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Social media has changed the way we drink wine, whether it’s through a nearby vineyard with an Instagram account sharing their behind-the-scenes moments or an influencer’s recommendation that becomes a follower’s weekly go-to. The constant buzz makes it an exciting time to be a wine lover. But, it can be equally overwhelming to narrow down the accounts worth your screen time.
To help you make the most of your follow, we scoped out some of the wine world’s most beloved pages. Plus, we asked the people behind them to share their favorite follows, and how they broke into the online wine-iverse. Whether you’re searching for a bottle on a budget, want to advance your expertise or are on the hunt for your next drinking destination, your feed will be undoubtedly brightened by the people, places and pours on this list.
10 Wine Social Media Accounts to Follow
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1. @TheMillennialSomm
What started as a WSET certification study tactic for Isis Daniel snowballed into her becoming the face of #WineTok. “Using my pre-recorded segment, #TastingThursday, I taught my followers how to assess wine and discussed hot topics within the industry,” she says. “As I began to find my social media voice, my page refocused on creating a safe space to learn about wine.”
The Washington, D.C. resident has since amassed nearly 150,000 TikTok followers, and her mission to make the wine community into a more inclusive, accessible and diverse space is just getting started. “I am dedicated to being a sommelier for the people,” Daniel says. “Not only do we talk about wine, but we also explore the culture of wine, laws and more.” Wondering what cheese pairs best with a buttery Chardonnay? What about how “organic fraud” shows up in the wine industry? A scroll through her page includes it all.
2. @MaryamAndCompany
A member of Wine Enthusiast’s 2022 Future 40 Tastemakers, Maryam Ahmed is the owner of Maryam + Company, which helps food and wine brands deepen their impact through diversity, sustainability and community-based education. Her extensive background in the culinary and hospitality worlds makes her a “down to earth and factual” follow, says Daniel of @TheMillennialSomm.
In 2022, Ahmed launched Field Blends, an immersive food and wine travel experience, and she’s currently anticipating the release of two Muscat Blanc blends in collaboration with Massican Winery. If you’re interested in nabbing one, she recommends subscribing to her newsletter to get first dibs. In the meantime, join her 2,000-plus Instagram followers to learn something new with every post, including different ways to engage with the wine community and behind-the-scenes business insights.
3. @WineryLovers
The story behind this handle is pretty straightforward—Simone Roveda started @WineryLovers, a curated Instagram that re-shares the finest wineries, wines and pairings in the world—after discovering his fascination with wine culture while studying computer engineering at Polytechnic University of Milan. In 2016, he decided to switch career gears to digital marketing and made his first post.
“It has been a gamble! No one believed in my project,” he says. Over 200,000 followers and four WSET certifications later, Roveda and his page are considered “pioneers for wine digital communication in Italy,” he adds. For the chance to be featured on his grid, share your evening glass (or bottle!) using the hashtag #WineryLovers.
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4. @JamieGriffWine
After Jamie Griffiths retired from corporate America mid-pandemic, his wine cellar accidentally became his new office. “I was bored,” he says, and following in the footsteps of his kids, he decided to see what TikTok was all about. Three years in, the Ohioan hosts regular live tastings and shares basic wine explainers (i.e. the difference between vintage and non-vintage Champagne) with over 40,000 followers.
“I had always been a collector of wine and my daughters, who were in their 20s, recently graduated from college and just started to get away from beer and White Claws,” he explains. “They were asking me questions about wine and so were their friends.” As it turns out, people online had very similar inquiries. Griffiths hopes his videos help tamper intimidation that tends to arise in beginner winos, because after all, “We’re just drinking fermented grape juice,” he says. “So why do we make it so hard?”
5. @FreedmanReports
Have a hard time choosing between a Sauvignon Blanc or whiskey neat? So does Brian Freedman, which is why he features both wine and spirits in his Instagram series, “Day Drinking With Brian.”
“I try to discuss them in similar ways: as products of their place of origin, as expressions of the land in which they grew, and as manifestations of the visions of the people who crafted them,” he says.
Like plenty of other niche influencers, the writer posted his inaugural video on a whim of lockdown-induced boredom. Now, he’s approaching 130 episodes and 4,000 followers. Freedman hopes his content serves as an unpretentious reminder that you can pay whatever you want for a quality drink, and more importantly, he hopes to help viewers understand “the very real ways” climate change is affecting happy hour, a topic explored further in his recently released book, Crushed: How a Changing Climate Is Altering the Way We Drink.
6. @Wine.Gini
If you’re looking to drink around the world, check Georgia Panagopoulou’s Instagram for recommendations. While participating in Paris’ OIV MSc in Wine Management program, she traveled to (and drank in) 30 wine countries including Italy, South Africa, Argentina and more “As these studies were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I started my account,” she says.
Panagopoulou is a chemical engineer by trade, but she fell in love with vino after her first winery tour in college and couldn’t help but take the leap. Now, she considers herself a digital marketer in the wine industry and loves combining her diverse background and interests to deliver top-tier content to her 112,000 followers. “For me, social media is about creating a dialogue. Don’t just talk, but listen,” she says. “In the end, I really wish that people, and especially women, can be inspired by my story—stop being afraid and chase [your] wine dreams, exactly like I did.”
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7. @LuciaLovesWine
For wine lovers looking to save some cash, Lucia Palm keeps a pulse on the affordable wine market and uses her TikTok account to share its hidden gems, including important information like price, region of origin and most urgently, where to pick up a bottle for dinner. The certified sommelier vows to help her 100,000-plus followers “drink like a somm on a budget,” per her bio, and if you’re not sure what you like, she even offers personalized wine recommendations.
Need more of a reason to get lost in her page? Griffiths of @JamieGriffWine says he’s “proud to be mentioned in the same breath” as Palm and totally recommends giving her a follow.
8. @FrenchWineTutor
Some wines are easier sipped than said, and that’s where Katie Melchior’s expertise can help. On Instagram, she walks 16,000-plus followers through the step-by-step phonetics of how to pronounce various French wine varieties and labels, aiming to diffuse confusion and intimidation around wines from the region, especially within American consumers. Melchior is WSET Level 2-certified and was featured in Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 Tastemakers of 2022. Multiple influencers on this list—including Daniel and Georgia Panagopoulou of @Wine.Gini—rank @FrenchWineTutor in their favorite follows.
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9. @Slikwines
From relatable content, answers to hard-hitting wine questions (like how to read a wine label) and a behind-the-scenes look as she works on writing material for her online wine courses, Marie Cheslik keeps it real. She helps followers navigate the wine world using her certified-sommelier expertise (plus, she’s a registered nurse!), drinks experience and overall entertaining content.
10. @ShittyWineMemes
Ok, so maybe it’s not all educational. Plenty of us could stand to not take wine soseriously, at least some of the time. Enter: Wine memes, because it is 2023, after all. Even industry veterans will get a kick out of the niche humor and relatable jokes shared by this account. And at the very least, it makes for some superior group text material to share with your tasting friends.
Published: February 24, 2023