For South African Wine Estates
Google Ads
for Wineries
We run Google Ads for wineries and wine estates that want bookings — tastings, weddings, functions and group visits — kept well apart from the people who just want to buy a bottle at the best price. Built inside Google’s alcohol advertising rules from the start. Custom pricing. No lock-in. You keep your own account.
Google Ads Certified · In Google Ads since 2020 · One specialist, not an account manager
Documented Client Accounts
Four client accounts our founder personally managed, two American and two South African. None of them is a winery account, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The closest is a Portuguese port house selling into the US — the same alcohol restrictions on Google, but online bottle sales rather than visits. Judge the method, then read the numbers on the results page.
What You Get
Google Ads for wine estates,
run by one specialist.
Visitors, events and groups are different businesses under one roof, and the account treats them that way. You deal with Vogien and Tumaini directly, every time.
Bookings apart from bottles
Tasting and experience searches get their own campaigns, so retail wine volume can’t set the bids for your tasting room.
Events as their own lane
Weddings, functions and corporate days are worth many walk-ins each. They get their own budget, forms and a higher cost-per-enquiry target.
Built inside the alcohol rules
Google restricts alcohol ads by location, age and format. We plan the account around those limits instead of discovering them after launch.
Paced to when people visit
Weekends, school holidays and the summer season drive visits. Budgets and ad schedules follow that, rather than running flat all year.
You own everything
Your Google Ads account, your billing, your data. Leave whenever you like and the account history stays with you.
One estate per valley
We won’t take a competing estate in your area. Two estates bidding on “wine tasting Stellenbosch” only raise each other’s costs.
Built For Wineries
Four kinds of visit.
Four different campaigns.
Most estate accounts push every wine search to the homepage — so a tourist, a bride and a bottle shopper all pay the same bid.
01 · Weekend demand
Tastings & experiences
Tastings, pairings and cellar tours, searched by region and day. High volume, quick decisions, and heavily weighted to weekends and holidays.
02 · Highest value
Weddings & functions
Couples and families choosing a venue months ahead. Low volume, long decisions and very high value, judged on site visits and signed bookings.
03 · Mid-week filler
Corporate & group bookings
Year-end functions, team days and tour groups. Fills quieter weekdays and converts on a form and a phone call, not an impulse.
04 · Table bookings
Restaurant & pairings
If the estate has a restaurant, lunch bookings are their own search — closer to hospitality than to wine, and bid that way.
Stop Paying For These
The searches that look like
visitors and are not.
This is where most of the budget actually goes. Blocked from day one.
People buying bottles
wine price · buy wine online · wine specials · makro wine
People who want to work there
harvest jobs · cellar hand jobs · winery jobs · wine internship
People studying wine
sommelier course · wine course · viticulture degree · WSET
People after something free
free wine tasting · free events this weekend · wine competition · wine giveaway
Your free audit shows you exactly which of these your current account is paying for, in rands, from your own search terms report.
Worth Knowing
How the alcohol rules
shape the account.
Alcohol is a restricted category on Google. Ads can’t target anyone under the legal drinking age, some formats aren’t available for alcohol at all, and local law applies on top. None of this stops a winery advertising visits, but an account that ignores it tends to have ads disapproved at the worst possible time.
We saw this first-hand on a port house entering the US market, where the same restrictions removed several of the usual growth levers. What is left is strong search intent and a clear offer, which suits bookings far better than it suits bottle sales.
Most tasting demand is searched by region, so the account is built around where visitors are looking — see our pages for Stellenbosch and Paarl. If your estate also runs accommodation or a restaurant, those get treated as hospitality, with their own campaigns.
Pricing
Custom pricing.
Cancel any time.
Your pricing is custom. After a free audit and a conversation about your goals, we scope a management fee around how much you want to invest — separate from your ad spend, which stays in your own account, on your own card, and we never touch it. No lock-in and no notice period.
Want numbers for your business? Try the Google Ads cost calculator: it opens pre-set for wineries.
Questions
What wine estates ask us.
Can wineries advertise on Google at all?
Yes, with restrictions. Alcohol is a restricted category: ads must not target anyone under the legal drinking age, some ad formats are unavailable, and local law applies. We build the account inside those limits from the start, which is much easier than repairing one after disapprovals.
We sell wine online too. Can you run that?
We focus on bookings — tastings, events and groups — because that is service work and it is what we do best. Online sales can run alongside, but we would keep them in separate campaigns so bottle shoppers never set the price of a booking.
How much should an estate spend?
Enough to be visible every weekend and through the holiday season for the searches that fit your offer, with events budgeted separately. The Google Ads cost calculator gives a starting range for wineries, and the audit narrows it to your region.
Do we need a booking system?
It helps a lot. When bookings happen online, we can track which searches led to a confirmed tasting or table rather than just a click. If bookings are by phone, we track calls instead.
Will you work with another estate in our area?
No. Two estates bidding on the same regional tasting searches only push up each other’s costs.
Are we locked in?
No. Month to month, cancel any time, and the account stays in the estate’s name.
Related Trades
Other trades we build campaigns for.
Google Ads for real estate agents
Seller valuations, rental management and developments, with buyer browsing kept out.
Google Ads for cleaning companies
Office contracts, deep cleans, carpets and domestic work, with job-seeker traffic blocked first.
Google Ads for security companies
Alarms, armed response, CCTV and fencing, with job-seeker and tender traffic blocked.
Areas we cover include George, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, East London, Kimberley. See every area or every industry.
Free Audit
Find out what a booked
tasting really costs you.
Send your details and Vogien will go through your Google Ads for wineries personally — how much went to bottle shoppers and job seekers, whether weddings and functions have their own budget, and whether you are visible on the weekends that count. Straight answer either way, or get in touch another way.
Request your free audit
For wineries and wine estates specifically.