Wine Snobbing the Web
I’m thinking a lot about wine lately–thanks to good friends and their love of wine. There is a real possibility that they will start producing wine themselves. Where does my experience take me in helping them out: Marketing. And the first company I think of: Stormhoek. It is getting its buzz through the web. How much are other wineries using the web?
Using the Wine Spectator’s Daily Picks, I searched for each of the wine producer web sites. I only went 50 links deep in google to find them. Here are the results:
Under $15
CHÂTEAU LA GRANGE CLINET Premières Côtes de Bordeaux 2003 (86 points, $12)
No web site apparent.
CASCINA CASTLÈT Barbera d’Asti 2004 (83 points, $14)
All Italian, cheesy, but more full featured site. Check out the 2000-2002 copyright…
MONTGRAS Merlot Colchagua Valley Reserva 2004 (83 points, $10)
More of a placeholder site at the moment. Not sure how long the “new site is coming” has been there. Though buried only in pdfs, the wine tech sheets have lots of good info. If they can incorporate that into the new site beyond making the pdf into html, Montgras has potential.
CONCHA Y TORO Sauvignon Blanc Central Valley Casillero del Diablo 2005 (82 points, $9)
A more complete site than the smaller producers. It has both Spanish and English versions. While the site has quite a bit of information–it doesn’t seem very compelling for consumers and prospective consumers.
Over $30
CHÂTEAU SUDUIRAUT Sauternes 2003 (93 points, $55)
A site you’d probably expect. It’s all flash, English and French. It’s pain to click through more information… seems to be all about the style, rather than substance.
VILLAE LANATA Barolo Cascina Lo Zoccolaio 2000 (90 points, $50)
Another flash affair… style, less substance, and not much value add from a consumer perspective. It is the only site so far with three language options though.
SAN BIAGIO Barolo Sorì del Rovere 2001 (90 points, $50)
No site 50 links deep in Google.
This is by no means a representative sample… and I’ll keep plugging through these. But it’s a start, nonetheless. And from these first seven producers, I don’t see much innovation in an online customer experience.