Wine Consulting

LS Media offers comprehensive consulting services for wineries, importers, distributors, domestic and imported food producers and distributors, restaurants, foodservice operators, the hospitality industry and individuals. 

Marketing and Public Relations expert John Harding has joined forces with Liz Salapatas, and with the wine consulting division of LS Media. Together, John and Liz can offer your business 35 years of experience and expertise in wine, food and hospitality marketing and publicity, wine consulting, wine writing, wine buying services, and event planning for wine tastings and dinners. No two programs are alike, and pricing for all services are customized to each client’s specific needs due to the different services offered.  We look forward to working with you to create exciting promotions and wine events!

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Our combined unique background and extensive experiences allows us to offer comprehensive resources and databases of contacts within the specialty wine and food media plus wine and food contacts—reviewers, specialist writers, editors and broadcasters—within the mainstream media, for example newspapers and magazines. For wine clients, this will enable us to ensure that samples of your wines and relevant information are sent to major magazines and wine writers, including Wine Spectator and Robert Parker for example, to be reviewed according to their annual tasting calendars and within special interest features and in-depth articles. Our publicity services include writing press releases and distributing them to relevant media, devising story ideas and pitching them to the press, and attracting media coverage for new products and launches.

WINE LIST DEVELOPMENT AND RETAIL

With our extensive contacts and years of passionate wine selecting with many top importers, distributors, and domestic wineries, we offer tailored wine buying programs and wine list designing for all budgets. You can hire us to create or rework your wine list and by the glass programs with a focus on profit building. We specialize in creating hard to find and obscure wine lists created with small, boutique properties. These services include inventory and pull sheets for easy ordering, with sales, cost, and budget analysis.

STAFF AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND EDUCATION

We offer classroom workshops and one-on-one training designed to build knowledge and confidence in your staff and wine program, which promotes increased sales and profit. Our training ranges from Basic Wine 101 to specific classes on regions, histories, and vintages.

CORPORATE AND CONSUMER WINE EVENTS AND PARTIES

We organize wine tasting events and wine dinners for individuals, corporations, importers, wineries, and distributors. For individuals, we will create a fun and educational wine themed party in your home tailored to your interest in a region, country, variety, or vintage, or any creative wine theme that you can think of!

For corporations, we have contacts and experience in conceiving, organizing, and managing wine and food events in New York and other cities. We can organize wine tasting events from start to finish, targeted at the specialty media and the public, from locating a suitable space, organizing the lunch, dinner, or walk-around tasting, handling invitations, and contributing our media contacts. This may include invitations, mailings, and RSVP management.

TOUR MANAGEMENT

For winemakers, wineries, and importers we provide tour management. Some importers may require assistance in planning, organizing, and executing visiting winemaker tours within New York and to other cities. We have extensive experience in arranging wine tastings at retail shops and dinners at restaurants and clubs. Through our contacts, we will schedule appearances, tastings, and dinners and match your wines and image with top retailers and businesses, ensuring high-visibility exposure while forging new relationships.

FREELANCE WRITING

We write newsletters, special feature articles, and wine reviews at your request. We love writing feature stories on wineries, regions, chefs, and restaurants, while promoting their story to many different audiences.

BROKER SERVICES FOR IMPORTERS

We offer complete broker services for wineries and specialty food producers looking for the best inroads to the US market. With our extensive contacts and knowledge of the wine distribution system in the US, we will match you with the best importer and distributor for your wine or specialty food. This service works best with our comprehensive publicity and marketing consulting which will ensure that your wine or specialty food gets placed in the mainstream media and in the most successful and sophisticated wine and food shops, and restaurants.