“Do something!” That’s my mantra these days when I see people moaning about how bad things are and how hard life is. Karen MacNeil is a doer. Not only did she author The Wine Bible, she’s also a prolific writer, speaker, teacher and much else. Last year, she created the sensational Come Over October celebration of wine in conjunction with colleagues Gino Colangelo and Kimberly Noelle Charles. Here’s the story and an invitation to do something: Get involved.
—Jim Trezise, President, WineAmerica
Wine at a Crossroads: What We Need To Do Now
We must tell the true story of wine’s beneficial place in everyday living.
By Karen MacNeil
We all know the difficulties the wine community is facing.
- We know about the generational downshifts;
- We know about competition from cannabis and beverages with THC;
- We know about appetite suppression caused by GLP-1 drugs;
- We know that case sales of some ready-to-drink cocktails already equal one-fifth of all cases of wine cumulatively sold in the United States;
- We know that, thanks to the accordion menace of tariffs, the entire stability of the wine industry is being threatened; and
- We know that news reports about the decline in the consumption of alcoholic beverages seem to always show a picture of a glass of wine — not a can of beer, not a cocktail. A glass of wine.
It’s easy to get demoralized. But this is not the time to give in or give up.
Rather, this is the time to tell the positive story about wine: the story about connection, friendship, family, food, cultural bonds and community forged in the most basic (and historic) of ways — by eating and drinking together.
Building a movement
Wine is based on a value system of generosity and humility in the face of Nature. That value system is more poignant — and more needed — today than ever. Wine is threaded together with connection and authenticity. It’s a pure vein into the earth, a reason to pause, a reason to share a slow moment in a fast world.
Last year, Kimberly Charles, Gino Colangelo and I — with no money and nothing more than an idea — created the mission-driven company Come Together – A Community for Wine. Our passion for the industry we love drove us to create our first (and now annual) Come Over October campaign.
The idea was simple: we encouraged consumers to invite a friend, colleague or a family member to “come over” during the month of October to share some wine in honor of wine’s historic legacy as the beverage that brings people together.
Through press and media, national press conferences, social media, video, advertising — and with the help of more than 100 wine companies — we achieved enormous success. To date, we’ve reached more than 2 billion people via media, plus nearly 5 million on social media; more than 1,400 retail stores have done or are about to launch Come Over October promotions.
Expanding the message
Now, on the cusp of the 2025 edition of Come Over October, the campaign has become a full-fledged grassroots consumer movement. We are using every communication modality available, from text messages and podcasts to webinars and even jumbotron billboards in Times Square to tell wine’s positive story.
One of the new additions to this year’s campaign has been our commitment to reaching new audiences. To that end, I recently conducted an interview with Alecia Moore, owner and winemaker of Two Wolves winery in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Alecia is better known as the mega-star singer/songwriter P!nk). In that interview (available on www.comeoveroctober.com in the Wine Food & Friends section of the site), Moore shares her thoughts on the emotional power of wine to bring us together.
It’s a message that we, the wine industry, must take to heart. Because we can tell the true story of wine’s beneficial place in everyday living. We can change a negative trajectory into a positive one. We can revitalize consumer behavior.
We can. And we have to.
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Karen MacNeil
Karen MacNeil is the author of The Wine Bible, the editor of WineSpeed, and the co-founder of Come Over October. You can reach her at karen@karenmacneil.com
