Redesigning your winery website: costs, options and what AI changes

Mobile usability and performance can affect user experience and search performance, but a site's age alone does not mean it is penalised. Check mobile crawling and page performance in Search Console before deciding to redesign.

Other common reasons for a redesign:

• the site is out of date (old vintages, missing prices, broken contact page);
• you want to sell wine online directly, without going through a marketplace;
• you are launching a new offer: tastings, cellar hire, wine tourism events;
• the original provider has disappeared or stopped responding;
• the rules have changed: the EU wine e-label has been mandatory since December 2023, and cookie banners must make refusal as easy as acceptance.

Option A — A DIY website builder

Monthly cost: €20–45 excl. VAT/month. Upfront cost: €0 to a few hundred euros for a theme or module. Your time: high. Allow 20 to 40 hours for a decent result, plus ongoing updates.

What this does not do automatically:

• verify that your payment provider accepts wine sales;
• display the mandatory wine advertising health message on every page showing a wine;
• handle the right of withdrawal and terms of sale adapted to wine;
• create the regulatory e-label pages per wine reference.

This is the cheapest option on paper. In practice, compliance and maintenance absorb time every month.

Option B — A generalist agency or freelancer

Creation cost: €1,500 to €10,000 excl. VAT depending on site size and features. Maintenance cost: €60 to €130 excl. VAT/month. Timeline: 4 to 12 weeks on average.

Generalist agencies do not always know the rules specific to wine. Check that the quote explicitly includes the cookie banner, wine advertising disclosures, wine-specific terms of sale and e-label pages — or that you handle them yourself after delivery.

Option C — A specialised wine SaaS on a monthly subscription

Several providers offer a turnkey winery site on subscription, typically between €19 and €129 excl. VAT/month. Wine compliance (mandatory health messages, cookie banner, e-label pages, adapted terms) is generally included.

The main thing to check: whether payments go directly to your own Stripe account (0% platform commission) or through an intermediary (often 6 to 20% taken on each sale). Over time, the difference is substantial.

To illustrate, on €10,000 of online sales per year:

• 0% platform commission + Stripe fees (~1.5–2%) = €150 to €200 in costs.
• 6% commission + Stripe fees = €750 to €800 in costs.

Option D — An AI-powered builder

Some tools generate a site in minutes from a description. The visual result can be acceptable. The cost is close to Option A (€20–45/month).

What AI does not do alone:

• it is unaware of the EU wine e-labelling obligation in force since December 2023 (Regulation (EU) 2021/2117);
• it does not check whether your payment provider authorises online alcohol sales;
• it does not generate terms of sale compliant with EU distance-selling rules for alcohol;
• it does not apply EU advertising restrictions for alcoholic beverages.

Using AI to write your presentation texts or describe your wines remains useful. But technical structure and regulatory compliance cannot be improvised with a prompt.

Legal notices (EU e-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC, article 5): name and address of the service provider, contact details including an email address, VAT number if registered, hosting provider details.

Wine advertising rules: EU member states have their own rules on alcohol advertising. At minimum, EU rules prohibit advertising alcoholic beverages to minors and associating alcohol with enhanced physical performance or social success. Check the rules in each country where your wines are sold.

Cookie banner (ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC and national implementations): users must be able to refuse non-essential cookies where consent is required. The Directive does not prescribe a specific banner design; check national rules and regulator guidance for how to present the refusal option.

If you sell online: full terms of sale with the right of withdrawal in line with Directive 2011/83/EU; age verification at purchase; e-label page per wine reference for wines produced from 8 December 2023 (Regulation (EU) 2021/2117), accessible from the product page before ordering.

Redesigning a site also means migrating your data: wine references, photos, texts, order history if you have a shop. Ask your current provider these questions before signing with a new one:

• can I export my wine references (CSV format or equivalent)?
• do I own my photos, and can I retrieve them in high resolution?
• what happens to my domain name if I change provider?
• will my current orders and customer data be returned to me?

A host or SaaS that does not let you export your business data can create lock-in. Under GDPR article 20, customers may, subject to its conditions, receive personal data they provided in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and transmit it to another controller. This right does not itself guarantee that a business can export its operational data from a provider, so check the provider's terms before switching.

AI has reduced site production time: writing a wine sheet, rewording a presentation text or generating an ambient image now takes minutes instead of hours. This translates into shorter timelines and falling prices among providers who use it well.

However, AI does not replace: knowledge of EU and national regulations on alcohol sales; data verification (prices, stock, vintages); technical upkeep (security updates, backups, HTTPS certificate); customer support when something breaks.

When comparing quotes, ask explicitly what the provider does with AI: if they write your texts with AI without review, factual errors (incorrect vintage, misnamed appellation) may stay live. If they use AI to speed up layout and reserve review for content, that is a gain for you.