What a Small Winery Website Needs

Two questions, in order

Somebody on a winery site is either planning a visit or trying to buy a bottle they had somewhere.

The first needs hours, location, whether booking is required, and what a tasting costs.

The second needs a straight answer about where you can ship and what it costs.

Tasting notes, the vineyard's history, and the winemaker's philosophy all matter and none of them is why the page was opened.

The tasting room needs specifics

• Hours, by season.
• Whether booking is required.
• What a tasting costs and how many pours.
• Whether the fee is waived on purchase.
• Group size limits.
• Children, dogs, and picnics.

The last is asked constantly and answered almost nowhere. A family deciding where to spend an afternoon needs to know whether children are welcome before driving forty minutes.

Seasonal hours have to be current

Which is the most common failure on these sites.

A winery open daily in August and weekends only in November has hours that change twice a year.

A page still showing summer hours in October produces somebody arriving at a closed door, which is worse than any other error the site can make.

Put the current hours and the date they change, and set a calendar reminder for both switchovers.

Update the listing at the same time, since that is where more people look than the site.

This one item causes more complaints than everything else combined.

Shipping needs a plain answer

Which is where these sites hedge and should not.

Wine shipping across provincial borders is governed by each receiving province's rules rather than by yours, and those rules differ.

So the honest page says which provinces you can currently ship to, which you cannot, and what it costs to each.

Say the minimum order if there is one, and whether somebody must be present with identification at delivery, which they generally must.

Note that the position changes, and say when you last checked, which is more credible than a confident permanent claim.

Anybody visiting from another province is asking this before they buy a case, and a vague answer loses the sale.

A worked example

A winery had a site with beautiful photography and a wine list.

Their two most common telephone calls were whether they were open on a given day and whether they could ship to Ontario.

They added seasonal hours with the changeover dates, a shipping page listing provinces and costs, and a line about children and dogs.

Calls dropped substantially and online orders rose, mostly from visitors who had tasted there months earlier.

The shipping page became their second most visited after the home page.

None of it required changing anything about the wine or the photography.

The wine club is the real business

And it deserves a proper page.

Say what a member gets, how many shipments a year, roughly what each costs, and how to change or pause.

Say the commitment plainly, since the fear of being locked into something is what stops people joining.

Name the member benefits at the tasting room, since that is what converts a visitor into a member on the day.

And say whether members in other provinces can receive shipments, which loops back to the shipping question.

A club member is worth many times a single visitor, which is why this page deserves more attention than the tasting notes.

Say where you are properly

Since rural addresses defeat navigation apps regularly.

The address, the driving directions from the nearest highway, and a note about the last stretch if it is gravel or unsigned.

Say how long from the nearest town, since visitors are planning a route between several stops.

Mention parking, including whether a bus or a larger vehicle can turn.

And name the nearby wineries if you are on a recognised route, since visitors plan by area rather than by individual winery.

Licensing shapes what you can say

Worth knowing before writing anything promotional.

Liquor advertising is regulated, and there are rules about how alcohol can be promoted, discounted, and described.

Language implying health benefits, encouraging quantity, or appealing to minors is restricted.

The practical effect for a small winery is limited, and it is worth checking your promotional copy against the current guidance rather than assuming.

Age verification on the shop and on the club signup is a standard requirement and most platforms provide it.

Check yours is switched on rather than assuming it is.

Say what is open when the tasting room is not

Which turns a closed day into a smaller disappointment rather than a wasted drive.

Some wineries have a shop that opens longer than the tasting room, or a patio, or a self-guided walk through the vineyard.

Say plainly what a visitor can do on a day the tasting room is shut, since somebody in the area anyway may still come and buy.

Where the answer is nothing at all, say that too, which is the honest version and prevents the arrival.

The same applies to the shoulder season, where a visitor from out of province has no way of knowing that November is quiet here.

The counter-case

Some wineries sell everything at the door.

A small producer whose entire output goes through the tasting room and a few restaurants has no need of a shipping page at all.

Shipping is also expensive, awkward, and low margin, and some deliberately do not offer it.

And a winery with no tasting room at all has a completely different site and none of this applies.

Start from what a visitor can actually do, and build the page around that.

Publish seasonal hours with changeover dates, answer the shipping question by province, and give the wine club a proper page.

What to build first

1. Current seasonal hours.
2. Booking requirement and tasting fee.
3. Children, dogs, and picnics.
4. Provinces you ship to.
5. Shipping cost and minimum.
6. The wine club page.
7. Directions and the last stretch.

Step one prevents the worst outcome available to this business, since somebody who drives forty minutes to a closed door tells other people about it.

The interprovincial question is covered in selling into a province with its own rules.

Frequently asked questions

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