Why Naked Wines chooses Ticket Tailor to power its epic wine tasting tours

If you’re a wine lover and haven’t heard of Naked Wines, this is your sign to get acquainted – ASAP. In fact, you can do so by reading this very interview, in which we chat with Dominique Blaxall – Naked Wines’ Social Media Manager – about this inspiring business, its epic wine-tasting tour, and how Ticket Tailor has “dragged the company’s ticketing into the 21st century” (pleased to be of service!).

Let’s rewind a bit. Naked Wines is a wine company with a big-bodied difference. Back in 2008, its founders wanted to find a way to support independent wine makers across the globe, while bringing delicious wines to people like you and me – at a lower cost than your usual supermarket pricing. 

So, they cut out the middle man. Members (called Angels – because, why not?) get wine delivered straight to their door, and their money supports independent wine makers directly.

Since day dot, Naked Wines has been running its ‘Naked Wine Tours’ – fun-drenched (read: wine-drenched) events that bring together the people who make the wine with the people who drink it. This is an excellent case study in how events can be used to nurture a passionate, thriving community around your business – helping you maintain strong relationships with both your suppliers and customers. 

There’s so much to learn here – from the finer logistics of flying winemakers in from all across the globe, to the power of localised marketing in promoting a touring event.

It’s five o’clock somewhere, we say. Grab a glass, and enjoy the read🍷. 

Why Naked Wines loves Ticket Tailor

Low cost 💸: Naked Wines doesn’t run its tours to make extra profit – they do it to bring communities together and nurture their existing customer relationships. So Ticket Tailor’s low fees are naturally appreciated!

Time-saving tools ⏱️: From cancellations to waitlists, Naked Wines went from battling spreadsheets to managing all their ticketing needs with ease – freeing them up to spend time on making their events awesome. Nice. 

Seamless from start to finish 💫: Ticket Tailor’s white-labelling option and embeddable box office widget mean Naked Wine Tour customers never have to leave the Naked Wine site to book tickets. Plus, the whole ticketing experience is fully branded with Naked Wine’s own aesthetic – for a smoother, less jarring buyer journey.

“We did speak to other providers, but Ticket Tailor’s sales and customer service team really stood out. They genuinely took the time to understand our challenges and help us find the right solution – no pushy sales pitch.”

What’s Naked Wines all about?

Naked Wines exists for one simple reason: to make great wine accessible. We’re all about helping you discover great wine, your way.

We started back in 2008 with a big idea: what if we could cut out the supermarkets and back winemakers directly instead? Give talented winemakers the freedom to do what they do best – and give wine drinkers better bottles at fairer prices in return.

We’re powered by a passionate community of 700,000+ wine lovers (we call them Angels) who fund and support world-class independent winemakers around the globe. In exchange, they get exclusive access to wines you won’t find anywhere else – for up to 33% less than the high street.

Your Naked Wine Tours sound very fun! What inspired you to start running these events? 

The Naked Wine Tours have been part of our DNA since day one. We started them to bring our winemakers closer to the people who drink their wines – because we believe wine tastes better when you’ve met the person who made it, heard their story, and maybe even shared a glass (or two).

It’s not just about tasting wine, it’s about building connections. That moment when a customer realizes the person behind the bottle is just as passionate, quirky, and human as they are? That’s the magic.

Over the years, the format’s evolved – but the heart’s stayed the same. These days, we also use the tours to bring our customers into the winemaking process. They help us shape the future of our wines – from tasting unreleased vintages to voting on blends and labels. It’s wine powered by people, just as it should be.

Give us a glimpse into a typical day at one of your tour events...

Think of it as a wine tasting… but with zero snobbery, 120+ wines, and winemakers from across the globe pouring the drinks themselves.

At every Naked Wine Tour stop, we fly in over 30 world-class winemakers from around the world and take them on the road with us across the UK. Each event gives attendees 2.5 hours of unlimited wine tastings – yes, unlimited! – and the chance to meet the people behind the bottles.

You’ll get to sip and swirl your way through wines from Italy, Australia, Chile, California, France (and more), while chatting to the winemakers who crafted them. Ultimately, it’s about so much more than what’s in your glass. It’s about the stories, the passion, and the people behind it all.

Our own Naked Wines team is there too, pouring wines and getting stuck into conversations. We’ve always believed our events should be run by us, because hearing what customers really think helps us make everything better.

At the end of the session you can order your favorites and get the price of your ticket back with every case of 12. So you walk away with great wine, great memories, and basically a free night out. Win-win.

Sounds incredible! But also potentially stressful to organise. What are your logistics like?

Each Naked Wine Tour is a serious operation – it takes around a year to plan and a dedicated team of 25 to pull off. From sourcing venues to booking flights and organising hotel keys, it’s all hands on deck.

