The Auswine Forum

Hi All

Done a search and I can find only one post and it had little relevant info. What do you look for in a winery website? My wife Yasmin is doing a web design assignment and needs to do some "market research", but I thought this would also make a good forum topic. If you can be bothered to cut and paste the 8 questions and provide answers that would be great, but all comments appreciated!!

Many thanks

Michael

1. What is the most important information you would be looking for from a winery website?

2. What kind of information would you expect to find on the home page?

3. What information about individual wines would you like included on the website?

4. What are the main pages you would expect to be linked from the homepage.

5. What is the essential information you need to select and purchase wine

6. What is the essential information you need to help decide whether or not to visit the winery to taste wines, have lunch or for overnight accommodation.

7. Please list any other information as you can think that should be included on the site.

8. What information should the website include that is not about the winery itself.

OK. I'll kick it off:

1. What is the most important information you would be looking for from a winery website?

Opening times.
WInes available - vintages, prices and tasting notes.
Restaurant / accommodation facilities
How to get there
Other products, e.g. olive oil, verjuice, dukkah, preserves, etc

2. What kind of information would you expect to find on the home page?

Opening times
'About Us', or an introduction

3. What information about individual wines would you like included on the website?

Vineyard / growing information
Winemaking information
These could be included in comprehensive notes for each wine; i.e. when picked, technical analysis

4. What are the main pages you would expect to be linked from the homepage.

Cellar door
WIne information
Ordering wine
Dining / accommodation


5. What is the essential information you need to select and purchase wine

Tasting notes, pricing and ordering information. Can include online ordering, in which case delivery costs and times are important

6. What is the essential information you need to help decide whether or not to visit the winery to taste wines, have lunch or for overnight accommodation.

Cellar door opening times
WIne information
Dining / accommodation

7. Please list any other information as you can think that should be included on the site.

Depends on how comprehensive the winery wishes to be regarding back vintages
Can include any wine club, mailing list or other 'member benefits' information

8. What information should the website include that is not about the winery itself.

Local attractions, or other links which may provide more reason to visit the winery and surrounding areas


Cheers

Allan

You have phrased the questions related towards included information, however, what lets down many web designs is obfuscation of information through poor contrast and difficult to read (for some) fonts plus illogical navigation placement and design, all in an attempt to be different.
Leave the 'different' for "arty-farty look what I can do" web designers, where the product is the website not the content.
A product site needs to be more circumspect - glitzy to a point without hiding what the site is really for.

anyway onwards

1. What is the most important information you would be looking for from a winery website?
Location
- address/directions
- history
- climate / micro-climate if also a vineyard.
Fruit source/s
- micro-climate from areas that fruit originated
- vintage reports from originating areas.
Wines
- prices
- how & where to purchase (online, offline stockist)
- descriptions
Cellar door - is there one?
- opening times
- what restrictions on tastings (some places charge for tasting, waived on purchase)
General
- vintage reports
- new releases
- third party assessment of wines
- awards attained

2. What kind of information would you expect to find on the home page?
Minimal - an entry page only.
A welcoming invitational message that gives a brief of who, history and what to find within.
see -
http://www.kilikanoon.com.au/
http://www.murraystreet.com.au/home.html
http://www.wisewine.com.au/

3. What information about individual wines would you like included on the website?
- a simple description written for the average individual that won't come across as waffle.
- plus a greater in depth description for those who speak the speak.
- possibly food pairings that work.

4. What are the main pages you would expect to be linked from the homepage.
Home (to get back to start)
About (history, aims, goals)
Wines
Purchasing(stockists, if no online ordering is available)
Contact

5. What is the essential information you need to select and purchase wine
Variety / blend
Tasting notes - both in house and third party
Best from / until (ie, drink now but will be better in 5 yrs)
Closure
Vintage
Report from vintage

6. What is the essential information you need to help decide whether or not to visit the winery to taste wines, have lunch or for overnight accommodation.
Cellar door?
- is CD operated remote to winery by more than one producer. see http://www.artisansofbarossa.com/pages/artisans.php
- is CD separate/clear from all eating areas.
- large enough for more than 2 people
Is food served?
- restaurant or cheese platters
Is there accommodation?
- price
- what is included

7. Please list any other information as you can think that should be included on the site.
ummm.

8. What information should the website include that is not about the winery itself.
- Regional events that winery may or may not be participating in.
- What else the region has to offer.

Thanks Allan and Phil. Much appreciated. I thought I should answer the questions myself (okay Yasmin reminded me I need to!!).

No "flash" websites please (in both senses of the word!)

