Release Date: March 5, 2026
Photo provided by Dr. Kelley
Selling wine is a challenge for many wineries this year. So we’re talking to Dr. Kathy Kelley, Professor of Horticultural Marketing and Business Management at Penn State University. Dr. Kelley brings some fresh perspectives around wine marketing for smaller or family-owned operations, has provided us with a plethora of resources all available on our Show Notes, and created some reasonable action items for wineries to utilize today. If you are looking for a fresh start in your wine marketing strategies, this is the episode to listen to.
Links for things mentioned in this episode:
- Dr. Kathy Kelley, Professor of Horticultural Marketing and Business Management a Penn State University
- Dr. Kelley’s Ph.D. was focused on marketing and post-harvest shelf-life of edible flowers. We’ve talked about the use of edible flowers in wine cocktails with Jayme Henderson. Read or listen to Jayme’s interview (Season 1, Episode 18) here!
- Wine marketing strategies frequented by wine industry headlines in 2026:
- Generational-Based Marketing (marketing to Boomers vs. Millennials vs. Gen Z)
- Premiumization (quality over quantity, higher priced wines)
- Valued Storytelling (What sets your winery apart? How does your brand evoke emotion?)
- Low/No Alcohol Wines and High Alcohol Wines (as well as differentiation of mid-strength wines). (DGW has released a previous podcast episode on low-alcohol production considerations in Season 2, Episode 1: The Quest for (Good) Low Alcohol Wines. There is also a Winemakers’ Blog post The Low Alcohol Wine Boom: Don’t Get Left Behind that details out more production considerations that wineries can use.)
- Occasion-Based Marketing (documentation of milestones, celebratory moments)
- Sustainability (product and container), Regenerative Agriculture
- Wine Discovery (where are people finding wine information?)
- Flavors: this is a growing trend for 2026. (DGW released a Winemakers’ Blog post “2026 Flavor and Food Trends Wineries Can Use” on February 19, 2026 that went in depth on current food/beverage trends that apply to wines in this category.)
- Packaging (portability, new packages, single-serve packages)
- Social media marketing reminder: 80% should be about education and what the consumer wants and 20% is the hard sell.
- There are 12 archetypes of storytelling that can help keep a wine brand in a direction that aligns with their overall message/identify. Here are some articles on the 12 archetypes:
- Even if your story is similar to someone else’s, there is likely a little nugget that sets you apart from everyone else. Example: Denise’s Story
- Wine sales related to tasting rooms: Initially, a tasting room was designed to have consumers consume alcohol and make a purchase. This evolved over time so that tasting rooms provided value to wine consumers that visited on site. For more context on tasting room evolution read or listen to Season 2, Episode 2: Are Tasting Room Rules Killing the Vibe?
- Today, there are people that are immersed in the wine world and truly enjoy opportunities to talk a lot about wine. However, for some of these people, they are experiencing challenges in communicating effectively to consumers. Furthermore, there are additional challenges for these individuals to now reach younger generations that are looking for experiences over discussion during their tastings.
- Younger generations crave something beyond going to a place and making a purchase. They want to be engaged with something that involves all of the senses. They tend to seek connection to a brand. Denise and Virginia have talked about this from the Millennial perspective in Season 2, Episode 3: Make Tasting Fun Again.
- For consumers, in general, it is important for wine brands to continue to discover what wine consumers want when they engage with wine and how they become drawn to a wine brand. Denise and Virginia released some of their ideas as Millennial consumers in Season 2, Episode 4: Let Them Drink Wine.
- Resources for improving wine tasting room marketing:
- Extension Article: Creating a Tasting Room Experience by Dr. Kathy Kelley
- Extension Article: Using Emotion to Engage Alcoholic Beverage Consumers by Dr. Kathy Kelley
- Extension Article: Winery Tasting Room Customer Journey Mapping by Dr. Kathy Kelley
- Extension Article: Developing Your Tasting Room Loyalty Program by Dr. Kathy Kelley
- Score.org mentorship program helps mentor new entrepreneurs.
- Pennsylvania (PA) Small Business Development Centers with one-on-one meetings and for-purchases meetings or informational sessions (in Pennsylvania).
- US Small Business Development Center with one-on-one meetings and for-purchases meetings or informational sessions.
- For smaller, family-owned winery operations, these are the most beneficial strategies for better wine marketing:
- Develop collaborations with other businesses (e.g., winery tasting rooms, complementary businesses like restaurants, or businesses that focus on leisure activities where wine is sold). Can use collaborations to share trainings, for example, but can also use collaborations to improve awareness of the winery and other small businesses. “Community” is important to all of your customers.
- Examples of tasting room improvements related to collaborations:
- Enhance conversation in the tasting room. If a customer is local, ask them what places they frequently visit. If it is a visitor (from out of town), ask them where they have been and where they are going. Look for trends to collaborate with other local businesses.
- Keep menus of the local restaurants that feature your wines. Provide something tangible from your winery at the restaurants that feature your wines.
- Tasting bundles from “the best of” the region (winery-to-winery collaborations).
- Joining with local organizations that sponsor 5K runs, especially if you can offer your site as a running course.
- Marketing efforts that are more specific for the Millennial and Gen Z generations:
- The Wine Market Council 2025 Survey reported that the Millennial generation is where they are seeing a higher increase in wine consumers. Expect to see an evolution on Gen Z data over time as more of their generation comes into the legal drinking age group.
- With this in mind, wineries need to keep top of mind how to connect with consumers as the consumer market evolves.
- Larger collaborative marketing events that wineries can take advantage of:
- Come Over October: Targets the month of October to bring people together, maybe using wine as the beverage to share, and encourage community.
- Share and Pair Sundays: Launched in March through June 2025 with an emphasis on being together, catching up with friends, and sharing wine with friends. Again, this was about coming together and catching up with one another in a busy world.
- The most important marketing efforts today for wineries:
- Create a loyalty program (i.e., wine club or wine subscription). In 2023, Wine Direct (Commerce 7) had a DTC Impact Report that reported wine clubs generated the greatest percentage of sales. Wineries are encouraged to start some sort of loyalty program, but also get more data on the people that this appeals to vs. those who are not signing up. Dr. Kelly mentioned having an intake survey to discover interests, which guides event planning and future marketing efforts. These things do not always have to be formal (e.g., Instagram questions, quick surveys on the tasting sheet, conversation, etc.).
- Hospitality training for the tasting room staff and employees that interact with customers. Denise and Virginia previously discussed issues with tasting room hospitality (that are incredibly common) in Season 2, Episode 3: Make Tasting Fun Again. Dr. Kelley reiterated how important it is for your tasting room employees to have excellent people skills. This is truly something every winery can improve. Also consider how your employees act and engage with others during downtime versus peak tasting hours.
- Follow food and hobby trends. Wineries are encouraged to stay on top of current trends for general awareness and potential participation. Wineries should use these trends in a way that aligns with their brand. Also stay ahead of regional trends that could more specifically align with your brand.
- Extension Article: Food Trends 2025 by Dr. Kathy Kelley and Dr. Claudia Schmidt
- Extension Webinar: Food Trends: What’s Ahead for Food and Farm Markets (2026)
- DGW Winemakers’ Blog Post: 2026 Flavor & Food Trends Wineries Can Use (February 19, 2026)
- Additional resources Dr. Kelley recommends for wineries:
- Penn State Extension and Dr. Kathy Kelley’s Page for most recent informational releases on wine marketing.
- Sign up for Google Alerts on those topics that are of interest to you. This will help save you time in discovering the information you seek.
