Moderated by Juliana Colangelo of Frederick Wildman & Sons, the “Wine AND? Festivals & Experiences in Wine” panel brought the ultimate A-Team of thought leaders in the events and activations space. Stacy Buchanan of Blood of Gods, Kate McManus of Far Niente and Jermaine Stone of Wine & Hip Hop each took the stage while a personalized walk-up song and video montage blared through the speakers for a high-energy kick-off to a crucial discussion about how simply offering great wine isn’t enough anymore.
The panel explored how hybrid wine experiences that fuse wine with music, art, fashion, community-building and more are successfully reaching younger and more diverse audiences who seek deeper, more personal connections. But these aren’t gimmicks. These are strategic approaches to making wine culture more expansive and more inclusive.
Blood of Gods pairs wine with heavy metal. Wine & Hip Hop creates space for Black wine culture. These highly curated events reflect consumers’ identities, passions and values in ways traditional wine marketing often misses.
What emerged was a roadmap for how wineries and marketers of all sizes can think more creatively about what “wine culture” really means in 2026 and beyond.
Why You Should Care
Stacy Buchanan’s timely invocation of Emma Lazarus's poem, "The New Colossus," inscribed on the Statue of Liberty—“Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”—wasn’t just for dramatic effect. It was a call to action. Wine culture has spent too long being exclusionary, making people feel like they need certain credentials to belong.
