Robin Bethke
Publisher & Co-Founder

Our Story

Wine & Country Life was launched in 2015 by our two co-founders Robin Johnson Bethke as the Creative Director alongside longtime business partner, Jennifer Bryerton, as the Editor-in-Chief. Having established the company Ivy Publications, LLC (later known as Ivy Life & Style Media) in 1998, the partners achieved great success with their flagship publication CharlottesvilleFamily, and later the Charlottesville Welcome Book (2005-2020), followed by Wine & Country Life in 2015 which also includes a Wine & Country Weddings issue. The two friends and partners enjoyed 25 years of publishing with a terrific team of staff dedicated to our high standards of quality. 
In 2024, the dynamic duo ventured into a new era of working to streamline production and better serve clients by dividing the Wine & Country Life brand and the CharlottesvilleFamily brand into two companies. In this new business model, the entrepreneurial partners would head up and focus on these respective brands due to each brand’s unique needs. Today, Wine & Country Life and Wine & Country Weddings is headed up by Robin Johnson Bethke under Wine & Country Media and CharlottesvilleFamily is headed up by Jennifer Bryerton under Zinnia Communications. Both women continue to enjoy their longtime friendship and work with much of same terrific team to provide the highest quality products and services that Ivy Life & Style Media was known for. We welcome you to enjoy all our brands and the multitude of excellent media services that both our companies provide.

Our Team

Donna Brown
Finance

Jennifer Carroll Martin
Editor

Mai Lionni Guss
Editor

Ellen Sewell
Editor

Sarah Short
Editor

Jenny Stoltz
Marketing

Barbara Tompkins
Graphic Design

Lisa Wayand
Graphic Design