“They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway.” And lately they’ve been shining on our local winemakers. Since Thanksgiving, a 10-second promo video for New York wine has been running on the super-sized CBS screen in Times Square—washing over the collective consciousness in the largest wine market in the world, alongside H&M clothing and iPad Air ads. The video prompts viewers with a “You are here.” dot, and declares: “When in New York, Drink New York.” The spots–delivering “Times Square domination” and reaching hundreds of thousands of eyeballs each day, according to CBS promo materials–were brokered by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and the Manhattan-based public relations firm First Press PR, which is also behind Cider Week and the NY Drinks NY campaign that has run on taxi cabs and other new venues.
We have previously chronicled the jump of local wine onto the lists of top Gotham restaurants and shelves of wine shops from the Upper West Side to Park Slope. New York-made drinks have been on a tear lately with Oktoberfest in Brooklyn, 3 local vermouths featured in a roundup in New York magazine, and all the upstart artisans profiled in Edible Brooklyn’s recent drinks issue. Now New York-made wine is having its latest moment of fame, just in time for New Year’s Eve drinking inspiration. In related news, early bird tickets to the NY Drinks NY tasting are on sale now through January 15. It will be up through January 4th, allowing all the New Years Eve revelers to glimpse it and inspire a resolution we always welcome: drink more New York wine.
