After a short hiatus from the previous site, CannonWines.com has returned. I wasn’t a fan of how the old site was used, so I started from scratch. Previously, the site had to be updated manually by editing javascript to change the menu system, which only allowed you to browse the portfolio by loading huge PDFs through text links. There wasn’t anybody on staff to do that before I got there, nor would there be if I were on vacation or got hit by a truck (knock on wood), so the site needed a method for previewing all wines in the portfolio that could be updated on the fly by anyone. Sounds like a need for a Content Management System (CMS).

So I designed a new front-end UI that shows a brief, the bottle, the data, the accolades, the tasting notes and download links for resources on every wine, including tech sheets, shelf-talkers, brochures, hi-res bottle shots and hi-res labels:

Then I asked a few buddies to build a custom CMS to manage it all. They built it over a few weekends in CakePHP, which makes updating the site as easy as logging in and filling out a short form. All of the portfolio info is stored in the site’s MySQL database, from which we can pull data for almost anything. More on that after the jump. We’re working on implementing the CMS now, but the site already contains info and downloads for 70 wines in the Cannon portfolio:

And it’s easy to to expand. The home page also tracks the most recent news from the News Center, and cycles big stories through the header space:

Pretty slick stuff. Check it out now at CannonWines.com

Also in the works (and soon to be added to my portfolio) is Cannon’s new intranet, code-named Avenir, which is tightly integrated with the MySQL databases of CannonWines.com. When each Cannon staff member logs into their account, Avenir will automate a lot of the tasks that Cannon staff previously had to do somewhat manually. This includes tasks like sample requests. Currently, every Cannon staff member has to send me an e-mail in a predefined format, which tells me what samples they need, where they’re going and when they need to arrive. It’s a tedious process which, while easier than when I started, is still difficult to manage at times. Avenir will help speed that up, by providing a form that automatically syncs our portfolio information on CannonWines.com with drop-down menus to easily select which samples are needed. Avenir will also store staff members’ information for pre-defining shipping addresses, etc. Eventually, it’ll even track which requests are still open, and send confirmation notices when they’ve been shipped.

Best of all, the languages and systems used for these are free, and included in our hosting plan. Cool stuff, and more is coming soon.