By Hamish Graham
Published: 21 September, 2026
Californian trade body Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) has announced its plans to launch a new three-year marketing campaign. The initiative seeks to respond to shifting wine consumption habits.
It follows work done by a NVV taskforce of a dozen wineries to establish a plan of action. The resulting project was approved unanimously by the NVV board of directors earlier this month on 10 September.
The new marketing project – of which the first 15 months has already been planned – will take a three-pronged approach, as follows – ‘creating more occasions for wine’; ‘taking Napa Valley to consumers’; and ‘mobilizing wineries and the trade’.
In terms of the first aim, NVV is set to introduce a new consumer campaign titled ‘Tonight, It’s Napa’. The MO of the initiative will see it emphasise the importance of drinking occasions beyond the traditional, “across more of life’s daily moments”.
‘Taking Napa Valley to consumers’ will see NVV “significantly expand its presence in key markets, bringing Napa Valley vintners and wines to places where consumers already gather through events, partnerships and experiences”. It emphasised that this is about bringing Napa to consumers rather than vice versa.
The third and final prong in the promotional campaign will see NVV provide “member wineries more opportunities to connect with trade professionals who recommend, sell and champion Napa Valley wines”. Additionally, it wll aid these members in working with the wine trade about reframing “how Napa Valley shows up in consumers lives”.
CEO of St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery (and NVV board member) Emma Swain said: “Napa Valley has an opportunity to lead, and as vintners, we have always found acting collectively benefits everyone.
“This is the time in the cycle to step up, invest and do our part to create change and amplify Napa Valley while supporting our member’s engagement with wine lovers.”
Tom Gamble, fellow board member and owner of Gamble Estates acknowledged it is a challenging moment for the wine trade but emphasised NVV “don’t intend to sit on the sidelines”.
He added that “you can spend a lot of time talking about what’s changing, or you can get to work. We’re choosing to get to work.”
Image credit – Brocken Inaglory / Napa Valley and Great Egret / Image source / CC BY-SA 3.0
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