Christine Ontivero spoke at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals-les-Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of her talk.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin.

First off I need to apologize to Christine Ontivero for laughing aloud during her presentation.  I should have shown more restraint.

Ontivero is an attache presse working out of Perpignan.  And she came on this day to explain what a typical wine press agent does.

She tries to craft engaging stories (rather than copy/pasted letters about how a winemaker won a gold medal or is really passionate about his terroir).  Every winemaker says his wines are great or the best, and that will never impress a journalist.  That’s not a story.  It’s just an advert.  Instead she tries to get people to send a story that really shares a special moment related to wine.

She also alerts winemakers when they can send in samples and reminds them of important dates like when Bettane & Desseauve are about to taste in the area or when the RVF comes.   Also, things like promoting the foire au vins in all the supermarkets… all that really starts back in the spring when they’re scheduling the wines for the fall.

Christine thinks you can’t share stories on media like twitter or facebook (as you can imagine, this was when I laughed), and she has a great distrust for blogs.  For more information, you can read her blog.