1. What is the most important information you would be looking for from a winery website?
Wines available, price and shipping delivery costs. I usually know what i am after so reviews etc. aren't much use. I very rarely go to a site unless i am already strongly inclined towards purchasing one or more of their wines.

2. What kind of information would you expect to find on the home page?
A brief history/statement about the vineyards/winery, the region and perhaps the winemaking philosophy.

3. What information about individual wines would you like included on the website?
Some technical information about the wine in addition to availabilty, price and shipping.

4. What are the main pages you would expect to be linked from the homepage.
About Us, Wines, Order Form/Page, Stockists, Cellar Door, Restaurant/Accommodation

5. What is the essential information you need to select and purchase wine
Availabilty, price and shipping costs. Reviews may help if I have limited knowledge of a wine.

6. What is the essential information you need to help decide whether or not to visit the winery to taste wines, have lunch or for overnight accommodation.
Location, what wines are available to tast. Menus for the restaurant and room information and costs.

7. Please list any other information as you can think that should be included on the site.
None - KISS

8. What information should the website include that is not about the winery itself.
Local area info, other attractions. Link to the Auswine Forum!

Michael McNally wrote:Thanks Allan and Phil. Much appreciated. I thought I should answer the questions myself (okay Yasmin reminded me I need to!!).

No "flash" websites please (in both senses of the word!)

1. What is the most important information you would be looking for from a winery website?
Wines available, price and shipping delivery costs. I usually know what i am after so reviews etc. aren't much use. I very rarely go to a site unless i am already strongly inclined towards purchasing one or more of their wines.

I think reviews for as many vintages as possible is very helpful. For those that don't want it, it doesn't matter, for those that do, it is nice. Even if it isn't to purchase the wine but just to have some idea, some information, etc. Sites that don't have any additional information, IMO, look cheap most of the time and if not cheap, they look like they don't know what they're doing...(granted, most winery websites are not good at all).

Must include a PDF of the wineries current price list for people to order wines if they want (even if you have no other form of e-commerce) - theres simply no excuse not to do this.

I also second the view its nice to have reviews for past vintages, again if you already have this in pdf format for your marketing purposes, its not that hard to bung it on the web too.

And KISS is a good point - no flash websites, simple, clear, easy to read.

The number one thing that shits me most about commercial websites (whether it be wineries, restaurants, banks or businesses) is not providing the 3 critical pieces of information in a prominent, easy to find location.

- Opening Times
- Phone Number
- Address

Sometimes they are under "Contact Us" (which is logical for wineries), sometimes it is on the About Us page (which is confusing design. About Us should be reserved for information about the winery's history/winemakers/founders), sometimes it's hidden in miniscule font in the footer, sometimes it is buried on an obscure page, on the worst ones it's nowhere to be found at all.

These three details should be in a prominent, near-the-top position (so you do not have to scroll down) on either:
1) a Contact Us page (for businesses such as wineries, brand names and manufacturers that distribute through alternative/retail channels) or
2) on the Front Main page (for just about every other commercial operation in existence).

"oh but it affects our design" - bullsdung. Incorporate it into the design, usability should not be sacrificed for wanky marketing. Banks and telecommunications companies are probably the worst offenders - trying to find the phone number for them can be like playing "where's wally" at times. Restaurants are also strangely enough common offenders, strange because they rely on phone bookings and physical attendance; how they could put such a critical piece of information anywhere other than the front page is completely beyond me.

That's the Ugly.

The good is wineries which keep their latest releases up to date, even better with tasting notes. It's only a once a year update yet it brings in numerous website hits whenever someone searches for one of their wines.

The good ones also sometimes provide tasting/vintage notes by the winemaker for back-vintages, although the awesome tasting note history on these and other wine forums and Cellartracker have helped research into backvintages by tenfold, it is still a nice touch particularly with uncommon wines.

OK, I totally agree with all the functional stuff but nobody likes any pictures, then?

No 'Current activities at the winery', no mug shots, no sunsets over the vines, no winery dogs?

sjw_11 wrote:Must include a PDF of the wineries current price list for people to order wines if they want (even if you have no other form of e-commerce) - theres simply no excuse not to do this.

I also second the view its nice to have reviews for past vintages, again if you already have this in pdf format for your marketing purposes, its not that hard to bung it on the web too.

And KISS is a good point - no flash websites, simple, clear, easy to read.

Why do they need a PDF? Not against having it available but really sites would have that because they weren't able to do have a real shopping basket created for your site....Using that means they need to e-mail details (yuck) or fax (old and inconvenient) or call in (what is the point then?). It is like that middle ground between mail/fax orders and using the web but really shows the lack of understanding...

If you have a proper site setup, they should be able to order online via a secure shopping cart...no problems at all.

