[00:08:46] Um, it is something that will draw people in. Not all News isn't boring by definition. It shouldn't be boring. So if it's exciting, that's news.

[00:08:57] Craig Macmillan: As an editor what are you looking for? You've talked about some of the things you like to see. What is like the perfect press release? What makes you say yes?

[00:09:07] Erin Kirschenmann: The perfect press release makes me go, oh, this person has actually read a copy of my magazine. This person actually knows who our readers are. This person has actually given more than 10 seconds of thought into what the angle is. And even if it's not perfect as showing that interest, showing that research will get any editor going I want to immediately see that you have thought about my reader.

[00:09:41] Why they should care. And even if it's a sentence above the press release that just says, you know, in the body of the email, Hey Aaron, you know, we're launching this and I know it's not exactly wine business news coverage, but I know that you love Shein Blanc and so I wanted you to be aware of Shein Blanc.

[00:10:01] That level of detail gets me thinking, okay, maybe I should pay attention to this. And I know I'm not the only editor to feel that way. I mean, we'd all bombarded with news and press releases if you're launching a do, you're allowing dogs at your winery, for example, right? And you're doing like this new Sunday picnic, even sending to me in the email, Hey, I know you don't live in the central coast, but if you're ever down here, you should bring, scout your dog and come hang out and do this tasting with us.

[00:10:31] That is so key.

[00:10:34] Craig Macmillan: Now on the other side, what are some things that make for a bad press release? Many things I'm sure.

[00:10:42] Erin Kirschenmann: I will not say anything bad about anybody, but I have seen some first and foremost promoting something that is routine right. We know the new vintage is coming out. We know that your tasting room is opening for the season. We, we know that harvest has started. Um, we do not need a harvest is underway from every single grower or every single winery.

[00:11:06] Please don't waste our time with that now. The way to do it right is to instead say something special about your vineyard that is unique to that harvest that is not happening elsewhere in the regions. It's a very rare case when that happens, so don't overdo it. But just know that like a harvest has started is not exciting to us.

[00:11:28] We also like see people jumping on the bandwagon, when it isn't part of your core message. If something is trending or if something is newsworthy. The day that we're recording this, for example, you know earth Day is coming up soon

[00:11:42] they're sending us, oh, we care about the earth press releases. Don't do that. Please don't just jump on the bandwagon because it's a holiday. It's not part of your core. It's not part of who you are. It just makes your brand look bad.

[00:11:55] Again, sending the same press release to every outlet. And then most importantly, if it's poorly written, if there's too much marketing speak, if I can tell that you plugged in some information to an AI and it spit something back out

[00:12:11] and. Editors can tell. We know AI speak at this point. It all sounds the same. It all sounds just slightly wrong. Take the time to, if you use ai, great. That is a great jumping off point. I have used it for my articles when I have been stuck, but then I go through and I edit and I edit and I check references and I get rid of all of the marketing speak that comes out of it.

[00:12:38] I've seen our, uh, press releases come through with emojis in them, and I'm going, okay, you use chat GPT. I know that's chat, GPT talking, not you.

[00:12:48] Craig Macmillan: Online content's important to any business these days. We were talking about the press release, but there's also all kinds of other avenues in particular your own website. You know, I mean, if I'm gonna write a press release, I probably should put it on my own website.

[00:13:03] Erin Kirschenmann: You would think most people would do that, right?

[00:13:05] Craig Macmillan: most people would do that, right? What are good things to put on a website?

[00:13:09] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah. So everything that's on your website is your owned media, right? Something that you have control of and this is where you get to really shine. Yes. Have your press releases up there. So that me as a journalist, if I hear something about your. Winery and I go, oh wait, I thought I heard something about that.

[00:13:27] I can go back and check and see when that happened. I can see a history of all of the new things that have come through first and foremost, and I will go to my grave saying this. You need to have at least one page on your website that is dedicated solely to media and trade.

[00:13:45] This is where you put your press releases. This is where you put your news. This is where you put. Photos, bios key history, key dates include bios and photos for your CFO, your CMO, your director of hospitality, your dog. If it's important to the story, not just the owner, founder. That kind of information is. Super key for us when we're trying to figure out the angle of an article, because we may not always need to talk to your owner or founder. We might need to talk to your highest ranking woman, or we need to talk to somebody who's directly dealing with smoke taint, whatever the issue is, we should have options and you need to have that there.

[00:14:27] And please put somebody's email address. I, I hate the forms. All journalists hate the forms. We have no idea who it's going to, and we never hear back from them.

