Amber Revolution
How the world learned to love orange wine

By Simon J Woolf
Winner of the Louise Roederer International Wine Writers’ Award (2018)
Shortlisted for the André Simon Food & Drink Book Award (2018)

Includes 100+ colour photographs

Published by Morning Claret Productions

Amber Revolution is the first book about orange wine, the world’s oldest, most distinctive and most misunderstood wine style. Abandoned after two world wars, its modern-day rediscovery caused incomprehension and uproar within the wine establishment who considered it a poor, uncouth cousin of the by far more sophisticated red and white varieties.

Part social history, part primer, Amber Revolution weaves a tale of cultural oppression, struggle and persistence across the shifting borders of Friuli and Slovenia, in Georgia, the Caucasus and beyond, as orange wine establishes itself as a vital new tradition within the natural wine movement.

The challenge

Amber Revolution was initially self-published (the author raised the funds on Kickstarter). Just before being released it was bought by a USA publisher who wasn’t really known to the UK media. Moreover, the author had already announced the self-published book’s launch via his popular social networks. Since the publication had to be delayed once it was acquired by a publisher, there was some confusion among journalists as to the exact launch date. The media don’t announce books which have already come out. In fact, they need to know about their publication several weeks in advance.

The solution

Liaise closely with Simon Woolf and his UK distributor to make sure that we were all clear and consistent about the new launch date. Collaborate with Simon Woolf to make the most of his wine media contacts (this involved the exchange of several media lists to decide how best to contact them and to make sure that we weren’t duplicating efforts.) Also, devise together a variety of media pitches to maximise the chances of coverage. Of course, make the most of the beautiful photographs in the book. Lastly, in the run-up to the launch, support the author’s digital communication across his media channels.

The result

A great range of media announced the book which was elegantly produced despite being initially self-published. The travel pages of Scotland on Sunday published an author-piece and travel publications Wanderlust (digital edition); Food & Travel and Italia! magazine, all featured it. Several food and drink magazines covered it such as The Drinks Business; Olive magazine and Vegetarian Living. Since the book was very-well written, it caught the attention of the Times Literary Supplement which is due to publish a short review very soon. Many blogs made room for it including Les Caves de Pyrenes; Berry Bros and Rudd Wine Blog; Master of Malt and Stephen Quinn.

When we learned that Amber Revolution was shortlisted for the André Simon Food & Drink Book Awards, I collaborated with the prize’s organisers to generate some more publicity.