The Best Part About Wine Isn't the Wine
Lessons About Community From an Unlikely Source
As a marketer, I often get caught up in the technicalities of selling wine—tasting notes, wine pairings, “the customer journey”—but I have to remind myself more often than I care to admit that the best part of wine isn’t the wine itself. It’s the experience that surrounds the wine.
This extremely obvious epiphany slapped me right in the face one night when an ad for Heineken came on in the middle of my show that unlocked something in my brain.
This ad, called “Forgotten Beers,” shows multiple scenes of gathering, love, excitement, and community happening in the slightly blurred background with a half-full beer sitting in the foreground, all set to the beautiful tune of Dubussy’s “Clair de Lune.” The final scene plays of a guy being served a beer, taking a sip, and then setting it down and forgetting about it as soon as his buddies pull up, hugs all around. Text floats onto the screen: “The best part of having a beer…” [dramatic pause] “…isn’t the beer.” Cue tears.
The beer—the product Heineken is selling—was being marketed as an afterthought; how extremely Jedi-mind-trick of them!
The message was clear: Heineken is what you drink when you’re having a great time. And this was what hit me right between the eyes. It reminded me that the best part of wine, too, isn’t necessarily the wine; it’s the community, the love, the culture, and the connections formed over a glass. This, to me, is what Karen MacNeil’s campaign, Come Over October, aims to do.
Come Over October: Building Community, Not Just Selling Wine
If you haven’t heard about it yet, Come Over October was created to respond to the rise of "Sober October" and "Dry January," where many people take a break from alcohol. Led by Karen MacNeil and prominent wine marketers, this campaign encourages people to slow down, invite others over, and share wine and conversation. It's about connection—“Come over and let wine facilitate the gathering.”
I LOVE the idea. It is a truly brilliant concept that taps into the same emotional resonance as Heineken’s “Forgotten Beers” ad, positioning wine as the vehicle for togetherness. However, the way it’s been marketed has felt very exclusive to me. It has focused heavily on the wine, potentially alienating those who don’t or can’t drink (wine or otherwise) or who are observing a momentary sober period for whatever reason.
I know that this isn’t Karen’s intention. She has said in interviews that everyone is welcome to participate in Come Over October, regardless of whether or not they consume wine. And I truly believe the heart of this campaign is in the “come over” part.
So, how do we, as wine brands, take this message and build on it? How do we ensure that Come Over October is about fostering togetherness, whether or not wine is the star of the show?
Remembering the Moment, Not the Wine
Forgive this brief non-sequitor, I promise it’s relevant:
A lot of people in the wine industry talk about their “ah-ha” wines—those magical bottles that opened their eyes to what wine could really be. But honestly? I don’t know if “ah-ha” wines really exist in the way we think they do. I believe that what people are really remembering and hyping up is the moment around that wine. The people they were with, the setting, the food, the conversation. If they had experienced that same wine under any other scenario, it likely wouldn’t have had as big of an impact.
For example, I had a glass of Champagne on the last day of my very first harvest in 2012, and it was the first time I truly “got” why people love Champagne so much. But what’s wild is that I can’t tell you anything else about that wine. Not the vintage, what it tasted like…nothing.
What I do remember is that I was exhausted (that bone-deep exhaustion that weirdly feels good), my hands were cracked and fingernails dirty, and I was sitting on the cold and slightly sticky crush pad, celebrating, after nearly 100 days of harvest. The winery cat came and sat on my lap. The winemaker was wearing flip-flops. We were shucking oysters, talking about what color lightsaber we would have (yellow, for me), and laughing over something that had happened the day before.
And though the wine wasn’t the star of the show, it was the catalyst for that moment and what truly made me understand why people pay gobs of money for Champagne. If we’d been drinking swill out of red solo cups, the memory maybe wouldn’t have lodged itself so deeply into my brain but I am also confident that if I’d had that same wine under any other circumstances, it wouldn’t have made such an impression on me. Because I HAD had Champagne before that and up until that point it hadn’t made me sit up and go “this is why I am doing what I am doing.”
This is exactly why I believe Come Over October has the potential to be more than just another wine campaign. It’s about fostering those moments where wine is present but not the main focus. Wine and community, together, is what makes these experiences so fucking special.
Wine as a Catalyst for Culture and Connection
Wine has a unique cultural role because of its long history of bringing people together, but we shouldn’t let that history limit who we invite to the table. Let’s focus on community, humanity, and connection first and wine second. By doing this, we open our doors to a wider audience and reinforce the true beauty of wine: the moments of togetherness it helps create.
Come Over October doesn’t need to be about drinking wine to be successful—it needs to be about gathering people together. Whether it’s with wine, mocktails, or just good conversation, the goal is connection. And that’s something everyone can get behind.
So, as we navigate Sober October and other alcohol-free movements, let’s PLEASE remember: the best part of wine is the stories shared and the memories made around the bottle.
I’m writing my thesis on wine marketing and this is one of the key points!