Two streams just came together and I thought I’d share.

If you’re in the wine business you probably read the most recent Direct To Consumer Wine Shipping Report, which is an annual collaboration between Sovos ShipCompliant and Wine Business Analytics. It contains the most up-to-date and accurate representation of the American direct-to-consumer wine shipping channel as well as data on growth trends, regional demand, varietal trends and more. “Beware of continuing cultural headwinds,” the Report said. “We view with concern for the DtC shipping channel several headwinds that could diminish wine consumption overall and with it DtC shipments in 2024. They include continued reduction of alcohol consumption, particularly among younger adults, the rise of alternative alcoholic beverages, anti-alcohol campaigns coordinated by powerful international bodies, and increased competition from cannabis as more states legalize recreational sales,” they said.

Cultural headwinds. How do you capture those winds? How can you bend them your way if you’re publicizing a specific Cabernet Sauvignon? That’s a powerful and provocative admonition.

So while absorbing that and using that lens to review all the wines I represent, I also reflected on what I do face every day. People often ask me what the most interesting things I do or see as a publicist in the wine business are.

I do see a lot. A lot which is often frustrating…sometimes clever.  Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are the most effective. Often I see big-time missed opportunities.

I’d been mulling over writing a post about this when life forced my hand, so to speak. That would be Josh Cellars’ amazing “15 minutes of fame” from being prominently featured in Saturday Night Live’s cold open this past weekend. You can see it here at 2:57. Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris and Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff are watching the recent VP debate on their couch at home. Rudolph/Harris is getting upset as she watches; she says she wishes she’d chosen Josh, not as in the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, but the wine. She pours herself a glass and the bottle and label are front & center. Unfortunately, this should have been front & center on all of Josh Cellars’ platforms immediately…as of yet, not yet. Hopefully it will be soon. So here’s a case of what looks like amazing serendipity—a wine-oriented SNL writer who thought of the connection between the wine and the governor. This is a rare thing, not to mention SNL’s huge reach.

Then there are things that are frustrating….

Here’s another recent experience: for six months I assisted a writer working on a thematic story for a very major magazine. The writer interviewed the winemaker-owner (it’s a small brand with a unique personality), she tasted all of the wines, she followed up with questions. Then came her apologetic email with a copy of the finished article: all that remained to do with my client was a review of one wine; he was not included in the accompanying article. Space apparently was the culprit; the writer was very chagrined. Darn, right?

I represent wineries outside of Napa and Sonoma—Lake County, Mendocino, Arizona. Maybe you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that many major wine publications aren’t reviewing wines from these regions. Why? Budgets? Prejudice? Hard to say, but very frustrating.

Recently the long-time wine columnist at a major paper retired; ironically that column really did ‘move the meter’ when it came to wine sales of wines that were recommended. To be replaced by….not the same format, to be determined, say the editors. Another darn.

One other ‘slice of my life’ to share: my constant refrain to wineries to shoot their own iPhone videos and pop them up on Instagram or Facebook. I literally see with my own eyes what greater impact those types of efforts have….versus art-directed still lifes or carefully composed landscape shots.

What’s the motto or bottom line? Keep your eyes peeled on your environment so you can course-correct quickly. Be creative. Act; don’t just watch and go with the flow!