Wine Adventure: Breaking New Ground in Bringing Wine Information to Women

This week we are joined by Michele Ostrove, editor-in-chief of Wine Adventure magazine.  Michele discusses the concepts behind the creation of Wine Adventure, and her plans for the future.  Feel free to join in discussion about Wine Adventure by clicking the 'Comment' link below.

Wine Adventure, the first wine magazine for women, merges food, travel and style through the universal connection of wine. It’s all about enjoying the wine lifestyle and encouraging women to explore and learn in a friendly, approachable way. Each issue features wine country travel destinations, both far-flung and close to home; entertaining and lifestyle ideas; food and wine pairings; wine trends and know-how; interviews with personalities connected to wine; wine picks from an array of experts and much more – delivered in a fun, highly readable format.

We created Wine Adventure to meet a need that had not been previously addressed by wine publications – to speak directly to women with articles specifically of interest to them. It’s been my experience that average women wine drinkers (and I’m not talking about sommelier candidates here!) aren’t particularly interested in grape-growing conditions, terroir, winemakers’ philosophies, how many points a wine is rated or how many bottles they have in their cellar. They just want to enjoy wine with friends and lovers as part of an overall lifestyle, and discover new labels and varietals. Our goal was to make Wine Adventure a vehicle for expanding readers’ wine horizons in creative and fun ways. For example, we’ve got a new department called The Sensual Side, which is about wine’s role in seduction. I’m pretty sure that’s a topic that’s never been broached in a wine magazine before!

Wine Adventure’s articles are written by an eclectic group of freelance writers with a wide range of interests and expertise – some specialize in wine, some are culinary-school grads, many have traveled the world in search of the grape. I’ve never claimed to be an expert in wine (or anything else, for that matter), and feel it is important to present our readers with a wide range of perspectives and palates. For the most part, Wine Adventure’s contributors are people who believe that wine and food shouldn’t be taken too seriously. We do know how to have fun, and want to take readers along for the ride!

Coincidentally, we launched the magazine at about the same time the wine industry "woke up" to the need to appeal to women – based on their own observations in tasting rooms and on startling statistics that women comprise some 65 percent of wine buyers. We are definitely seeing more and more wineries gearing their marketing efforts to women, with pretty labels, catchy names and even special wines. While I don’t necessarily agree with the premise that women want something different in a wine, I do view these campaigns as a positive sign that our buying power and interests are finally being recognized. Hopefully, not too far down the road, we won’t be "dumbed down" to in wine advertising, ignored by restaurant sommeliers, or assumed to only have a palate for low-calorie, "light" wines. One of my goals with Wine Adventure is to address the "intimidation factor" that traditional wine marketing and publications have fostered – that you have to be an expert or wine snob to enjoy and collect wine. It’s a big, wonderful world of wine out there, and we want women to venture beyond their "comfort zones" and try more of it.

I’m happy to say that Wine Adventure will be available on newsstands across the U.S., Canada and England starting in May, so readers can easily pick up and thumb through the magazine to see what we’re all about. I envision most of our readers in the 30-to-50-year-old range, with the disposable income to buy good wine and travel occasionally. They have an interest in cooking and trying new recipes (if not always the time to play in the kitchen) and, most importantly, a zest for life. As we report in our next issue, there’s a new Wine Institute survey showing that wine drinkers on the whole are more confident, savvy and adventure-seeking than the average person, and tend to be open to new experiences and to follow their own path in life. Those are precisely the kinds of people whom we target in Wine Adventure.

Our May issue introduces the first of several new departments, including "Girlfriend Getaways," "Regional Road Trips," "How To…" and "Bargain Bin." In upcoming issues, we have articles planned on several notable personalities and their involvement with wine, wine and food festivals worldwide, unique ways to tour wine country, how to buy wine at auctions, and cruises for food and wine lovers. Our destinations will range from British Columbia to the Baja to New Zealand to Niagara. We’re also unveiling an exciting redesign of the magazine in May. Our goal is to improve with each issue, always be responsive to readers’ interests, and continue to break new ground in bringing Wine Adventure (literally and figuratively) to women.

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Michele Ostrove is editor-in-chief of Wine Adventure magazine.

Comments

[Mary Baker]

Michele, the bar across the magazine cover reads "The Wine Magazine for Women," but many of your articles are presented on a fairly sophisticated or challenging level.

So what sets this publication apart from other wine magazines? Do you see the magazine as remaining strictly devoted to a female audience, or perhaps attracting a cross-gender audience?

[michele ostrove]

In creating Wine Adventure, Mary, I used myself as a barometer of readers' interests. What you term the "geeky wine magazines" (we won't mention any names) always had limited appeal to me, although I subscribed to one for years because there were no better alternatives on the market. And I would never dream of producing a woman's magazine that consists of mindless pablum (with articles like "How to Pop His Cork"), mainly because I wouldn't be interested in reading that myself. There is already plenty of that out there already!

When I envision our female readers, I picture two ends of a spectrum: someone who is wine and food savvy and a gourmet cook and world traveler, and someone I call "Millie in the Midwest." I try to gear the magazine to appeal to both levels of readers -- and everyone in between. In our Feburary issue, for example, we featured a lamb tagine recipe by Domaine Carneros winemaker Eileen Crane, and an article about how to "gourmetize" frozen pizza and other convenience foods and pair them with wine for busy weeknight dinners.

It's clear that many men are reading Wine Adventure, too. Although we positioned Wine Adventure as the first wine magazine for women in order to fill a clear market void, I've always seen it as an alternative wine magazine with appeal to both sexes. Interestingly, a significant number of our subscribers are men. Perhaps they are purchasing it for their wives or girlfriends, or maybe they, too, are looking for wine information presented in a different way. I get interesting reactions from men about the magazine, ranging from a pouty "Why is this just for women?" to "I think it's great!" As with any magazine that's out there, there will be articles that appeal to some more than others, and I see that being the case with our male and female readers.

[golfslo]

Just posted a portion of your press release at www.golfslo.com - a golf and wine guide to the California Central Coast. Looks like a great new magazine!

[Katy Budge]

Michele --
Thanks so much for posting to our site -- hope to see you here often.
I've recently seen your magazine in several local wineries, so it's obviously a welcome addition to the world of wine writing.