Winery Websites... get with the times

Jon_Troutman · January 31, 2011, 10:09pm

I was poking around for Leoville Las Cases website today and came up with a goose egg. It’s either non-existant or is extremely difficult to find.

How do you manage to run one of the world’s most historically significant wineries in the 21st century and not have a website?

Graeme_Gee · January 31, 2011, 10:22pm

If you can sell all you make for the price you want, why waste money on promotion?
Just because many small makers have that attitude is no reason why the big ones shouldn’t either…
cheers,
GG

Jorge_Henriquez · January 31, 2011, 10:23pm

You mean this one?

Rick_Gregory · January 31, 2011, 10:25pm

That’s not LLC’s site

Jon_Troutman · January 31, 2011, 10:26pm

I think this is the same attitude that all those producers of Chinon had 100 years ago, when they were among the most collectible wines in the world

Jon_Troutman · January 31, 2011, 10:27pm

I think he’s just

Taylor_Senatore · January 31, 2011, 10:48pm

http://www.leoville-las-cases.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This should be it. But it is under construction!

Rick_Gregory · January 31, 2011, 11:03pm

But then he used the wrong emoticon!

David_K_o_l_i_n · January 31, 2011, 11:09pm

Can’t hold a candle to Sine Qua Non’s http://www.sinequanon.com/

Nate_Simon · January 31, 2011, 11:20pm

I joked with Ray Walker that Maison Ilan is already in the top quartile of Burgundy producers in that he has a website that actually works.

jeremyfg · February 1, 2011, 3:10am

My #1 pet peeve. No website. Its shocking. Now I know that Haut-Brion doesn’t Really need it… but still, its a bit like a phone book entry.

Jeff_Leve · February 1, 2011, 6:06pm

It might not be the official site, but I liked it!

Great pictures, tasting notes and much of the important info are all on one page. Of course, I could be biased.

I was surprised Leoville Las Cases did not have an official site. They do not sell to the public and visits are not easy to come by. They don’t see it as important.

The truth is, most chateaux do not maintain a strong web presence. Palmer, Brane Cantenac, Valandraud have active sites. But most spend almost no time on the Internet.

Chateauneuf du Pape is even worse. Pegau has a nice page, and a few others do as well. But many domaines offer no site, or at best, they maintain only a rudimentary one.

Enzo_Ruffalo · February 1, 2011, 6:12pm

Paul_Romero · February 1, 2011, 6:30pm

We’re in the process of doing a website update right now. The designer asked me what my long term vision for the site was and I sent her the Sine Qua Non link

Bob_Wood · February 1, 2011, 6:30pm

Gravity.

G_D_y_e_r · February 1, 2011, 6:34pm

What about Chateau Angelus? They have a very Flashy website and I read a story they paid for placement of Angelus in the new James Bond movies. There must be some room for marketing.

Probably the larger issue is the big chateaux are sorts of dinosaurs. Of course they are apex predators, but they move slowly. Right now they are selling to older wine drinkers, probably largely the baby boomer generation (at least in the US). That is not the most web-savvy generation. Why waste money to market to people other than the ones who have the money?

They should look into Mandarin language websites, though. Amongst younger English-speaking (even as a 2nd language) wine drinkers Bdx has a very small share. I doubt that group will come back to them, but Bdx should look to more noveau riche buyers across the world. The mindset that class can be purchased was very helpful in the US market–well it still is, but US credit is too overextended at the moment to make much headway.

Jon_Troutman · February 1, 2011, 6:38pm

I got a chuckle out of this… but in all seriousness, it’s kind of silly how little a web presence so many of the famous French estates have. I understand that, at the end of the day, many of these people simply view themselves as farmers, especially in Burgundy, Rhone, etc.

But, c’mon Bordeaux! So many have been built and operated like Big Businesses. Why not step up your online game, and act like the corporate juggernauts that you are and actually build a halfway decent site? While it might sound silly, something like a UStream during harvest could actually help build relationships with potential buyers.

Then again, maybe they think that remaining mysterious and secretive will behoove them in the long run?.. I’d argue otherwise.

Gary_Schulte · February 1, 2011, 6:45pm

And then there are those websites that make you feel that you just stepped into an amusement park and wish they just had contact info. Kind of surprised with Leoville las Cases…Gary

Nick_Ryan · February 1, 2011, 6:51pm

Many American wineries aren’t any better. It seems the quality and frequency of updates to a winery website is inversely proportional to the popularity of their wine. So many are still touting their RMP 100 2002 Cabernet vintages on the front page, and waxing poetic about the 2004s…

Jeff_Leve · February 1, 2011, 6:59pm

I agree. They should have a web presence. But on their side of table, they do not sell their wines to end users. They only sell to negociants. Negociants sell to merchants and wholesalers who eventually sell to consumers. The chateaux do not think they need a strong website to aid in this effort.