Photo Credit: Julia Ewan

Tips for getting wines mentioned in The Washington Post

Want to see your wines mentioned in The Washington Post? Yes, there are things you can do to increase your chances:

1) Make great wines. We're even more impressed if they're well-priced for the quality they deliver.
2) Send us key information with bottle samples. Send a data sheet on every wine for which you submit a bottle sample. It should include the wine's vintage, grape composition, and suggested retail price. Other information (from food pairing recommendations to how the wine is made) is also welcomed.
3) Provide distributor information. Our editorial mandate is to feature wines that are available for sale at retail in Washington, DC; Maryland, and Virginia. Please don't submit wines without also including the names of their DC, MD and VA distributors. Do mention some of the key retailers carrying the wine in each state if this information isn't available on winesearcher.com.
4) Be easy to reach. Include your contact info (email and phone) on every data sheet, and on every bottle sample you submit.
5) Be compassionate. Please understand that we receive dozens of wine samples every week, and the more you do to make information about your wines easily available to us, the greater the likelihood that they'll receive coverage.

Bonus Tip: Please note that we are not able to accept invitations to meet with individual winemakers or their representatives one-on-one. However, we are able to attend sampling events to which other journalists are also invited.

Photo Credit: Kevin Clark

Upcoming wine columns

Washington Post wine columnists Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's future columns will focus on the following subjects (to be updated here regularly, for the convenience of winemakers and their publicists and/or distributors who wish to submit appropriate samples for consideration; subject to revision):

- Wines from wineries in the movie "Sideways" (Deadline: ASAP)
- Wines for grilling season (Deadline: ongoing this summer)
- Spanish wines and sherries (Deadline: ongoing)
- Japanese sake and other rice wines (Deadline: TBD)
- Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc (Deadline: ongoing)
- Affordable Pinot Noirs (Deadline: ongoing)
- Biodynamic and/or organic wines (Deadline: ongoing)

Photo credit: Julia Ewan

Important Information re: Submitting Wine Samples

Please read the following information carefully before submitting wine samples:

Winemakers and their representatives (i.e. distributors, publicists, etc.) wishing to submit wine samples for consideration in an upcoming column may do so at:

Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
527 Third Avenue Suite 130 (near 35th Street, for deliveries)
New York, New York 10016

As per The Washington Post's policy, please send no more than one bottle of each wine to be considered unless specifically requested (e.g. for photography purposes).

In the accompanying press materials (hard copies must accompany the wine samples themselves, although it is OK to send via email separately), it is mandatory that you indicate:

- your contact information (including email address); plus
- each wine's suggested retail price; plus
- the names and phone numbers of the wine's Washington, DC; Maryland, and Virginia distributors; plus
- the names and numbers of a few retailers where we can confirm it is available in the District, Maryland and Virginia.

As per The Washington Post Food section's mandate that wines mentioned be readily available in the Washington, DC, area, it is mandatory to include information confirming current Washington, DC area (i.e. DC, MD, VA) distribution.

Otherwise, it will be assumed that the wine is not readily available at retail and it will not be sampled or receive editorial coverage.

Photo Credit: Julia Ewan

Notes

- While Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's wine column is frequently picked up over the wire service and published in other newspapers across North America — including am New York, Arizona Daily Sun, Arizona Republic, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Connecticut Post, Duluth (MN) News Tribune, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, (Hackensack, NJ) Record, Honolulu Advertiser, (Indiana) Post-Tribune, Knoxville News Sentinel, Miami Herald, Monterey Herald, Napa Valley Register, Newark Star-Ledger, The (Norfolk, VA) Virginian-Pilot, Oregonian, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Raleigh News & Observer, (North Jersey) Record, San Antonio Express-News, San Mateo County Times, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, White Plains Journal News, Winnipeg Free Press and The Wichita Eagle — as previously mentioned, only wines with current Washington, DC area (DC, MD, VA) distribution can be considered for inclusion in the column's accompanying "In the Wine Aisle" box. Please indicate the DC, MD and VA distributors for each wine submitted.

- If wine samples arrive after the research for a particular column has already been concluded, not to worry — they will be considered for the next appropriate column.



Credit: Margaret Thomas

Background

"A New Food Section: We added content, designed a new look and reorganized to help you better interact with what interests you most in Food. Here's some of what's new today: Wine: Our new beverages page features the debut column by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, award-winning authors who bring a fresh voice to the topic by focusing on how best to enjoy wine: with food."
—The Washington Post (March 21, 2007)

"Today marks the debut of The Washington Post's
newly redesigned Food and Dining section with a
weekly column from James Beard Award-winning authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Dornenburg and Page are the authors of several modern classics on food and chefs....Their down-to-earth and enthusiastic approach to wine will certainly make for some interesting (and most useful) reading."
—GourmetFood.About.com (March 21, 2007)