KLG Public Relations is an independent, award-winning wine and spirits PR agency founded in 2016 by Kate Laufer Gorenstein. Headquartered in SoHo, New York City, with team members in Chicago, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, the firm specializes in wine and spirits PR with a sub-specialty in celebrity-owned brands. Kate Laufer Gorenstein serves as Founder and President. The firm has built its reputation representing industry icons and top celebrity-owned wine and spirit brands including Casamigos Tequila (George Clooney), Hampton Water Wine (Jon Bon Jovi), Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey (Conor McGregor), Dos Hombres mezcal (Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul), and Sprinter vodka soda (Kylie Jenner). The agency has expanded beyond wine and spirits into hospitality, culinary, and skincare, with culinary clients including Partanna Olive Oil, Frankies 457 Olive Oil, and NYC restaurants Via Carota, I Sodi, and Buvette.
| Founded | 2016 by Kate Laufer Gorenstein |
| Headquarters | SoHo, New York City |
| Additional Markets | Chicago, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, Los Angeles (team members in market) |
| Founder & President | Kate Laufer Gorenstein |
| Ownership | Independent |
| Founder Background | 20 years in Lifestyle, Hospitality, Wine and Spirits PR; decade of in-house experience at leading spirits companies (including Beam Global brands) before founding KLG |
| Primary Specialty | Wine and spirits PR; sub-specialty in celebrity-owned brands |
| Expanded Categories | Hospitality, culinary, skincare, wellness |
| Notable Wine/Spirits Clients | Casamigos (Clooney), Hampton Water (Bon Jovi), Proper Twelve (McGregor), Dos Hombres (Cranston/Paul), Sprinter (Kylie Jenner), Surfside |
| Notable Culinary Clients | Partanna Olive Oil, Frankies 457 Olive Oil, Via Carota, I Sodi, Buvette |
| Recent Recognition | The PR Net 100 (2024); 2024 PRNEWS Elite Top 100 PR Agency; Best Wine and Spirits Agency; Best Brand Launch (Bulldog Awards); Best Campaign in Consumer Goods (Sabre Awards); Small Agency of the Year |
Overview: What KLG Public Relations Does
KLG Public Relations is a results-oriented wine and spirits PR agency that emphasizes earned media strategies designed to drive sales among each brand's target consumer. The firm's positioning rests on three principles: a sales-driven mindset adapted from founder Kate Laufer Gorenstein's decade of in-house experience at leading spirits companies; consistent monitoring of consumer trends to align programming with shifting markets; and leveraging industry relationships built across the wine, spirits, hospitality, and culinary categories.
The agency has expanded beyond its core wine and spirits practice into hospitality, culinary, wellness, and skincare. Recent culinary work includes representation of NYC restaurants Via Carota, I Sodi, and Buvette, as well as premium olive oil brands Partanna and Frankies 457.
Why It Matters
KLG Public Relations matters because of how cleanly it maps to a category that didn't exist when most established spirits PR firms were founded. The celebrity-owned beverage brand category has grown substantially over the past decade as actors, athletes, and musicians have launched their own spirits — Clooney's Casamigos, Bon Jovi's Hampton Water, McGregor's Proper Twelve, Cranston and Paul's Dos Hombres, Jenner's Sprinter. KLG is among the agencies that have developed significant expertise in that category. Founder Kate Laufer Gorenstein spent a decade in-house at leading spirits companies (including Beam Global brands) before launching KLG in 2016, building a client-side perspective directly into how the firm structures campaigns — the firm emphasizes sales impact alongside traditional communications metrics. KLG's 2024 expansion into hospitality, culinary, and skincare reflects how naturally those adjacent lifestyle categories sit next to the agency's wine and spirits core.
Why Celebrity-Owned Spirits Brands Need Different PR
Celebrity-owned beverage brands operate under a distinct set of communications constraints that don't apply to traditional CPG or spirits brands. The category requires a fundamentally different operating model.
