Founder of Azure Road, a digital publication devoted to conscious living, Lauren Mowery has written about wine, food and travel for more than a decade. Mowery serves on Decanter Magazine’s 12-strong U.S. editorial team. Prior to that, she spent five years as the travel editor at Wine Enthusiast. Mowery has earned accolades for her writing and photography having contributed travel, drinks, food and sustainability content to publications like Food & Wine, The Independent, Saveur, Hemispheres, U.S. News & World Report, SCUBA Diving, Plate, Chef & Restaurant, Forbes, AAA’s Via, Fodors.com, Lonely Planet, USA Today, Men’s Journal and Time Out, among others.
Pursuing her Master of Wine certification, she has also been a regular wine and spirits writer for Tasting Panel, Somm Journal, VinePair, Punch, and SevenFifty Daily. Mowery is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Fordham Law School, and she completed her wine harvests in South Africa. Follow her on Instagram @chasingthevine, @AzureRoad and TikTok @chasngthevine, and @AzureRoad.
How did you come to wine, and to wine writing?
I came to wine through travel. My grandmother ran a travel agency in the 1970s and ’80s, and I traveled much of Europe with her when I was young. Those experiences introduced me to the wine and food culture of Italy and France. My dad also looked a little like Indiana Jones back then, so I had a parallel interest in archaeology and history, which dovetails with much of the fascinating backstory of wine. I came to writing as a kid, an avid reader of fiction. My grandmother amassed a huge library so while traveling, I’d borrow her books and read them under the table at dinner and late into the night until I finished one. I had a fiction addiction which turned into writing as I got older. I went to law school where I learned to make persuasive arguments with the written word. I guess it all coalesced around the intersection of these interests.
What are your primary story interests?
As a Master of Wine student, I’ve written a lot of nerdy and neophyte wine education pieces, especially when I was at Wine Enthusiast. But I’ve also tracked climate science for two decades and that began to seep into my writing. My first published piece as an Environmental Notes & Articles Editor at Fordham Law focused on how human rights are environmental rights. We’re a part of the planet’s ecosystem — we affect it and it affects us when there’s an imbalance. Though I’ve written lots of fun pieces about travel and food, the issue of planetary and community health has nagged at me to the point of deciding that my writing should highlight businesses doing better so we as consumers and civilians can make better choices.
You’ve written for many different publications. What have you learned as a result?
From a freelancer perspective, what I’ve learned is a bit of advice I’d like to give to other writers. Editors are people. They’re not gods. Often, they say no to a story not because it’s a bad idea or your writing is terrible, but because: a. they’ve just published something similar; b. it’s already in the pipeline; c. they ran out of budget for the month; d. it doesn’t hit the SEO or audience metrics they’re looking for at the moment.
Countless times, I’ve had a rejection and given up on the story only to see the same or slightly tweaked angle weeks or months later either in that publication or elsewhere. The moral is, if you think the story has merit, keep at it. I know pitching requires thick skin and an immense amount of unpaid labor — both of which are a large part of what makes this business so damn hard. But trust your instincts. And if you can’t find an outlet, write it yourself for a Substack, Medium or guest post on a site that will take it. The more writing you do, the more bylines you have, the more successful you will be, whether you carry on pitching or ultimately start your own publication. See exhibit A: Azure Road.
Is it possible to make a living as a wine writer today?
This is a hot button topic right now. I survived almost 13 years writing exclusively about wine. I was a full-time professional writer. In fact, having a niche like wine helped me at a time when every magazine and newspaper wanted wine and travel stories and most travel writers just didn’t have the insider perspective. My generalist writer friends called me a “unicorn” as they dropped out of the industry like flies to take on part-time or full-time jobs, often in other industries. I was lucky to have enough good paying work to thrive. Though I knew the media industry was in trouble, I always reminded myself the situation would likely shift.
That shift came with the pandemic and the rise of influencer culture. Influencers started pulling funds from brands that previously relegated those dollars to media spend. That bifurcation of dollars is partially to blame for the struggle media companies are facing. That doesn’t even touch on the wine industry’s big picture challenges with cultivating a new audience and loss of market share to other beverages. So, to answer your question? Diversify.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I am a huge fan of horror books and movies. I’ve been working on a screenplay that combines elements of cli-fi (climate change fiction) with zombies. I’d tell you more about the plot but I don’t want anyone to steal it.
