For the HALL Wines ecommerce site, our task was to effectively tell the brand story online to grow winery visits, memberships, and direct-to-consumer sales. We accomplished this through an on-site tour, employee interviews and developing an understanding of the space they occupy in the wine industry.
Role: Sales, Discovery, Wireframes, Photography, Design Lead
“We absolutely love our new site. Gorilla helped us succinctly tell our brand story while creating a fresh, innovative online shopping experience. When consumers visit the winery it is a breathtaking, sensory experience unlike any other place, Gorilla was able to capture this experience in a digital environment.” — Emily Harrison, Director of Marketing HALL and WALT Wines
The RFP required comp work as part of the vetting process which is something Gorilla Group historically had a firm stance against. We wanted this client in our portfolio and made an exception.
My passion for food and beverage and the fact that my wife is certified sommelier tipped the hat on this project. During the sales process, my comp was cited as the reason that HALL Wines ultimately choose Gorilla Group over the other agencies from San Francisco and New York they were vetting.
When considering this design, I thought about how to balance modern and traditional design elements that would echo the winery.
Our team spent four days experiencing the vineyards, winery, guided tastings and speaking with staff members from all areas of the organization. I photographed all aspects of the trip so we had reference material when designing the site.
Visiting HALL is truly a sensory experience. From the moment you encounter 30 ft tall Bunny Foo-Foo from the road to pulling around the old oak tree and seeing a 150 year old stone building situated in an impeccably manicured setting of sculptures, gardens, and a modernist LEED certified building, the stage for what’s about to come has been set. This is an ecommerce website, but even more important to the client is to bring the experience of visiting the grounds to the web.
The product pages are parallax to add an element of the unexpected, just the same as visiting the winery. Continuing the juxtaposition of old and new, the other designer I was working with who is a an avid plant lover suggested using old botanical drawing to represent the tasting notes creating the perfect pairing for these pages.
The tasteful parallax effect on the product pages moves the viewer from high-level information to the tasting notes and details of the wine.
Each wine is shown in a glass so the wine buyer can see the color of the vintage.
“We absolutely love our new site. Gorilla helped us succinctly tell our brand story while creating a fresh, innovative online shopping experience. When consumers visit the winery it is a breathtaking, sensory experience unlike any other place, Gorilla was able to capture this experience in a digital environment.”
— Emily Harrison, Director of Marketing HALL and WALT Wines
DESIGN LONGEVITY
The design has been repurposed for HALL’s sister sites, Walt Wines and Baca Wines.
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