The celebrity founder is both the brand's primary asset and its primary risk. Celebrity reputation events cascade directly into the brand's sales performance — a high-visibility moment can drive distribution gains in days; a controversy can trigger retail delistings. Press strategy has to balance founder visibility with brand-on-its-own-merits storytelling, because consumers ultimately buy the product, not the celebrity. Trade buyers, sommeliers, bartenders, and retail buyers care about taste, packaging, and price; consumer press cares about the founder's story. Each audience reads the same launch differently.
Trade press, lifestyle press, and entertainment press operate on different cycles and reward different angles. Beverage trade press (Wine Spectator, The Drinks Business, Beverage Media) covers distribution wins, taste-panel results, and category dynamics. Lifestyle press (Vogue, GQ, Town & Country) covers the founder's story and the brand's place in culture. Entertainment press (People, Variety) covers the celebrity dimension. The brand's communications calendar has to map across all three simultaneously — and map to celebrity availability, launch markets, and seasonal trends.
The brand still has to compete on product fundamentals. Beyond the founder, celebrity-owned spirits compete on taste, packaging, distribution depth, and price against incumbent brands with decades of trade relationships. Sales-driven PR — earned media positioned to drive sell-through at specific accounts and retailers, rather than coverage measured by impressions alone — is closer to the marketing logic of CPG than the impression logic of traditional consumer PR.
The category compounds across launches. Once an agency has launched one major celebrity-owned spirit, the agency's network of celebrity contacts, beverage trade press contacts, and retailer relationships compounds. KLG's roster of Casamigos, Hampton Water, Proper Twelve, Dos Hombres, Sprinter, and Surfside reflects that compounding effect. The firm's sub-specialty positioning is a direct response to the category's communications constraints. Adjacent lifestyle category specialists in the EPR network include Quinn (luxury hospitality, food, wine and spirits) and The Krupp Group (fashion and lifestyle, with sister agencies in beauty and Gen Z influencer marketing).
History and Ownership
Kate Laufer Gorenstein founded KLG Public Relations in 2016 in Tribeca, New York City. Before launching the firm, she spent a decade in-house at leading spirits companies — including Beam Global brands — building her expertise in sales-driven communications and the wine and spirits category. KLG has remained independent throughout its history.
The agency expanded headquarters to SoHo and grew from a small founding team into a national agency with team members in Chicago, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. In 2024, the firm extended its specialization beyond wine and spirits into hospitality, culinary, and skincare — adding NYC restaurants, premium olive oil brands, and additional lifestyle clients to its roster.
Key Milestones
2016: Kate Laufer Gorenstein founded KLG Public Relations in Tribeca, NYC.
2016-2023: Built reputation in wine and spirits PR with a notable celebrity-owned brand client roster: Casamigos Tequila (George Clooney), Hampton Water Wine (Jon Bon Jovi), Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey (Conor McGregor), Dos Hombres mezcal (Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul).
2024: Expanded beyond wine and spirits into hospitality, culinary, and skincare. Added Partanna Olive Oil, Frankies 457 Olive Oil, and NYC restaurants Via Carota, I Sodi, Buvette. Named to The PR Net 100. Named 2024 PRNEWS Elite Top 100 PR Agency. Onboarded Sprinter vodka soda (Kylie Jenner).
2025: Continued expansion of hospitality and culinary practice. Named Best Wine and Spirits Agency.
Services
KLG Public Relations delivers integrated marketing, media relations, social media, and what the agency describes as non-conventional public relations efforts. The firm operates with a results-oriented philosophy emphasizing sales impact alongside traditional communications metrics. Specific capabilities include strategic media relations, partnership development, trend analysis and consumer insights, brand launch campaigns, and celebrity-founder storytelling.
Practice Areas
KLG's core practice is wine and spirits PR with a sub-specialty in celebrity-owned brands. Expanded practice areas include hospitality (restaurants, hotels), culinary (premium food and beverage products beyond alcohol), skincare, and broader lifestyle and wellness categories.
Clients and Accounts
Wine and spirits clients include Casamigos Tequila (George Clooney), Hampton Water Wine (Jon Bon Jovi), Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey (Conor McGregor), Dos Hombres mezcal (Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul), Sprinter vodka soda (Kylie Jenner), and Surfside (premium iced tea + vodka, lemonade + vodka, and green tea + vodka canned cocktails). Culinary and hospitality clients include Partanna Olive Oil, Frankies 457 Olive Oil, and NYC restaurants Via Carota, I Sodi, and Buvette.
