Stories Worth Sharing
Visibility, Recognition,
Connection
Navigating today’s media landscape as a winery has never been more challenging. Gaining recognition with key consumers, media and the trade requires thoughtful positioning, strategic planning, strong relationships and a passion for telling extraordinary stories. We are here to help by being not only your voice within the media and consumer realm but also your sounding board and strategist.
Position your Winery for
Success
We will work closely with your team to identify what makes your story truly distinct, and use that as a means to develop thoughtful and customized strategies that incorporate the best tools available to produce results tailored to your business objectives.
Vieux Communications’ Vision
Our management team has been leading the way in winery public relations for over a decade, specializing in small to mid-sized vineyards, family-owned wineries and international brands. We have experience working with wineries around the globe and are known for our ability to create strong, thoughtful campaigns that stand out from the crowd while creating and nurturing long-term relationships that provide proven brand impact. We have helped dozens of wineries reach new levels of success by creating customized plans and executing them over time.
What matters most to us is that your business gets the visibility it deserves and that consumers, media and industry peers are talking about you and engaging with you because they want to know more about your vision and what you do best. Vieux Communications will be there every step of the way to make sure your goals are met – both now and down the line.
Our Services
Vieux Communications is a full service public relations agency that specializes in wine, food and travel. Our main priority is to create and nurture relationships, raise awareness of wineries and businesses, and engage consumers with an authentic voice in order to create loyal fans worldwide.
We have developed expertise in crafting narratives around farming, art, culture and people to help our clients increase visibility across traditional and digital channels with creative, tailored strategies that are grounded in research and delivered to a target audience.
We specialize in media outreach, strategic consulting, crisis communications, event management, digital marketing, social media campaigns, graphic design, media training and much more.
We cast a large net; let us help you with your specific needs.
About Vieux Communications
Established by two of the most experienced names in public relations for the wine industry, Sam Dependahl and Elizabeth Glenn, our name Vieux, translated as "old" in French, is representative of the shared values and history forged while working together since 2007. It is representative of our core values: history, progressiveness, inclusion and forward-thinking. Essentially, Vieux is a recognition rooted in the past, embodied in the present, with an eye (“view”) to the future. It is this quality—of being able to see many sides without losing sight of what’s true—that consistently inspires us.
Our Team
Elizabeth Glenn
Co-Founder of Vieux Communications, Elizabeth Glenn is one of the wine industry’s most passionate and thoughtful public relations consultants.
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, her love affair with wine and the stories behind the bottles bloomed from her parents’ travels to Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Northern Michigan. She became drawn to the people, places and stories of wine, but largely it was its ability to bring people together around a table that really captured her attention.
Glenn has always had an obsession with the written word and narrative. Her passion for writing, storytelling and relationship development can be traced back to her days as a student at Oakland University in Michigan. There she studied journalism and political science while working at Ambassador magazine, one of Detroit’s most esteemed publications.
A native Midwesterner but city girl at heart, Glenn made her way to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment publicity. At boutique agency Indie PR she worked on studio blockbusters and Oscar campaigns, placing stories in numerous top outlets, including InStyle, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Esquire and more. She also represented independent pictures for top-tier film festivals, where she helped to garner studio buys and national theatrical distribution.
In 2010, Glenn transitioned to winery public relations and has since created and executed strategic programs for several high-profile producers both domestically and internationally. A seasoned veteran with over 10 years of experience in the wine industry, she offers expertise on all things related to public relations, including media relations, event planning for luxury lifestyle brands, brand consultation and more.
A true lover of nature, music, cuisine and the written word, her adventures often intertwine visits to National Parks, following her favorite bands across the country for shows and any kitchen serving oysters, caviar & a perfectly cooked steak.
Sam Dependahl
Sam Dependahl co-founded Vieux Communications in 2021. A wine industry public relations expert, he has a wealth of experience in the public relations and communications fields. His career has taken him to wineries from California to Italy, where he has overseen many top accounts at different stages of their growth.
A California native, Dependahl has always had a passion for wine, and loves spending time in wine country helping to give wineries a voice. Dependahl’s interest in wine goes back to his childhood, growing up in Santa Barbara, where he would frequently accompany family trips to vineyards from the Central Coast to Napa Valley to the Sierra Foothills. Wine became such an important part of everyday life that by the time he attended Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, it had become like second nature. He frequently ventured through Central Coast wine country, from Arroyo Grande to Paso Robles, tasting wines and volunteering on weekends.
Dependahl began his professional career working in entertainment alongside Santa Barbara Film Festival Executive Director Roger Durling, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a Hollywood publicist. He has represented A-list celebrities including Nicole Kidman, Sigourney Weaver, Ed Harris and Glenn Close, and later handled theatrical releases of numerous Box Office-topping films and successful Academy Award campaigns.
Dependahl has worked in winery public relations since 2008, with some of the most prestigious producers, wine auction houses, trade associations and consultants in the industry. A wine lover with an eye for the finer things in life, he has a passion for learning from other people who have mastered their craft - those who take pride in what they do, whether it's making wine or marketing it. An avid seeker of growth and knowledge within the industry, he has been awarded the WSET Advanced Certificate in Wine and Spirits and CSW certification.
When he’s not at work, Dependahl loves exploring new destinations through travel, food and, most importantly, wine. In the evenings, he enjoys unwinding on his porch in Los Angeles with a glass of his self-made garagiste Domaine Dependahl wine while watching the sun set.