Winery websites

[Rebel Rose]

What are your favorite winery websites? Here's one of mine. Not terribly informative, but I love the flash version. And the lack of pretension.

Do you like Flash? Can't stand it? Wine data, recipes, ease of navigation? What works for you and what just doesn't?

Personally, I hate Flash because I have land lines and no satservice because we don't have a clear line of sight. I also don't like having to visit a separate page to get basic information on each wine offered, for the same reasons. And I'd like to see more action photos. If I see one more photo of a winemaker holding a glass of wine in front of a barrel, I'm going to gag (on some really good wine, though).

[Gifted Gourmet]

Bonny Doon Vineyard

Go to their tasting rooms ... delightful!

[KatieLoeb]

I second Bonny Doon. I also enjoy Merryvale Vineyards site, if for no other reason than to gape at the glorious Cask Room and remind myself how beautiful it was. I took a wine seminar in that room and it was just a gorgeous venue.

Also love to look at the Artesa Winery site, again because it reminds me of a pleasant afternoon there quaffing their wine in the sunshine on that lovely terrace overlooking some of the prettiest scenery in Carneros. Architecturally it's probably one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. Beautiful fountains and sculpture garden yet it looks like it was dropped into the side of a hill by an alien space ship. Exceedingly

[CtznCane]

Besides wine tasting rooms/web sites what about wine clubs? I started a thread before and but one response. Thought winery people at least would be interested. Well yesterday we picked up our wine club shipment from Gloria Ferrer. Of course we tried it and wound up buying an another case of the champagne (sparkling wine for you purists) and a couple extra Pinot Noirs as well. There website too is very nice.

[winesonoma]

I like the ones with the online tasting .

[PCL]

In an attempt to lend an international flavour to proceedings, I'd like to suggest the following:

http://www.charlesmeltonwines.com.au

A fantastic producer of Shiraz from the Barossa Valley, South Australia. They are produce a knee trembling Cabernet on limited release, but well priced. He also produces something he calls the Nine Popes, a GSM blend. The site is currently on hold due to current release information being updated.

http://www.foxcreekwines.com.au

This time from the McLaren Vale, South Australia.

Good table wines, and some good blends.

[David94928]

I like the ones with the online tasting .  

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Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out where the wine dispenses from my computer for those sites.

David

[Andre]

I enjoyed the very well orgenized Chateau Margaux website.

Chateau Kefraya of Lebanon has a heart worming site I enjoyed as well.

Luna di Luna has a very practical sale oriented site that may be of help to the retailers.

[tanabutler]

Thank God Bonny Doon redesigned their web site: the previous incarnation should have been grounds for criminal prosecution. It was truly one of the worst designs (or "lack of designs") I've ever seen, and it completely overwhelmed the incomparable content. Now it's got a great palette and just soars with life and color. Finally, a web site worthy of their reputation.

You beat me to the punch on Frog's Leap. Even though I'm not wild about Flash in general, I think it's a wonderful design, and it reflects the heartfulness of the owner. John Williams was the most gracious host you could imagine at the farm dinner this summer. Yow. Unbelievably generous. What a guy.

I find that there is a dearth of great wine sites, even moreso than restaurants. Most of what's out there is monochromatic and boring. Even the pictures of the vineyards, which should draw you in, come to look like stock photography after the fiftieth time. "Oh, look! It's sunlight and vines!" Nothing distinguishes the wineries from one another, with the rare exceptions. It's like there is a special box of 8 Crayola Crayons for Wineries: sage green, dark red, tan, buff, hunter green, dark brown, gold, purple (rare but still), and the green-gold of the hills.

They all look the same!

Here are some places I visited in a hasty and somewhat random drive-by. I avoided places that I know to be cheesy, and visited sites for wineries I have respect for. In a few cases, I'd visit a "popular" (read: popular with the sort of people who think the Olive Garden is a restaurant) winery's site just to see if money could achieve greatness.

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/.../Wine/Wineries/

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/.../Wine/Wineries/

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/.../Wine/Wineries/

In no particular order, I found these to be worthy of inclusion in a list of good web sites for wineries:

http://www.jwine.com/

Beautiful palette, great design, interesting navigation.

http://www.jordanwinery.com/

Simply splendid.

http://www.ranchozabaco.com/

Big, bold, captivating. Style that matches their label.

http://www.pepi.com/index.html

Attractive. Fresh. Different. Modern without being cold.

http://www.niebaum-coppola.com/site.php

Oh, yeah, baby! Show me the money! The timeline on the winery is amazing.

http://www.opusonewinery.com/

We take ourselves very seriously. We have money to burn. We had this music especially commissioned. No, really.

http://www.peju.com/home.htm

Well, alrighty then! Refreshing.

http://www.robertmondavi.com/

Surprisingly classy. Complex and well-organized. Recipes, mmmmmm.

http://www.clarkclaudon.com/

Nice, in a subdued way.

http://www.milat.com/

Ditto. But the monochromatic stuff gets monotonous.

http://www.meruswines.com/

Very attractive. Great photographic effects. The link to the woman's other website (UXUS) is just one of those little gems you find online. I like this one very much.

http://www.justinwine.com/

Lovely colors, but lose the music.

http://www.pineridgewinery.com/

Very well done, despite that I'm very over GREEN right now.

http://www.clospegase.com/

Nice splash. Inside, the 8 Crayolas again, though. Take it back: they added Burnt Orange.

http://www.raymondburrvineyards.com/

Very different: thanks for the unusual splash screen. Even though you click in, and it's beyond boring (naked vines, anyone?) at least the splash is good.

And the worst:

http://www.randomridge.com/