Harvest is Over. Now What?
As the hustle and bustle of harvest comes to a close, you may be finding yourself at loose ends. It's a good idea to maintain the momentum you had over the last several weeks and channel that energy into your digital presence, but it can often be difficult to know what to post now that the chaos and intrigue of harvest peters out.
In this post, we will explore five content ideas that will help you transition smoothly from harvest to the post-harvest season, ensuring that your wine brand remains at the forefront of your fans' minds:
Vintage Recap & Highlights
Start by sharing a comprehensive recap of the vintage. This is my favorite "low-hanging fruit" (pun very much intended) ways of shifting out of harvest. It also will help you write your winemaking and tech notes in the future, as all of the information and data from the vintage is fresh in your head.
Highlight the triumphs, challenges, and memorable moments from this year's harvest. This not only provides a sense of closure but also humanizes your winery, connecting with your audience on a personal level.
Fio DeRodeff, Winemaker & Co-Owner of Rockbound Cellars in Paso Robles, California | Photo By: Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster
Winemaker's Diary/ Day-in-the-Life Series
Day in the life posts are exceedingly popular on social media these days, particularly on TikTok and in Reels.
Create a series of posts or emails where your winemaker shares their personal 'diary' entries about the winemaking journey throughout the upcoming year. This offers a deeply personal and authentic look at the winemaking process and invites your audience into the story.
I'd recommend posting this at least once per month as feed posts, but you could also share these weekly on your Instagram stories! And the best part is that these will help you with next year's vintage recap post *eyebrow waggles.*
Sonja Magdevski, Winemaker & Owner of Casa Dumetz Wines, Feminist Party Wines, and Clemintine Carter Wines, Lompoc, California | Photo by: Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster
Wine Education
Since you just spent the last several weeks (hopefully) capturing photos and videos of the harvest and winemaking process, you now can reuse those visuals in some great educational posts about each of your SKUs!
Discuss the grape varieties you make wine out of, the vineyards you source from, and how the wine is made. For example, if you make two different rosé's, discuss their differences! Are they made from different varieties? Is one made direct-to-press and the other in the saignee method? How do these methods influence flavor profile? Texture? Color? Show the processes and then let people know when they can purchase the wine(s).
Wynne Sargent nee Solomon, Winemaker for Peake Ranch Wines, Sta Rita Hills, California
Wine Culture and History
Explore the cultural and historical aspects of winemaking, including the heritage and history of your appellation. Share interesting anecdotes and facts that connect your wines to a broader narrative.
If you are an older winery, pull images from the early days. Even better, try to recreate some of those photos or show a before and after or a "how it started" and "how it's going" comparison (younger wineries can get in on this too!)
Billy Wathen, Director of Winemaking & Co-Founder of Foxen Winery in Santa Maria, California | Photo By: Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster
Polls & Q&As
Your audience has an opinion and boy howdy, do they want to share that opinion with you. When I'm feeling tapped out of ideas or just want to gauge what my audience wants to see more of, I like to run a poll in our stories to get ideas.
This gets them engaged, which in turn has a positive effect on the ever-elusive algorithm. P.S. word on the interwebs says that polls may be coming to instagram comments soon, which would be a hoot!
Brandon Sparks-Gillis, Winemaker & Co-Owner of Dragonette Cellars, Ballard Canyon AVA, California | Photo By: Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster
I think that the hardest part of transitioning out of harvest is feeling like there isn't much in the way of content to capture. Even though there is less happening in the vineyard and winery once harvest is over, there are still loads of things you can capture to keep your fans abreast of what you're up to. Plus, don't be afraid of repurposing the videos and photos you made during harvest! They will be so useful, even in six months, when you're talking about your wine.
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