When it comes to venues, we’ve poured wine in all sorts – from big city halls to charity-run spaces, football stadiums and cultural centers. We basically scout for venues that can easily fit 600 people, have plenty of glass bins (we get through a lot of bottles)... and good aircon! Because somehow, without fail, we always seem to plan the tour during a UK heatwave.

We like to invite a mix of winemakers – some fresh to Naked, others firm customer favorites – and fly them in from around the world to join us on the road. They travel the country with us on a big tour bus alongside our legendary driver Bob, who’s been with us since the very beginning.

Ultimately, the success of our tours all boils down to a bit of forward planning, a lot of teamwork, and a strong sense of humour when things (inevitably) don’t go to plan.

But our measure of success is simple: did the customers love it? Did the winemakers leave inspired? Did our team feel proud (and only slightly broken)? If the answer’s yes – then it’s a job well done.

What are the most rewarding aspects of running your tours? 

It has to be the lightbulb moment when a customer meets the winemaker behind their favorite bottle and realizes everything we’ve told them isn’t just clever marketing. It’s real.

They see how their ratings, their feedback, even their votes have shaped the wine in their glass. That the winemaker in front of them isn’t some faceless name on a label, but a person whose craft they’ve been backing all along. That connection from vineyard to glass is what it’s all about.

And the most challenging aspect?

Logistics. With over 65 people on the road – from winemakers to team members – we’re juggling hotels, flights, catering, venues, glassware, bins, tablecloths… the lot. Everything has to land at the right place, at the right time, so those doors open and the wine starts flowing right on cue.

Sounds intense – but worth it! How do you market your events? 

We market our events the same way we make our wine: by putting our customers first.

Our biggest channels are on-site promotions, targeted CRM campaigns, and organic social. We always prioritise inviting customers who live near the cities we’re visiting. Once locals have had first dibs, we open it up to the wider Angel community. And because our events are designed for our customers, and often feature their favorite winemakers, word tends to spread quickly. A lot of our tickets sell out fast, purely through organic buzz and a loyal customer base who knows it’s going to be a great time.

We’d love to know – why choose Ticket Tailor as your ticketing partner? 😀

We’re pretty proud of the online experience we’ve built for our customers, from our website to our emails, so when it came to ticketing, we needed a solution that could slot in seamlessly and make buying a ticket feel as smooth as pouring a glass of wine.

Ticket Tailor stood out because it’s easy to integrate, customer-friendly, and just… works.
Plus, we don’t run our wine tours to make a profit; they're community-powered events through and through. So finding a ticketing partner that offered great value (for us and our customers) was key to keeping that spirit alive.

That’s amazing to hear. Which Ticket Tailor features have been most useful so far?

Two features have been real game-changers for us:

1. White labelling and box office design

We care a lot about how our site looks and feels – it’s where our customers shop, read, explore, and now book events. Being able to drop in a Ticket Tailor widget that matched our design and tone perfectly (without sending people off-site) made the whole ticket-buying journey feel seamless.

2. The check-in app

We’ve been running events for 16 years… and yet, we’d never quite cracked QR codes that actually scanned. The Ticket Tailor free check-in app changed that. Having proper tickets, real-time check-ins, and accurate attendee numbers meant we could finally give venues what they need – and take a big source of stress away from our team.

It’s also unlocked exciting possibilities for the future – like tailoring post-event comms or exclusive promos based on who actually attended. 

Have you ever used any other ticketing platforms – if so, how does Ticket Tailor compare?

We’ve never used another ticketing platform. Until now, we’d always handled ticketing in-house. But being honest… our old system was definitely showing its age, and it wasn’t going to cut it for 2025.

We did speak to other providers, but Ticket Tailor’s sales and customer service team really stood out. They genuinely took the time to understand our challenges and help us find the right solution – no pushy sales pitch. 

That does sound like our customer service team 😌. Has Ticket Tailor helped you solve any specific challenges?

Absolutely – Ticket Tailor basically dragged our ticketing into the 21st century.

Before, managing cancellations or waitlists meant battling spreadsheets and sinking hours we didn’t have in the lead-up to events. Now we can cancel tickets, optimise waiting lists, and manage it all in a few clicks – no Excel wizardry required.

The ability to scan tickets at the door has been a total game-changer. It sounds basic, but having QR codes that actually work has taken a huge weight off the team and made our check-in process smoother than ever.

Finally, what do you think the future holds for Naked Wines, and your tours? 

Our Tasting Tours will keep rolling every summer across the UK and we’re always looking for ways to make them bigger, better, and even more immersive. That means more winemakers, more wines, and more chances for customers to connect with the people behind the bottles.

But the bit we’re really excited about? We’re working on brand-new community-powered events – something a little different to the usual tour format. More intimate, more interactive, and all about bringing winemakers and wine lovers together in fresh new ways.

We’re aiming to launch in Winter 2025 here in the UK – and if all goes well, roll them out in the US in 2026 too. Watch this space.

We definitely will! Thanks for chatting with us, Dominique. 

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