7 tips for creating your winery website
This past year during the pandemic has shown that an Internet presence is more important than ever for every type of business, wineries included; in fact, it’s a question of survival. Hungarianwines.eu, the independent online wine publication specialising in Hungarian wines therefore initiated the first ever Interwine Award. This contest does not evaluate wines, rather wineries’ websites. It might well be the first of its kind, not only in Hungary but also worldwide. Renowned international jury members – such as Drinks Business editor Lucy Shaw and Wine Searcher editor Don Kavanagh – scored the websites according to various criteria, including design, amount of information, quality of photos, functioning of the webshop and ease of website navigation. Although the contest was aimed at Hungarian wineries, the conclusions are universal and can also be useful for Russian wineries.
Here are a few tips to help you create your winery website.
1. Who are you?
One common mistake is to depict the winery’s philosophy using sensitively chosen wording, wise thoughts and a personal photo of the estate manager; however, the name is missing, so we simply do not know who is smiling in that picture. Do not forget to accredit any testimonials and make sure you provide the names and contact details of various colleagues (marketing, export, wine tourism) in the Contact menu.
Caption: Tóth Ferenc Winery with an introduction of the founder
2. Speed is crucial
Jury members gave lower scores to websites which loaded slowly. They continued to wait, because that was their task; however, customers may not be quite so patient – if it takes a website 10–15 seconds to load, they may well give up and look for another winery. Check the size of your photos and videos to improve your website’s speed!
3. Details – too many or too few?
Customers need brief descriptions and prices, while professionals want to know every detail about the vineyard, grape varieties, barrel, label, etc. The best solution is to give brief information on each wine, so that the page is not too long, but to also provide a link or button for professionals to learn more or, even better, downloadable fact sheets.
Caption: Heimann Family Estate with incredibly detailed, printable wine descriptions, which even indicate the pronunciation
4. Professional images
Do not show a storage building photographed in winter or, even better, never feature your warehouse. The best approach is to employ a professional photographer for a day and have them take 100 pictures, to ensure you have enough for the next three years. Images are extremely important, as they engage visitors coming to your website and attract them to your winery.
Caption. Sauska website with professional photos
5. Out-of-date latest news?
If you have a news section on the website, then you have to update it regularly. If you do not have the time and energy or would prefer this type of communication to be on Facebook or Instagram, no problem; however, you should then remove the News menu from your website.
Caption: News section with up-to-date information
6. Wine tourism – prices are essential!
Do you want to attract tourists to come and taste your wines? In this case, prices and details of your services are a must. People will not call and ask for prices, they will simply carry on searching and choose a winery which has provided all the necessary information. It is as simple as that.
Caption: Barta Winery featuring attractive accommodation within the estate centre
7. Age verification – should be bilingual!
Several winery websites could not be accessed during Interwine Award, because the initial age verification was only in Hungarian, and visitors could not understand the Hungarian for 'Yes, I am over 18'. Again a common mistake. Most international visitors won’t understand Russian words, especially in Cyrillic, so make sure you help them access your website.
The winners of the 1st Interwine Award:
– 1st Prize: Sauska (Villány/Tokaj)
https://sauska.hu/en
– 2nd Prize: Tóth Ferenc Winery (Eger)
https://tothferencpinceszet.hu
– 3rd Prize: Heimann Family Estate (Szekszárd)
https://www.heimann.hu/en
More about the winner
Sauska is a family-owned and operated winery with vineyards in both Tokaj (NE Hungary) and Villány (SW Hungary). They cultivate indigenous and international grape varieties and only use the power of gravity and ambient yeasts to craft their wines. They have a full range of wines from sparkling to still, dry to sweet, white, red and rosé.
Boasting a team of young, talented and passionate staff, Sauska truly enjoys its quest to make world-class wines that are precise, elegant and uniquely Hungarian.
"Today’s gold standards, rules now written in stone, all started out at one point as experiments. Passionate, brave people’s most creative ideas have gradually been transformed into common practices by several generations. This is why we are so keen to understand and accept this ever-changing world around us and to observe and learn what we have to do in Tokaj and Villány where we belong."
Ágnes Németh, Creative Writer, Editor, Founder of www.hungarianwines.eu