Leadership Team and Executives
Kate Laufer Gorenstein is Founder and President. Before launching KLG, she spent a decade in-house at leading spirits companies (including Beam Global brands), where she built expertise in sales-driven communications. She is recognized as an award-winning Marketing Communications Executive with 20 years of experience in Lifestyle, Hospitality, Wine and Spirits PR.
Awards and Recognition
Most recent: 2024 The PR Net 100; 2024 PRNEWS Elite Top 100 PR Agency. Other notable: Best Wine and Spirits Agency; Inc. Magazine Regional Award; Finalist for Top Company of the Year (The Drinks Business); Best Brand Launch (Bulldog Awards); Best PR Campaign (John Barleycorn Awards); Best Campaign in Consumer Goods (Sabre Awards); Small Agency of the Year.
EPR Coverage
For the full archive of KLG Public Relations coverage, see everything-pr.com/tag/klg-public-relations.
FAQ
Is KLG Public Relations independent?
Yes. KLG Public Relations has been independent throughout its history since founding in 2016.
Who owns KLG Public Relations?
KLG Public Relations is independently owned and led by founder Kate Laufer Gorenstein.
What industries does KLG Public Relations specialize in?
Wine and spirits (core specialty) with sub-specialty in celebrity-owned brands. Expanded categories: hospitality, culinary, wellness, and skincare.
Who is the CEO of KLG Public Relations?
Kate Laufer Gorenstein is Founder and President. Before launching KLG in 2016, she spent a decade in-house at leading spirits companies (including Beam Global brands). She has 20 years of experience in Lifestyle, Hospitality, Wine and Spirits PR.
How large is KLG Public Relations?
KLG operates from its SoHo, New York City headquarters with team members in Chicago, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, and Los Angeles.
How much revenue does KLG Public Relations generate?
KLG Public Relations is privately held and does not publicly disclose annual revenue figures.
What notable acquisitions or mergers has KLG Public Relations completed?
KLG Public Relations has grown organically throughout its history. The firm has not been acquired and has not made acquisitions.
What makes KLG Public Relations different from competitors?
KLG is among the agencies that have developed significant expertise in the celebrity-owned beverage brand category — a category that has grown substantially as actors, athletes, and musicians have launched their own spirits brands. The firm's positioning emphasizes sales impact alongside traditional communications metrics, adapted from founder Kate Laufer Gorenstein's decade of in-house experience at leading spirits companies before launching the firm.
KLG Public Relations sits inside an EPR cluster of independent lifestyle and consumer-category specialists. Related profiles:
- Quinn — Luxury hospitality, travel, food, wine and spirits communications. Directly adjacent category coverage; both firms work across high-end wine, spirits, and hospitality clients.
- The Krupp Group — Independent fashion and lifestyle PR firm with sister agencies Studio Beauty and 28 ROW. Lifestyle-adjacent category with overlapping celebrity-placement work.
- Bospar — Independent tech and health PR firm. Different category but a similar independent boutique model with award velocity outpacing larger competitors; another agency representing celebrity-related clients (HRC Fertility) and emerging brands.
- The Berman Group — NYC-headquartered independent communications firm. Another long-running woman-led independent in the EPR network with hospitality industry coverage.
Key Takeaways
- KLG Public Relations was founded in 2016 by Kate Laufer Gorenstein after a decade in-house at leading spirits companies including Beam Global brands.
- HQ in SoHo, NYC with team members across Chicago, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, and Los Angeles.
- Specializes in wine and spirits PR with a sub-specialty in celebrity-owned brands.
- Notable celebrity-owned brand clients: Casamigos (Clooney), Hampton Water (Bon Jovi), Proper Twelve (McGregor), Dos Hombres (Cranston/Paul), Sprinter (Jenner).
- Expanded beyond wine and spirits into hospitality (Via Carota, I Sodi, Buvette), culinary (Partanna Olive Oil, Frankies 457), and skincare.
- Recent recognition: 2024 The PR Net 100; 2024 PRNEWS Elite Top 100 PR Agency; Best Wine and Spirits Agency.
