HALL WINES Website Redesign & Replatform
The HALL Wines project required us to effectively convey the brand's story through the new website, aiming to increase winery visits, memberships, and direct-to-consumer sales. I accomplished this through a week-long on-site tour, including interviews with the CEO, President, multiple VPs, and staff members working in the tasting room. This understanding of their position in the wine industry informed how to develop and bring it to digital life.
Role
Creative Direction & Design Lead, Sales Discovery, Client Interviews, Wireframes, Photography
ROI: Design Longevity
The design has been in use for ten years and repurposed for HALL’s sister sites, Walt Wines and Baca Wines. Visit hallwines.com
Highlights:
30 days post-launch Conversion Rate Lift was 109%
YOY Site visits increased 49%
“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.”
Sales Process
Design was involved early in the sales process, which was a key factor in winning this client. This became standard protocol for our sales process.
The RFP required comp work as part of the vetting process, which Gorilla Group historically had a firm stance against. However, we wanted this client in our portfolio and made an exception.
When considering this design, I thought how to balance modern and traditional elements that would echo the winery.
My passion for food and beverage, and the fact that my wife is a certified sommelier, tipped the hat on this project. During the sales process, my design comp was cited as the reason that HALL Wines ultimately selected Gorilla Group over the other agencies from San Francisco and New York they were vetting.
Juxtaposition of Traditional & Modern
Like a finely crafted wine, HALL Wines is a beautiful blend of elements that make something more than its parts.
This is an ecommerce website, but even more important to the client is to bring the experience of visiting the grounds to the web.
Visiting HALL is truly a sensory experience. From the moment you encounter a 30-foot-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.
Visitors can plan their trip to the St. Helena winery location or request an appointment for an exclusive tasting and tour of Rutherford.
Below is a collection of my photos from the onsite week-long brand immersion in Napa, CA.
Selling the product
The wine product pages utilize a tasteful parallax effect to add an element of delight and the unexpected, like visiting the winery, that 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.
Continuing the juxtaposition of old and new, the other designer I was working with, who is an avid plant lover, suggested using old botanical drawings to represent the tasting notes, creating the perfect pairing for these pages.