TastePost: The Washington Post Wine Community

Washington Post audience research identified an overlap between vulnerable readers—those likely to lapse in engagement—and readers with an interest in wine. In response, they created TastePost, a loyalty program built around wine appreciation. The goal was to deepen relationships with at-risk readers by offering exclusive content, social connection, and a personalized experience centered on wine.

The Challenge

We needed to create a digital platform that would:

• Allow members to interact with Post wine and food experts
• Capture and organize members’ personal wine experiences
• Encourage engagement and sharing among the community
• Reinforce brand affinity with The Washington Post

My Role

As Project Lead for the digital component, I oversaw the end-to-end strategy, design, and execution of the website. This included:

• Discovery & Requirements Gathering: Facilitated stakeholder sessions to define user goals, editorial needs, and technical constraints.
• User Experience Strategy: Mapped out user flows for wine discovery, logging, and sharing—ensuring the site was both engaging and easy to use.
• Interface Design: Guided the creation of an interface where users could record wines they’d tried, rate them, and add detailed metadata such as flavor profiles, vintages, and regions.
• Platform Build & Launch: Oversaw development and QA to ensure a stable, responsive, and brand-aligned experience.

Outcomes

• A rich, interactive wine journal platform that users could personalize and share
• Increased loyalty and retention among participating readers compared to non-participants