You just launched Azure Road, a lifestyle, culinary and travel platform. Why?
As a wine journalist with a strong background in climate change, I went through a period of climate grief during the pandemic. There are five stages culminating with acceptance. However, accepting an existential threat presents a psychological challenge so one needs action to accompany it. For this type of grief, taking solace in community and creating positive change towards a goal offer paths out of fear and sadness. Azure Road was an idea born out of this process with the purpose of building a like-minded community around shared values.
The mission of the site is to provide a one-stop-editorial shop for readers’ lifestyle needs, whether that includes wine, food, travel, home, beauty and wellness, or fashion. Such a site did not already exist. With all the legacy publications in circulation, of which many are struggling, not one is devoted to showcasing the good work being done in these categories. Out of frustration, I decided to create it. The goal is to transparently vet brands using our North Star system to engender trust with readers and remove the friction in the buying process. Looking for the best biodynamic wines in Chile? We can tell you. Looking for stylish yet innovative swimwear and shoes using eco-friendly materials? We’ve got the answer. Looking for an upscale hotel that uses solar and grows its own organic vegetables instead of buying from Cisco? We’ve done that research, too.
If you weren’t writing about wine for a living, what would you be doing?
Depends how much money I have. If I’m rich, I’d probably move to a new place every quarter and keep writing at leisure. That said, I always thought about returning to the legal profession to work in environmental law or international human rights. No money in that either, of course. But you feel good at the end of the day. As long as you live near a beach with tacos, good weather and a cheaper cost of living. So, a lawyer in Mexico?
Can you describe your approach to wine writing and/or doing wine reviews?
I spend hours researching before I write anything. That’s partly why pay as a writer doesn’t add up. So many hours of unpaid labor go into putting together a well-researched and informed piece. I learned to research in college and law school and it’s the backbone of any good article, and of course, journalism in general. I want to know the history of the region. The pedantic details of the appellation. The players in the wine scene, old and new. What other reviewers are saying. What consumers are saying. Then I can start to write from a big picture perspective and zero in on a refined angle that answers whatever question has been posed. I don’t write with a structure in place, however. I’m more of a “see where the words as I think about them” take me kind of writer. For some that works, for others, they need a strict outline so as not to stray. I’ve been known to meander well beyond scope because I’m enjoying the process of thinking through writing. I might be doing that now.
Do you work on an editorial schedule and/or develop story ideas as they come up?
Both. As a freelancer, I had two schedules. What I was pitching and what I was commissioned. Now that I’m running my own publication, I work on four schedules. I still write for other publications to pay the bills for Azure Road and keep diversified bylines, so I’m still pitching and filing with other pubs. For AR, I’m self-assigning stories I’ve always wanted to write without dealing with the gatekeepers, while building out a content calendar that’s mixed with great freelancers. It’s a lot to juggle, but I get so excited about finally having a place to tell the stories I think deserve public awareness. And I get goosebumps when I work with writers who care about the values that AR espouses and read a piece that connects deeply with that. Labor of love, this business.
What’s the best story you have written?
I have a few stories I’m really proud of. For example, my first newspaper cover story for the Village Voice. Two entrepreneurs escaped war-torn Yemen across the Strait of Grief carrying a secret bag of heritage coffee beans meant for the Specialty Coffee Association trade show in the U.S. Their wild tale of escape was later turned into a book written by Dave Eggers though I broke the story first. Another piece was actually the first chapter of a book for which I signed an agent during the pandemic. She turned out to be an immensely dishonest flake (apparently, I would learn, not unusual for the industry.) I sat on the wine memoir chapters for years and finally decided to release one of them in Azure Road. It’s called Bordeaux for Normal People.
Do you consider yourself an Influencer? How would you differentiate writers and creators?
Writers are the original influencers and content creators. What is it we’re doing if not “creating content” that may influence readers? For example, when I score a wine, isn’t that published score on Decanter now “content” that’s likely to “influence” a reader to buy that wine? When I write articles for Azure Road about the impact on the planet about our wine choices, then proffer a list of great bottles and producers that meet Azure Road’s values, aren’t I influencing my readers?
