Content Marketing for Wineries: Stories and Answers That Earn a Visit

Wine is a pleasure to write about, and a few lines should stay out of winery marketing. Avoid health benefits, whether about antioxidants, heart health or relaxation. Avoid claims that drinking improves performance or social standing. Avoid anything aimed at people under legal age. Be careful about alcohol content, awards and sustainability terms such as organic or sustainable, because those words can carry legal definitions and labeling rules. The TTB and your state regulator can tell you more. Our process routes anything uncertain to you before it goes live. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice.

Photography is the main content format for a tasting room, and a small library goes a long way. Shoot by season, label files with the date and the subject and keep a log of what the staff approved. A handful of strong images of the patio, the barrel room, the vines in four seasons and the team at work can serve the website, the listing, email and social for a year. Short video clips of crush, a pour or a view add motion. Host them where they load quickly and provide a written summary so the page makes sense without sound.

Ask guests before featuring them in images, and avoid identifiable shots of people who have been drinking. Keep images consistent with alcohol advertising guidance, which often asks that people shown drinking appear to be of legal age and that images avoid encouraging excess.

Guests like to know who makes the wine. A winemaker page with a real photograph, a short account of training and vineyard experience and a few plain notes on the style of the wines builds trust better than any slogan. If the owner also farms the vineyard, say so. If fruit comes from growers you have worked with for years, name the relationship, with permission, and describe what the sites contribute. Be careful with claims such as sustainable, organic, natural or estate grown. Those words can have specific meanings in labeling and advertising rules, so use them only when you can support them and when your compliance contact agrees.

The story section should stay short and factual. Dates, places and decisions are more interesting than adjectives. Avoid founding myths you cannot document, and avoid medals or ratings unless you can name the contest, the year and the wine.