[00:14:38] Craig Macmillan: Right.

[00:14:39] Erin Kirschenmann: So have, have that readily available for us. And then blogs, I know are kind of a dying art, but they can be really good for you. SEO and for journalists.

[00:14:52] Um, I'm gonna shout out to, um, Jason Haas at Tablas Creek because. I was looking up information on sulfites for an article I was writing, and one of his blogs popped up that explained so much about it that I didn't know. And good lord, that was helpful. I had no plan to include him in this article, but because his blog was there, it was so useful.

[00:15:16] He got a shout out. He got some earned media from that. Um, if you have not done it already, do an SEO audit. Because all I had to do was type in sulfites and wine and a couple other things and his popped up. Um, and I would actually really recommend, uh, Laura Jawad. She's an SEO strategy and WordPress support person.

[00:15:38] , She's absolutely fabulous. She's done a million. She easy how-to videos on YouTube and on Instagram and. I mean, it has completely revolutionized how I'm working on my novel pairings site because it's making it catch so much more earned media.

[00:15:54] And then social media. You know, I really love what Maggie at Alta Collina did the other day, or I guess it was a month ago now. It was super windy, raining, crazy weather at the top of the hill where one of her vineyards is, and she recorded herself talking about the weather, and she also recorded herself walking down the hill to another vineyard block.

[00:16:18] And that kind of video where it dramatically shows wild, windy, raining, calm, soothing, even temperature down at the bottom of the hill to explain terroir. We love that, that kind of human aspect, that human touch that. Sneak peek into the vineyards is really something that helps us with our articles, helps gain interest in the brand from us, and when we have to talk about weather and different vineyard blocks and terroir.

[00:16:49] You can bet I'm gonna go to Maggie now because she's already demonstrated that she can talk about it and talk about it in a way that both trade and consumers love.

[00:16:58] So think about your online content, not just about brand promotion. This is your chance to tell the story you the way you want to tell it.

[00:17:08] Um, and media picks up on that. We use it when we're trying to tell our stories.

[00:17:14] Craig Macmillan: So, you know, what I'm hearing is that a press release is not just simply a press release.

[00:17:18] Erin Kirschenmann: No, it's the gateway.

[00:17:20] Craig Macmillan: it's the gateway, it's the opening point, and you need to have, , resources available for an editor to be able to go and learn more about you, get excited about what you're talking about and maybe launch off into something else.

[00:17:31] Erin Kirschenmann: Absolutely. We wanna see past the press release, who the humans are behind it. We wanna know why should I care about you as a person and then therefore, why should my readers care?

[00:17:47] Craig Macmillan: Um, we've mentioned the terms on owned content, earned content. I just wanna go back and get definitions on those two. Uh, what is owned content and what is earned content?

[00:17:56] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, owned content is any content that you create and control. So website, social. Press releases, et cetera. Paid media is anything you pay for, and that's advertisements, sponsored content advertorial. press events and press trips if you are paying for that person to come out there. That is technically paid media.

[00:18:21] Earned media is. Any publicity or exposure that you do not pay for and do not own that you receive organically? The best way I can explain it is when I hear a couple other people talk about a brand and say how great it is, and that causes me to go look it up. Right. It could be after reading your press release and it's piqued my interest and now I've gone and done my own digging on it.

[00:18:47] It could be. I follow you on, uh, Instagram and I see you doing a video about terroir. I read a top 10 list. I'm watching. Super vino guys on TikTok and they are completely stumped by winery. 16, six hundreds, Zinfandel. That is all earned media. None of those brands paid for it, but they're getting it because they have great word of mouth recommendations.

[00:19:13] They have great reviews, they have great SEO because they have earned that right.

[00:19:20] Craig Macmillan: Yeah, and that's gold.

[00:19:21] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, it absolutely is because more than anything it adds an air of credibility, right? It's one thing when we get the marketing, um, when we see the sponsored posts on social media, but when we come by it with that recommendation from a friend, it's the same way as, you know, any consumer who's going to buy your wine, right?

[00:19:41] We immediately start to trust it just a little bit more, and the best part is you don't have to pay for it. Right, like this is the best kind of media you can have. I don't have to spend $10,000 on a magazine ad. I can just be a great brand and talk about my brand and get people on board with my brand and not have to do any spending to achieve that.

[00:20:04] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. And also if somebody learns about you through a press release, they then can go and get that content on their own

[00:20:10] Erin Kirschenmann: Exactly. That's it.

