How Cuvaison Extended Hospitality Beyond the Tasting Room

About Cuvaison & Brandlin Estate

Founded in 1969, Cuvaison has spent more than five decades building a reputation for exceptional winemaking and hospitality in Napa Valley. The family-owned winery is rooted in Carneros, where guests can experience both the wines and the people behind them in a setting designed around connection, education, and hospitality.

Alongside Cuvaison, the winery also produces Brandlin Estate wines from Mount Veeder, continuing a long history of vineyard stewardship and premium Cabernet Sauvignon production.

Throughout its history, the winery has continuously looked for ways to improve the guest experience while preserving the hospitality-first philosophy that has defined the brand since the beginning.

As customer expectations evolved, the team began evaluating whether their existing technology stack still reflected how modern consumers wanted to engage with the winery. Their goal was to create a better experience for customers while maintaining the hospitality and personal relationships that have always been central to the brand.

Challenge

For years, Cuvaison operated on wine-specific ecommerce and club management platforms that were designed around traditional winery operations.

Consumers increasingly expected the same convenience, flexibility, and self-service experiences they were receiving from other brands. They wanted more control over what they purchased, when they purchased it, and how they managed their relationship with the winery.

At the same time, the Cuvaison team wanted to avoid making another short-term technology decision.

After previously transitioning from an older platform to WineDirect, leadership began evaluating what the next phase of their technology stack should look like. Rather than selecting another wine-specific platform, they wanted a long-term solution that could continue evolving alongside both the business and changing consumer expectations.

“We didn't want to move into something that was going to be a band-aid for what we believed was the real challenge of reaching consumers. What seems like it's going to be an easy fix generally ends up costing anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 every time you make that change.”

— Kelly Murray, DTC Manager, Cuvaison & Brandlin Estates

The team wanted confidence that whatever platform they chose next would provide a foundation they could continue building on for years to come.

Solution

Rather than focusing solely on replacing technology, Cuvaison approached the transition as an opportunity to rethink how customers interact with the winery both online and in person.

Building a Platform Around Hospitality

“We are a company that sells hospitality and wine keeps us in business.”

For Cuvaison, the tasting room remains the foundation of the customer relationship. Guests visit the winery, learn the story behind the wines, meet the team, and build a personal connection with the brand. Technology helps continue that relationship after the visit ends.

“That’s how customers fall in love with us. Then we remain in contact with them through the technology we've built.”

By connecting ecommerce, memberships, and the tasting room experience, Shopify and Awtomic helped create a more seamless customer journey. Customers can engage with the winery however they prefer, whether they're visiting Carneros, purchasing online, managing a membership, or reordering wines from home.

The winery also viewed the transition as a long-term investment. Rather than solving for today's challenges alone, the team wanted a platform capable of supporting future membership models, evolving customer expectations, and continued innovation across both ecommerce and hospitality.

Giving Customers the Flexibility They Expect

That hospitality-first philosophy also shaped how Cuvaison approached memberships.

“Consumers really want to be the ones driving the choice. They don't want to be told what they're going to receive. They want to purchase what they want, when they want it.”

With Awtomic, members can now manage much of that experience themselves. Customers can update products, pause shipments, make changes to upcoming orders, and control how they engage with the winery, all without creating additional operational complexity for the team.

“We set it up once and then let them drive, which is really what we want to be able to do.”

The result is a membership experience that gives customers more ownership while allowing the winery to focus more of its time on hospitality and relationship-building.

Results

The transition to Shopify and Awtomic gave customers more control over how they engage with the winery while creating a more efficient experience for the internal team.

Members can now manage much of their own experience, including updating products, making changes to upcoming orders, and managing subscriptions without requiring manual intervention from the winery. The result is a more flexible experience that aligns with how modern consumers prefer to shop.

Operationally, the impact has been equally significant. Customer-driven order management has streamlined processing, improved inventory visibility, and reduced issues associated with overselling limited-production wines. Rather than manually adjusting orders after club processing, customers can make changes themselves before orders are finalized.

“Membership and subscription will lead to retention because ease of use is what everyone's looking for.”

Beyond the immediate operational benefits, the move to Shopify and Awtomic created a stronger foundation for the future. The winery is now positioned to launch new subscription experiences, explore subscribe-and-save offerings, and continue evolving alongside changing customer expectations.

For Cuvaison, adopting the right technology is part of an ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional hospitality in a way that reflects how customers want to engage today.

“If you're not going to travel to us, then let us travel to you through the bottle.”