Building a brand, like crafting an amazing wine, takes more than just one ingredient. Truly great wineries approach their brand experience from a lifestyle perspective. Your winery’s brand is an experience. In this series, learn how to surround your consumer with the hallmarks of their best life.

In The Tasting Room

A tasting room visit is more than an experience, it’s a memory waiting to happen. Just before Covid hit, my last trip was a road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway with my husband for his 40th birthday. After a night in an Airstream on an organic farm, we meandered beyond the scenic route to find ourselves in beautiful Santa Maria. We explored the architectural perfection of Presqu’ile Winery’s tasting room, overlooking a sea of vines and then The Shack at Foxen Vineyard and Winery, a literal road side shack where the founding winemaker got his start. Both experiences couldn’t have been more different, but each held a lasting impression. What they did right went beyond the design. Each fostered an authentic experience, true to their own distinct story. Each provided a vastly different feeling that warms my heart to this day and adds to my feeling of an enhanced lifestyle. So ask yourself, what memories will your guests take away from your tasting room, and even more importantly, how is that feeling distinct to your winery?

What memories will your guests take away from your tasting room, and even more importantly, how is that feeling distinct to your winery?

The five Senses

Define your tasting room experience through all five senses. Sight: What does your tasting room say through its architecture and design. What story are you telling? How are you bringing that story to life through subtle signage or décor? Smell: This is the strongest sense for memory, what are the fragrances that will remind someone of their experience at a tasting? To this day, I can still smell the firewood crackling in the large open fireplace at Presqu’ile’s tasting room. Hearing: What is the soundtrack of your brand? Carefully curate a playlist that highlights your brand’s sense of style and voice. Share it with guests before they leave, or ship it with DTC orders. Touch: From the glassware to the seating, every surface is a touchpoint for your brand. Taste: Of course the primary experience, your incredible wine and food menu.

Define your tasting room experience through all five senses.

Scout Driscoll

Founder and CEO

Scout has earned all the badges. Whether she’s mentoring her troop, encouraging her clients, forging a path for her agency, or raising her family – her enthusiasm and earnestness spark feelings of purpose and possibility all around. Recently, she was a judge for the 2020 Beverage Tasting Institute Packaging Design Awards.

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