[00:20:12] Craig Macmillan: can get the depth. And it sounds like that's what you're doing when you have somebody hits you up with a press release. It sounds like you do your homework.

[00:20:18] Erin Kirschenmann: And any journalist worth their salt will do the same thing. The press release is great. That is my entry point. It's the gateway. I need to now go back and find out, okay, well why does this matter? Um, what's the history here? How do I turn this into a story? Because if I go just off of the press release. If that doesn't give me enough for an article, so intrigue me, get me excited, get me like moving my hands around whenever I talk about your brand.

[00:20:47] Treat me like a customer, right? I want to, any journalist wants to feel special and they want to feel like there's enough there for them to talk about.

[00:20:56] Craig Macmillan: And something else you mentioned that I think is important is it's all about story and a press release can be a short version of the story or it can be an introduction to a story,

[00:21:05] get people interested in it, but it also sounds like personalities in the human element is really a draw.

[00:21:13] Erin Kirschenmann: I mean, you have to remember that writers and editors are humans too. And the canned corporate speak works for some brands that we know are corporate and that is their structure. But when we hear that and then when see on your website, for example, you know, we, or we get a, corporate press release, and then we go to your website and it's fun and full of life.

[00:21:36] It doesn't feel authentic, it doesn't feel right, and that just immediately puts up a layer of distrust. And so we want to see that human angle. We want to know that we're talking about something that is run by a human as well. I mean, obviously we'll write about the corporate. Wineries and, and stories, you know, that has to happen too.

[00:21:58] But the human ones are the ones that are fun to tell. The fun ones to write.

[00:22:03] Craig Macmillan: Can a marketing person or someone who has the role of writing press releases and getting their message out there can they work with editors and writers to improve their media presence?

[00:22:13] Erin Kirschenmann: Oh my God, please, yes, we would love that. For the most part, I. Editors and writers love to talk to you. They love to hear from you. They love to know that you care about them, right? We're, again, we're human. We like, we feel flattered when you're like, oh my gosh, I've read your articles before. I love it.

[00:22:35] Here's something that I think might fit. It makes us feel like our work is worth something. So. What I tell every marketer, you know, just remember that when you're building this relationship, you have to focus on personalization. Are you delivering content to them that is right for their publication? Are you being reliable?

[00:22:55] Are you answering their emails in a timely manner? Because remember, we have deadlines and sometimes we get a deadline that is tomorrow. A timely response from you. We'll determine whether or not you receive that earned media, whether you get that attention or mention, right? So if you're consistently reliable, I know that I can go to Ashley and she is gonna have exactly what I need and get it to me immediately.

[00:23:20] I. And then lastly on personability again, are you showing that personality? Are you human? Are you appealing to our humanity? Something so simple, like you could just follow us on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or whatever that particular journalist is active on, and just respond to their stories or their posts every now and then.

[00:23:42] Right? Don't do it to pitch something, just start responding. Frequently. And then eventually they're gonna go, oh, who's that person? Oh, okay. That's really cool. They've got a cool, um, sparkling wine that they're making method traditional in camp. Hmm. I should go talk to that person. Just constantly communicating, getting into their sphere authentically without the marketing, without the pitch.

[00:24:09] That, and you know what, honestly, like just ask any editor if you could have a quick coffee date. Can I? Get on the phone with you for 15 minutes and ask you some specifics about your audience and say, Hey Aaron, I know that you appeal to winemakers and growers, but really like, do they wanna know more about training or do they wanna know more about sustainability?

[00:24:31] Like what are their hot topics right now? Something like that. Oh, ooh. That gives me chills just thinking about it. I'm happy to have those conversations with people.

[00:24:41] Craig Macmillan: That's good to know. Regardless of the medium, whether there's some do's and don'ts in this kind of work that will either get you noticed in a positive way or could harm your brand in some way.

[00:24:52] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, so let's start with the positive. Um, do reach out to those editors for that phone call. That is first and foremost. If you are a small business owner, it takes 30 minutes of your time. It takes 30 minutes of their time. That is a great first start. Research your different publications, right? Wine business is different than Wine Industry Network, and I can't tell you how many times we get confused with them and vice versa.

[00:25:19] Um, we'd all just kind of laugh about it at the office Now understand the differences between spectator and enthusiast and advocate, and then think outside the box or outside the book, right? Yes. Your traditional wine publications are a great start. That's, it's delivering an audience that is primed for wine.

[00:25:41] But it's completely saturated, right? There are almost 12,000 wineries in the United States. Who knows how many acres of vineyards. If you're trying to get into that very small set of publications, it's going to be a really uphill battle for you. Your local papers are fantastic. Your hobby magazines are huge.

