The Indispensable Curators of Wine News

The art of choosing and linking to wine news

I adore editors. I’m not talking about the kind that edits manuscripts and articles, but rather the kind that makes decisions about what their readers will be exposed to (though the same person often will do both jobs).

Last Thursday I opened that daily email from Mark Brown entitled Industry News Update. It’s a daily email sent out to thousands in the alcohol industry each morning in which particular stories are highlighted. Because I’m usually up around 4 am, it’s among the first things I read every day.

Brown is the current Executive Chairman of the Sazerac Company and its former CEO and President. His Industry News Update is heavy on earnings reports from large alcohol companies, articles on sales and market trends, and articles on legal and trade disputes.

At the top of his Thursday email was this headline: “Liquor Store Employee Shot and Killed Over Stolen Liquor Bottle in Chicago Suberb.”

Brown doesn’t write the articles that get highlighted in his Industry News Update. He simply reprints articles from other media, usually about 20 or so. But in very rare cases, he’ll place a short editorial comment above one of the stories he’s highlighting. Above the story about the Chicago killing, Mark wrote, “A very sad reminder of the ever-present dangers of beverage alcohol retailing.”

Brown’s Industry News Update is similar to WineBusiness’ Daily News Links, Wine Industry Insight’s morning daily news email, and Wine Industry Network’s Afternoon Brief News. All four curate a selection of stories that were recently published in other media. While Brown’s email tends to be more finance-oriented, WineBusiness, Wine Industry Insight, and Wine Industry Network tend to focus on market and trend stories of interest to the trade.