The whole conversation has become silly. For the record, I’m not dismissing the value of social media content creators who have skills largely around visuals edited into bite-size snippets meant for an audience with an increasingly short attention span. But how much influence does that have when no point of view is provided? I’m not sure, but there’s still some hard-to-define value in it. Writers are also creators, but our medium is words.
What are your recommendations to wineries when interacting with journalists?
Please put your contact information on the website. Don’t make us email through a web form with our very specific message. Most of the time, those go unanswered, and we have to start over searching for an email on Facebook or reaching out through Instagram. The hours I’ve spent trying to get a contact: too many. Also, make it easy to find information about your wines on your site. Have tech sheets available when we need specific information. I write for Decanter and when I score wines, I need to fill in a lot of data beyond ABV that includes oak regime, time in oak, SRP, stockiest, etc. It can take hours to track that all down if the winery hasn’t organized the info on a tech sheet.
What advantages are there in working directly with winery publicists?
Many do all the work I mentioned above on our behalf, saving us countless hours. Winery publicists do so much: they coordinate samples, press trips, interviews, fact checks. They’re a gift to a journalist and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work, as I know how challenging it can be to serve their client while trying to aid the journalist and the story. They’re often caught between a rock and a hard place and must have thick skin to cope. My only advice would be to trust the process and restrain oneself from dozens of follow-ups. This honestly frustrates a journalist. I see my interactions with wineries and PR as relationship-building, not just a one-and-done story. And sometimes stories take months to evolve. We’re as eager to sell and write an article as you are to share with your client you got them a placement. Give us the space to do that without the accompanying guilt trip.
Which wine personalities would you most like to meet and taste with (living or dead)?
Pliny the Elder, the world’s first wine critic. I wrote a story on him for Wine Enthusiast that remains one of my most read and shared pieces. I’d love to know what the wines stored in Pompeii before the explosion tasted like.
If you take days off, how do you spend them?
Fortunately, I never take days off. I can’t. My mind won’t shut off. I am always thinking about the angle. For example, I had a taste of a special kind of uni in Santa Ynez Valley in January. Ostensibly, I wasn’t there to write about the dish, just enjoy it. But the chef came by to explain that it came from a woman diver who harvests “zombie” purple hotchis off the coast of Santa Barbara, then turns them over to an urchin rancher who fattens them up and sells them to customers and chefs. I made a note in my phone and looked it up a few months later.
I was initially interested in the story of the woman, but I ended up in a black hole of research that revealed how the California kelp forests had been decimated by an ecological imbalance due to the overpopulation of these otherwise native creatures. Eating them is a way to bring that population back into balance. I ended up writing a story on The Cultured Abalone farm for the launch of Azure Road to bring attention to this issue while highlighting a company innovating to help solve it. Finding these little connections is such a joyful thrill and perfectly encapsulates what I’m trying to do with Azure Road.
What’s your cure for a wine hangover?
Alas, after years in the business, I know one thing for sure: There is no cure. Only time, water and pizza.
What’s your favorite wine region in the world?
South Africa. I completed a harvest there with Paul Cluver in Elgin, then traveled around for a few weeks to different regions meeting winemakers. The warmth, hospitality, beauty, quality of the wines and food—as a travel destination and quality wine region, South Africa remains wildly underrated here in America where everyone thinks of visiting for either a Kruger safari or Cape Town city break. The country does bear dark stains on its history but the fact it escaped a civil war through the brilliant and empathetic leadership of Nelson Mandela is remarkable. And the wines are so good and of such great value.
Carl Giavanti
Carl Giavanti is a Winery Publicist with a DTC Marketing background. He’s celebrating his 14th year of winery consulting. Carl has been involved in business marketing and public relations for over 25 years; originally in technology, digital marketing and project management, and now as a winery media relations consultant. Clients are or have been in Napa Valley, Willamette Valley, Walla Walla, Columbia Valley, and the Columbia Gorge. (www.CarlGiavantiConsulting.com/Media)