[00:26:02] There are so many hobbies that have an overlap with wine lovers, and the example that I love to give is cars. Car people are wine people. They understand vintage better than absolutely anyone else because every year the models of certain cars change and adapt. Right? Gearhead love to get into the nitty gritty of things, and importantly, they love to do a really pretty drive.

[00:26:28] If you've got a vineyard that's situated in the mountains or along the coast, or just along a stunning view, pitch that to car magazines, because car enthusiasts are gonna go, Ooh, I can do my drive and then my partner can do the wine tasting, but I'm gonna have a gorgeous view and a fun ride while I'm at it.

[00:26:48] I mean, I just wrote one for Velocity Invitational doing just that. And that's a really cool way to bring wine to people who wouldn't normally think about it. And then of course, just, yeah, follow your favorite writers on Instagram, Facebook Substack, and engage with them. It doesn't take very long and it makes a big difference.

[00:27:08] Um, the two big things I will tell you, you absolutely must not do again. Like I said, I'm gonna go to my grave saying this. Do not send a blanket. Press release to every publication.

[00:27:20] Craig Macmillan: Okay.

[00:27:21] Erin Kirschenmann: Tailor it the same way you send different emails to your guests versus your wine club members. Publications are exactly the same way.

[00:27:30] And lastly, do not aggressively follow up. Give me some space, give rider some space. If you follow up with me the next day and say, Hey, why didn't my press release run? Or are you going to cover this? Press this news. I'm just gonna say, oh God, no. Delete and ignore from then on. Give it a few days when you do follow up.

[00:27:57] Offer a different angle or more resources build onto the press release. Maybe send some different photos or a video that you did of the event or something. Give it something more, give it some meat because just following up with, Hey, just wanted to check in, see if this is gonna run, is not interesting.

[00:28:18] So yeah, those are my two big don'ts.

[00:28:21] Craig Macmillan: And that, that actually reminded me of something. So I blanket press release. I think we're all familiar with this concept where you write one, two paragraph thing and then you just send it to everybody all the time everywhere. , You're talking about targeting it to different publications. How much is too much? Are people going to be upset with you if they see the same press release, even if it's been modified in competing publications?

[00:28:45] Erin Kirschenmann: Not at all. There's no such thing as too much targeting. Um, the more targeted it is, the better. I would love to see that. I received one press release that directly appealed to my readers and then a different one at another publication that directly appealed to their readers, and that just shows me that the marketing team, the owner, whoever wrote this, knows what they're doing.

[00:29:09] You know, one sort of standard press release that you put out on PR Newswire. , That's, you know. Doesn't have as much personality per se. That applies more to their standards and their rules. That's fine. It's fine to send me one that's just a little bit different. We see it.

[00:29:28] We love it.

[00:29:29] Craig Macmillan: If you don't mind, we can just kinda change direction a little bit here. I read wine business monthly every month.

[00:29:34] Erin Kirschenmann: Oh, thank you.

[00:29:34] Craig Macmillan: And, um, it is the, the voice of the American wine industry one of them. And I'm always fascinated by the, um, like the grower trials,

[00:29:47] Erin Kirschenmann: Mm-hmm.

[00:29:47] Craig Macmillan: things like that. Do those stories come about the same way where someone reaches out to you and says, Hey, I'm. Doing this project, you know, I'd love to have some other winemakers involved, or what level of final development do you wanna see before you look at doing a story on something like that?

[00:30:04] Erin Kirschenmann: That is a fantastic question. , Those articles come about in the most difficult way possible. And I feel terrible for our writer, Brian Avila, who does an amazing job of hunting these trials down. I would love more press releases and more news about trials that winemakers are doing or that growers are doing.

[00:30:24] You know, I, I don't know where this belief That talking about your trials is a bad thing, right? Any winery is experimenting and our readers know that they are winemakers, they are growers. They're constantly playing with vineyard management practices, cellar practices to achieve the best wine possible.

[00:30:44] I. you know, we should be talking about it more. We could learn a lot more about wine if we shared about all of this information and talked about it more, which is why we do that feature in our magazine every month. Yes. If you are a winemaker who would be willing to talk about a trial you did, if you're playing around with Hungarian Oak on Pinot or whatever it is, please tell us.

[00:31:07] Like, that's fascinating and I'm sure there your peers are doing the same thing or at least wondering the same thing. So yes. Oh my God, please come to us, tell us, um, make it easier on Brian, who unfortunately has to go like hounding wineries every month to get one in.

