The Smartest Move Wineries Can Make in 2026

If you run a winery’s social media—or you’re a winery owner managing your own—you may have felt something shift over the last couple of weeks.

Your content is still solid.

Engagement might even be steady.

But new people aren’t finding you the way they used to.

You’re not alone.

Recently, a large number of wine, beer, and spirits Pages began receiving notifications that their Facebook Pages are no longer eligible to be recommended. (Reference article HERE.)

In plain English:

Even if your Page is active and compliant, Facebook may stop showing it to new audiences through discovery features like “Pages you may like” and other recommendation surfaces.

For many brands, the message has been frustratingly vague:

• No clear violation

• No clear fix

• No clear timeline

  
  

And that uncertainty is often worse than a hard “no.”

This Isn’t About Being “Banned” — It’s About Distribution

This change isn’t necessarily about alcohol content being prohibited.

It’s about how (and whether) platforms choose to distribute your content to people who didn’t already follow you.

Meta has long separated two things:

• What’s allowed on the platform

• What the algorithm will actively recommend

  
  

Those are not the same.

Something can be permitted—and still get limited discovery. Regulated categories like alcohol tend to be treated more conservatively, especially when content might be surfaced to people who didn’t explicitly opt in.

Whether this recent shift was a policy tightening, an automated system update, or a large-scale bug, the result feels the same for wineries:

Less organic discovery. Slower growth. More reliance on paid reach.

Why This Hits Wineries Especially Hard

Wineries don’t grow like e-commerce brands.

They grow through:

• Community

• Regulars

• Word-of-mouth

• Weekend plans shared with friends

  
  

Social media has helped support all of that.

But when recommendation visibility disappears, wineries often see:

• Strong content reaching the same audience repeatedly

• Slower follower growth, even with good engagement

• Less “new-to-you” traffic from platform discovery

• Increased pressure to pay for visibility

  
  

Which brings me to the most important takeaway.

Social Media Is Rented Land; Your email list is the property you own.

Social platforms can—and do—change the rules without warning.

Your email list:

• Is something you own

• Is something you control

• Can’t be quietly throttled by an algorithm update

• Allows you communicate directly with people who want to hear from you

  
  

For wineries, an email list is not a “nice to have.”It’s a core business asset.

The Smartest Move Wineries Can Make in 2026: Prioritize Email Growth

This doesn’t mean abandoning social media. It means using social media more strategically.

1. Put email list growth at the center of your marketing

Not as an afterthought—as a plan.

Social should consistently point people toward a list you control:

• Every week

• Every event

• Every reason to visit

  
  

2. Make it easy to join—and worth it

If sign-ups are buried, they won’t grow.

Place email opt-ins where people already are:

• Link in bio

• Website header

• Online shop checkout

• Reservation confirmations

• Tasting room signage (QR codes work)

  
  

Then, give people a reason:

• “Be the first to hear about live music + food trucks”

• “Get weekend plans in your inbox”

• “Early access to ticketed events”

• “Wine club releases and allocations”

  
  

3. Use social to drive opt-ins—without sounding salesy

Simple, human prompts work:

• “Want our weekend lineup? Join the list.”

• “We send one email a week—events + releases. No spam.”

• “If social hides posts, the email doesn’t.”

  
  

4. Treat email like your weekly community newsletter

This is where wineries can truly win.

A consistent email—even once a week—can outperform endless posting:

• Weekend events

• New releases

• Weather-friendly plans

• Member perks

• A short vineyard story

• A staff pick or pairing idea

It doesn’t need to be long. It needs to be consistent.

5. Keep posting—but adjust expectations

Social media still matters for visibility, loyalty, and connection.

But if discovery is limited, shift your KPIs:

• Focus on engagement, saves, shares, and DMs

• Drive website clicks with clear CTAs

• Move your most engaged audience into email

• Promote events email-first, social-second

  
  

The Bottom Line: Wineries don’t just need followers, they need a community they can reach—reliably, every time.

If you want help setting up a winery email growth plan (what to offer, where to place sign-ups, what to send, and how to tie it into your socials), that’s exactly what I do at OffTheVinePR.

Let's Chat.

—Lee