Again, I don't mind if they have a PDF because I understand a lot of wineries have no clue when it comes to the web but it is blatantly obvious the site is not professional at that point (and most wineries do this).

I also don't mind having notes and other things available via PDF in case you just want to have a copy....but that isn't really what I'm talking about..

sparky wrote:OK, I totally agree with all the functional stuff but nobody likes any pictures, then?

No 'Current activities at the winery', no mug shots, no sunsets over the vines, no winery dogs?

Must say I hate being sold wine on the idea of "winery dogs"!

I am happy if it is incidental calendars/postcards/books, but I once had a cellar door staffer drone on endlessly about the dog as if it were a selling point. It was (and felt) forced.....

Cheers (and thanks for the posts guys!)

Michael

Polymer wrote:

sjw_11 wrote:Must include a PDF of the wineries current price list for people to order wines if they want (even if you have no other form of e-commerce) - theres simply no excuse not to do this.

I also second the view its nice to have reviews for past vintages, again if you already have this in pdf format for your marketing purposes, its not that hard to bung it on the web too.

And KISS is a good point - no flash websites, simple, clear, easy to read.

Why do they need a PDF? Not against having it available but really sites would have that because they weren't able to do have a real shopping basket created for your site....Using that means they need to e-mail details (yuck) or fax (old and inconvenient) or call in (what is the point then?). It is like that middle ground between mail/fax orders and using the web but really shows the lack of understanding...

If you have a proper site setup, they should be able to order online via a secure shopping cart...no problems at all.

Again, I don't mind if they have a PDF because I understand a lot of wineries have no clue when it comes to the web but it is blatantly obvious the site is not professional at that point (and most wineries do this).

I also don't mind having notes and other things available via PDF in case you just want to have a copy....but that isn't really what I'm talking about..

I don't mind sending an old fashioned form in. I agree if you have a good web store then this is unecessary. I guess I meant more "if you don't have a wine store" ... you should put the price list up. I don't like wineries that force you to ring up or visit them just to see how much the wine is and perhaps buy some.

I just think even if you don't know anything about the web you should put up one page with XYZ Winery, Address, Phone and price list. No winery should be without at least this much.

Is the Hardys website the most useless annoying site in the world or is their worse??? Trying to get info on Eileen hardy Shiraz is impossible!!!

Michael McNally wrote:

sparky wrote:OK, I totally agree with all the functional stuff but nobody likes any pictures, then?

No 'Current activities at the winery', no mug shots, no sunsets over the vines, no winery dogs?

Must say I hate being sold wine on the idea of "winery dogs"!

I am happy if it is incidental calendars/postcards/books, but I once had a cellar door staffer drone on endlessly about the dog as if it were a selling point. It was (and felt) forced.....

Cheers (and thanks for the posts guys!)

Michael

You'd hate Chamber's then .... or perhaps have they changed their policy on winery dogs. "Dogs" being the operative word.

Craig(NZ) wrote:Is the Hardys website the most useless annoying site in the world or is their worse??? Trying to get info on Eileen hardy Shiraz is impossible!!!

I went on their site to check it out..

Not hard to order...but the to actually get to their ordering page is NOT very good. Small picture located below and outside the rest of the menu stuff is, well...a stupid design...

Their flash is also broken...you select wines, then region...and then it does nothing? Nice..

Polymer wrote:

Craig(NZ) wrote:Is the Hardys website the most useless annoying site in the world or is their worse??? Trying to get info on Eileen hardy Shiraz is impossible!!!

I went on their site to check it out..

Me too.

I think their marketing/PR department is too full of gullible individuals and a way too high a budget. Either that or they see the world in a far different way to me.
Took me 5 minutes to actually get a bottle of something on the screen.

Then was easier getting the tasting notes than finding out the price. (Eileen hardy Shiraz is there but your comp may tell you it is a harmful file)

Really, they have created their variant of a rubiks cube, only no-one has the cheat sheet!

This really is one of these

Wine Tourist wrote:...what lets down many web designs is obfuscation of information through poor contrast and difficult to read (for some) fonts plus illogical navigation placement and design, all in an attempt to be different.
Leave the 'different' for "arty-farty look what I can do" web designers, where the product is the website not the content.
A product site needs to be more circumspect - glitzy to a point without hiding what the site is really for.

Naturally, most wineries talk up their wines as much as is within the bounds of possible reality. For me, the best, most comprehensive website is Tahbilk's but in the past I've been reasonably impressed by Coldstream Hills, more recently Bests, more so Cullen. Blue Poles is interesting because of the reports of the details of vineyard maintenance and frank vintage assessments. Zema's site is ok too.