Wine and Community Time at The Wine Reserve at Waterford

Imagine a tent with a mountain view equipped with soft lighting, comfortable places to sit, and all the wine you could want and at the end you have a custom t-shirt to take home with you to remind you of your evening.

Sunset at The Wine Reserve at Waterford.

Founded by husband and wife team Jonathan and Cori Phillips, The Wine Reserve at Waterford uses local produce and provides activities like outdoor wine-and-watch movie nights, outdoor yoga, and a self-guided tasting program and to local residents in Loudoun County, Virginia and the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Six years ago, the two decided that they wanted to find a way to put down literal roots in their community, so they bought a plot of land in Virginia and started planting. “We traveled all our free time and loved experiencing the connection with local wine and decided to get in to the industry ourselves once we started a family and impromptu travel became more difficult. We bought our property in 2015 and opened doors in 2017 and never looked back. We grow and cultivate local fruit for our Loudoun County wine and love hosting fun events for our patrons and staff.”

Alongside growing a lot of grapes, they’ve also grown a community. This year, in an effort to bring their people back together, they took advantage of their ample outdoor space and hosted a wine summer camp for local adults.

The Wine Reserve’s custom shirt kit.

To take their program to the next level, they turned to Custom Ink for custom t-shirts with their summer camp logo. “We ordered ‘Camp Counselor’ shirts for our staff and super supportive patrons, and also tank tops for a do-it-yourself wine tie-dye activity ALL part of our inaugural SUMMER CAMP at WINE RESERVE event that kicked off summer. We had late hours, live music, camp themed events and activities, and featured a glamping tent to party into the night with bonfires, smores, and more!” They even offered customers the option to buy kits including a logo tank top, wine dye, rubber bands, a travel container, and instructions to make it super simple to participate.

Connecting activities directly to your custom branded products like the Wine Reserve team did with their tie-dye can be a great way to bring your customers together and make them feel like they’re part of a community. And building the community around something like custom shirts that they can keep and wear again and again and helps them feel connected even when they aren’t there.

They told us that custom shirts also really help them boost their business. “It allows our fans to support us and spread our branding.”

 

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They had an in-house designer create their logo, and then turned to Custom Ink to make sure that their custom t-shirts were everything they imagined. “Working with a local staff member Kendall L. from Custom Ink was great—she helped walk us through options, recommended best color combos, and was there for our last second size changes.”

If you don’t have an in-house designer, Custom Ink offers an easy-to-use tool called the Design Lab that makes it simple to create something great on your own. New custom shirts help your people feel connected whether you’re able to hang out in a field drinking wine and tie-dyeing shirts or you’re shipping gear across the country for a virtual meet up, and it’s never been easier with Custom Ink.