[00:31:24] Craig Macmillan: Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to to know what's going on behind the scenes, and so we have to step up and say, Hey, I'm doing something behind the scenes. What do you think?

[00:31:33] Erin Kirschenmann: please. Absolutely. And you know, like one other thing that I would mention is most publications have an editorial calendar that they put together and release usually in the fall that talks about what they're going to be running in the year ahead. And if you look at these editorial calendars, you'll see that hey, wine Business Monthly is going to be running a trial every month.

[00:31:55] Or wine enthusiast is going to be talking about regenerative vineyards in October. I don't know, I made that last one up. And that's a good way to go and say, Hey, we have a regenerative vineyard. We should go talk to them. Or, we're doing a really cool trial, we should go talk to Wine Business monthly.

[00:32:13] And you should do that earlier than later. Um, most publications have a really long lead time. You know when this episode airs, it'll already be like holiday season for us, right? We're thinking about the holidays in August, September, right? If you come to me with a pitch for a holiday wine in December, you've missed the mark.

[00:32:36] So get out ahead of those early and yeah, speak up. I'd love to go to absolutely every winery and talk to every single winemaker and every single vineyard, and talk to every single grower to find out what's happening. But there are only 24 hours in a day and other work must be done. So speak up.

[00:32:53] Craig Macmillan: What is the one thing that you would tell or advise growers, winemakers, or managers on this topic?

[00:33:00] Erin Kirschenmann: I

[00:33:00] please, please. have a dedicated media page on your website with high resolution photos with bios and pictures of your people your vineyards, your seller. Have all of that readily available for the journalist who is on a last minute deadline and then have a dedicated contact who is fantastic at responding to emails.

[00:33:26] It may not be you. It could be someone else in your organization, but have that person have the email, go have their email listed on that media page and tell them If you hear from a journalist or a writer, you respond asap. You drop everything.

[00:33:44] Craig Macmillan: That's good advice. , Where can people find out more about you?

[00:33:48] Erin Kirschenmann: Wine business.com is the best way to find out about wine business and see all that we do, including our events and our monthly magazine, as well as our daily news email. I. Classified wine jobs.com and our grapes and bulk wine section. Um, we recently launched a wine analytics report, , that dives into all of the data, specifically sales data out there that you can subscribe to. It's got some great information.

[00:34:11] And then for me personally, I am most active on Instagram, Erin a Kirsch, and for my newest venture novel pairings, you can find that at Novel Pairings Club.

[00:34:24] Craig Macmillan: What is novel pairings? You've mentioned that before.

[00:34:26] Erin Kirschenmann: Yeah, it's something brand new I'm launching this year and it is a book and wine club. So we are pairing wines to the books that we're reading and building a community of people who need a little extra push to, to finish that book who are looking for a community of like-minded readers who may or may not know much about wine.

[00:34:46] So we're talking about wine, like we would talk about the characters. In different and, and the themes. And so it's not your traditional wine speak. We're having fun with it.

[00:34:57] Craig Macmillan: That sounds really fun. That's a really great idea.

[00:35:00] Erin Kirschenmann: Thank you. It's, uh, one way to combine 30 something years of being a bookworm with my day job.

[00:35:07] Craig Macmillan: That's perfect. So our guest today was Erin Kirschman. She is the managing editor at Wine Business Monthly and wine business.com and the founder of Novel Pairings. Erin, thank you for being on the podcast.

[00:35:19] Erin Kirschenmann: Thank you for having me, Craig.

[00:35:25] Beth Vukmanic: Thank you for listening.

[00:35:26] Today's podcast was brought to you by Martinez Orchards. Martinez Orchards is one of the most trusted and respected names in the nursery business. They've earned that reputation through years of hard work, honesty, integrity, and a commitment to their customers. They provide support with their knowledgeable salespeople and high experience production team. They know successful plantings allowed them to fulfill their promises, and they strive to build lasting relationships with their customers based on a foundation of mutual and steadfast trust.

[00:35:58] Make sure you check out the show notes for links to Erin, Wine Business novel pairings and related sustainable wine growing podcast episodes. 265. How to stand out on social media in 2025 and 276, the business case for employee engagement in the wine industry.

[00:36:18] If you liked this show, do us a big favor by sharing it with a friend, subscribing and leaving us a review. You can find all of the podcasts@vineyardteam.org/podcast and you can reach us at podcast@vineyardteam.org.

[00:36:33] Until next time, this is Sustainable Wine Growing with the Vineyard team.

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