Our friends at InnoVint recently published their 2026 State of Winery Health Report, and here’s the data point we can’t stop thinking about: Eighty percent (!!) of respondents named “maintaining or growing sales” as a top concern. I get that. I also get this: Enolytics is BUILT to help you sell more wine. Take it from your peers who are doing exactly that. Join us tomorrow at 11 am PST for our next FREE webinar, about exploding your ecommerce sales in October, November and December. Here’s a preview of three moves our guest panelists will discuss, to sell more wine. Getting the Data Right. It’s harder than it sounds. It is not “sexy.” It’s also one of the most critical things you can do to ensure you’re working with the right sales strategy for your business. Tracy Chastain has been there. She’s the Wine Club Manager at Testarossa Winery, and she’s been rebuilding, rethinking, and restructuring data in ways that are both diligent and creative. Whittle Down Your Audience. Ever had to wh

A buyer asks ChatGPT: "recommend a small-production Lodi Zin." It names three wineries in two seconds. If yours isn't one of them, you were never in the running — and it has almost nothing to do with what's in the bottle. Here's what most wineries miss: the AI has never tasted your wine. It builds its answer from what it can read about you online. So the wineries it names aren't the best in the glass — they're the ones easiest for a machine to understand. A gorgeous site with a full-screen vineyard video and barely any words? The AI learns almost nothing. Tasting notes locked inside a PDF? Invisible. Your winery listed three different ways across Vivino, Wine-Searcher, and your distributor pages? Now you're three faint signals instead of one strong one. I wrote a plain-English piece on exactly what decides whether AI names your winery — and the fixes, most of them free and none of them technical: 🍇 Get tasting notes and tech sheets out of PDFs and onto the page 🍇 One consistent name an

Afternoon Brief, January 9

Wine Data Shows Causes for Optimism: The wine outlook might be dark, but there are occasional rays of sunshine breaking through, according to Wine-Searcher's data...

For decades, wine and spirits inventory at wholesalers followed a model of large first orders. Makers shipped big quantities to distributors, who stocked them in massive warehouses and waited for orders to roll in. Today, that model is mostly gone—unless you’re part of the top ~20% of Makers doing tens of millions in annual sales under contract. Few Makers reach that level, and contracts of that size are rare. So why aren’t large inventory purchases common any more? What’s Changed Here are a few of the major reasons: The Cost of Money - Wholesalers typically carry inventory financed via lines of credit or similar instruments, and are paid back when accounts pay. Interest rates now are much higher than a few years ago, so carrying inventory (i.e. borrowing money to finance it) is more expensive. Excess Inventory Already in the System - There is a large glut of wine and spirits sitting in warehouses across the country. Distributors and wholesalers are

Introduction: From Search to Suggestion Wine consumers aren’t just Googling anymore — they’re asking AI assistants like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok where to go, what to drink, and who to trust. If your winery’s online presence isn’t optimized for these new tools, you’re already behind. That’s where AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization) comes in. This guide is a step-by-step roadmap to get your winery ready to be recommended in AI-driven results, and how Corksy Insights can help. What is AIO, and Why Should Wineries Care? AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization) is about making your winery's online presence easy for AI agents to understand, trust, and recommend. Unlike traditional SEO, AIO focuses on the signals that AI tools use to generate answers, not just search results. Local SEO vs Local AIO at a Glance: Local SEO Local AIO Goal Rank on Google/Search engines Be recommended by AI assistants Tools Google Busi

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to unlocking consistent, high-quality traffic to your winery’s website. Whether you want to grow your wine club, drive more eCommerce sales, or bring visitors to your tasting room, a well-optimized website ensures your business is discoverable to potential customers searching for what you offer. SEO isn’t just about throwing in a few keywords—it’s about creating a site that search engines recognize as valuable and relevant while also offering an excellent user experience. Here’s how to optimize your winery website to attract new traffic and grow your wine club. Focus on Keywords That Match Customer Intent At the heart of any successful SEO strategy is understanding what your audience is searching for and why. Keywords are the bridge between what potential customers are looking for and the content you provide. For wineries, this could include searches like “best winery in Napa,” “organic wines n

Afternoon Brief, April 29th

Labor Department Sets Sweeping New H-2A Foreign Guestworker Rule: The U.S. Department of Labor has adopted a new rule it said will protect foreign seasonal farmworkers from being abused, imposing sweeping regulations the head of an agricultural employers association called "offensive."...

By Connor Widder, Kru Marketing The wine industry is at a critical turning point in many ways, including on the digital frontier. Today’s wine drinker likes to buy and drink at home, but they’re willing to try little-known wineries from across the country. This trend towards curious, adventurous wine buying is a potential bonus for your wine business. But to make the most of wine buying trends, you’ll need an easy-to-operate eCommerce wine website that’s optimized to rank higher in search engine results. Wineries that embrace an optimized online presence will thrive, attracting wine buyers who are enthusiastic about your products and loyal to your winery. So for your winery to meet wine buyers where they are (at home!), you’ll need to adapt your business and your selling techniques. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the master key that unlocks the potential for growth as a winery in a digital world. But what is it? And where to start? We&rsquo

Afternoon Brief, February 29th

TTB Listens to Wine Industry: The TTB wants to hear what the industry thinks about label regulations, so Wine-Searcher's US editor had his say...