Communication Strategies of Krasnodar Wineries: Reputation Formation in Media Discourse. A Study of Abrau-Durso, Usadba Divnomorskoye and Galitskiy & Galitskiy

The subject of the study is the substantive, genre, and channel characteristics of communication strategies employed by leading wineries in the Krasnodar region, implemented under legislative restrictions on direct advertising of alcoholic products, and the resulting models of reputational positioning in media discourse. The empirical scope of the study comprises the practices of three wineries – «Abrau‑Durso», «Usadba Divnomorskoe», and «Galitsky & Galitsky» – which represent, respectively: – a historical corporate brand with a developed tourism infrastructure; – a closed premium winery with minimized public presence; – an author‑driven family project with a dual personal foundation. The analysis focuses on the wineries’ own communication outputs (official websites, social media accounts, interviews with representatives), materials from federal and industry‑specific media, expert tasting reviews, and formats of wine and gastronomic tourism. The study addresses the interplay between terroir narrative, corporate communication, brand journalism, and territorial branding within a unified regional media discourse. The methodological foundation of the work is a descriptive case study with elements of comparative analysis, complemented by content analysis and discourse analysis methods applied to the wineries’ communication outputs and materials from federal and industry media. To interpret the regulatory context, general scientific methods of synthesis and interpretative analysis are employed. The scientific novelty of the work lies in: – the typology of reputational positioning models implemented in the communication strategies of Krasnodar wineries; – the conceptualisation of reputation as a stable media projection of a winery, shaped at the intersection of its own communications, industry and federal media materials, expert assessments, and user‑generated content. Within a unified regional media discourse, the author has identified and described three stable models: – Institutional‑tourism model – based on historical capital and a developed tourism infrastructure. – Closed‑elite model – constructing reputation through deliberate limitation of public presence and engagement with a specialised expert segment. – Author‑personalised model – leveraging a dual personal foundation: the surname of the co‑owners (featured in the brand name) and the figure of a recognised chief oenologist. It has been established that the identified models do not compete but coexist within a single regional media discourse, targeting different audience segments and implementing distinct configurations of channels and formats.