Jessah Diaz, WSET II | Director of DTC, Cakebread Cellars
Recently, I was watching a popular show on Hulu when an ad for the Bordeaux region of France popped up. The commercial, originally launched in 2024 by Vins de Bordeaux, was vibrant, playful, and modern. It did exactly what TikTok and Instagram do best—selling a dream lifestyle to millennials and Gen Z. It was approachable yet aspirational, attainable yet full of depth. Not the daily grind. It showed fun. It captured that ever-present feeling on social media that someone, somewhere, is having a better time—and Bordeaux made sure they were the ones having it.
So where’s the California wine industry’s answer to that? Nowhere to be found.
While our industry constantly talks about reaching younger audiences, we’re missing the point. This commercial nailed it: show the excitement, the diversity, the community. Show people having fun. Show what makes us worth discovering. Instead, we stay insular—full of passionate wine nerds and business pros talking in circles. We hear why wine "isn't connecting" with younger consumers, then roll our eyes at a commercial like Join the Bordeaux Crew. It’s not in the budget. It’s too ambitious. Who has the advertising dollars for that?
Maybe one winery doesn’t—but wine regions do.
Yes, drinking has declined among a generation raised online, one that socializes through screens more than bars. But we’ve given them few chances to explore our regions through the platforms they actually use—YouTube, streaming services, geo-targeted ads tied to cultural touchstones like Coachella. We talk about how special our regions are, but we don’t show people why it’s worth spending on that expensive Airbnb in wine country. Where’s our #JoinTheWineCountryCrew? Where’s our aspirational content?
Imagine if Napa, Sonoma, Lake County, and Mendocino banded together to produce something like that Bordeaux commercial. Who could we reach? How might we sway the demographics of wine drinkers? How many more people could we bring to Northern California—then let the friendly competition begin over which winery they visit first? Many of the people we want to reach watch ad-supported shows and content. Imagine you're deep into The Last of Uson HBO Max and suddenly you see a beautifully shot, fun, vibrant, bilingual commercial inviting you to Join the Wine Country Crew—full of the diverse and passionate faces from our community.
I’d be convinced.
Living on the East Coast, I never saw ads for wine regions. I didn’t even realize there were cities near wine country, with cocktail bars, great restaurants, or vibrant local scenes. It all seemed so far away. If I hadn’t worked in hospitality, I probably never would’ve made it to Napa. No one was talking to me—or to people like me. And frankly, it feels like we still aren’t.
It took years working in high-end NYC restaurants to build a passion for wine. It was a slow burn. If I hadn’t been in spaces with deep wine programs, I wouldn’t be here. So how does a kid growing up in the Bronx, Brooklyn, or rural Arkansas see themselves in Napa, Sonoma, Lodi, SLO or Santa Barbara?
Right now, they don’t.
We say we’re doing all we can, but if we look at the Bordeaux commercial—are we?
So how do we change that? How do we get people to care?
By making the need to be here stronger than the reasons not to. By showing that wine country is fun, welcoming, and theirs. By uniting advertising, not as individual AVAs, but as a larger, modern, inclusive wine community. Right now, we’re too rigid. Too old-school. Too territorial to say, “Come to wine country—any part of it.” We don’t lift the smallest among us to benefit the whole. And in doing so, we’re missing the ethos of this generation: we want to have fun together, and we want everyone to see it.
We need large-scale advertising—because it works. We need to invite people in with joy, with diversity, with collaboration. I can already hear the excuses: “Someone tried that once and it didn’t pan out…”
Try again.
Try harder.
Work smarter.
Get every region involved.
Show everything—hikes, taco trucks, cocktail bars, tasting rooms, tattoo shops. Show the wine, show the craftsman, show the people. Because we already know how incredible wine country is.
It’s time the rest of the world knew it, too