Introducing Door Explorer: A better way to find Cellar Doors
Announcement posted by Door Explorer 18 Apr 2024
Sydney co-founders launch platform to improve Winery and Cellar Door discovery
- Explore all 220 Cellar Doors in— the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, and Canberra
- Search and filter based on unique offerings; cheese boards, restaurants, scenic views
Co-founders George Campbell and James Cooper-Stanbury launch Door Explorer,(doorexplorer.com), a platform built to improve the way people explore Wine Regions and discover Cellar Doors in the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, and Canberra District.
Users can explore all 220 Cellar Doors in the 4 launch regions, filtering by their distinctive offerings — from cheese boards and onsite restaurants to scenic views — along with what wines are available for tasting.
The Problem
When choosing Cellar Doors for a wine tasting trip, many people rely on old methods, and often miss out on experiences at boutique wineries that are trying new things, or simply have a limited marketing budget.
- They often choose wineries they are familiar with, whether through previous visits or seeing them in bottle shops. Typically wineries with larger production and marketing capabilities.
- Or, they get suggestions from friends and family— who might have visited the region but probably haven't experienced all the Cellar Doors available.
- Or, they read the ubiquitous "Top 10 Wineries in ..." blog posts that all recommend the same (well marketed) venues.
These methods fall short in surfacing wineries that meet a group's specific needs:
- Couples on a weekend away, may want Premium Wineries with a Cheese Tasting to pair with their wines.
- Groups of friends, need Cellar Doors that have Space for Groups, Outdoor Tasting Areas, or maybe a Restaurant they can book for lunch.
- People visiting with kids, pets, or grandma need Family Friendly, Pet Friendly or Accessible venues.
In practice, each group want a variety of features while planning their trips. Without Door Explorer, research is challenging, likely missing out on many options and finding the best match becomes difficult.
The Solution
Door Explorer surfaces every Cellar Door in each wine region, from well-known brands to boutique producers, offering filters to match your preferences and Cellar Door features:
- Wineries in Mudgee with Restaurants
- Wineries in the Hunter that offer Cheese Tastings
- Wineries in Orange that are good for Large Groups
- Wineries in Canberra that are Family Friendly
Image: Preview of Features being used to search for Wineries with Restaurants in Mudgee
Door Explorer is built on the the founders' extensive experience visiting Wine Regions, combined with detailed winery listings. This unique blend of proprietary data, plus thousands of user reviews and user engagement metrics, allows Door Explorer to recommend Cellar Doors based on the quality of the tasting experience— not their marketing spend.
Door Explorer is just beginning its journey to revolutionise the wine touring experience and is poised for growth. With ambitions to expand our reach to more of Australia's wine regions, and offer more advanced tools for Wineries and their Guests.
This is just the first sip of what Door Explorer has planned, to deliver on our mission of ensuring everyone can explore Australia's beautiful wine country.
About the Founders
Behind Door Explorer is George Campbell and James Cooper-Stanbury, two mates who love going wine tasting, and exploring the amazing wine regions Australia has to offer.
What began as a personal project to share winery recommendations with friends has now been published online as Door Explorer.
"We kept hearing from friends planning trips to the Hunter Valley that they couldn't decide where to go.
There are 130+ Cellar Doors in the Hunter, and there wasn't an easy way to compare them, so we decided to publish our list and build Door Explorer."
James Cooper-Stanbury, Co-founder
They each bring a decade of experience from Sydney's startup scene, with roles in Growth and Product Management at companies like Freelancer.com, Zip Co, SiteMinder, and Monzo Bank in London. Using their experience, George and James are building Door Explorer themselves, without an engineering team or venture capital, true to the bootstrap ethos. Their combined passion for wine and expertise in crafting user-centric products make them uniquely suited to build Door Explorer.
They both believe that Australia crafts some of the world's best wines. And Australian Wineries welcome visitors to their Cellar Doors with hospitality experiences unmatched by those in Europe or America. Door Explorer was founded to hero these hospitality experiences, and help people discover and explore Australia's Wine Regions.
"Wine tasting at the Cellar Door not only provides access to wines that aren't available in bottle shops, but it also directly supports local winemakers, grape growers, restaurants, and accommodation providers.
We should all make a greater effort to support small & regional businesses, and visiting Wine Country offers a perfect opportunity to do just that."
George Campbell, Co-founder
Door Explorer is committed to supporting the discovery and enjoyment of Australia's wine regions. We welcome enquiries from media, wine enthusiasts, and winery partners alike.
For further information about Door Explorer, additional quotes, or to arrange an interview, please contact: George Campbell, Co-founder