Here in Europe, we don’t have the mailing list culture, nor the concept that for a US based winery a mailing list is fundamental to selling wine. When I tell wineries here in Europe that some US wineries entire sales are through a mailing list their eyes roll at my naivete. Impossible they scoff, but as anyone who’s worked in the US knows, this is far from a falsehood. Needless to say, this often leaves wineries here without useful mailing lists that can actually lead to sales, but rather lists full of contacts that have no relation to the winery other than at one time having dropped a business card with someone who entered it into their system.
Even so, the mailing list has great power for those that know what it can do and for those who have yet to embrace it. That said, I encourage the building of “your list” and hope to offer up some good tips to start you down the right road. Yesterday, a friend passed on a great link to some tips on what to do once you begin to build yours. 11 great ideas for content and messages. I hope you enjoy it and let us know how you use your mailing list, or how your not! 
11 Email Marketing Ideas for Wineries
Cheers,
Ryan Opaz
