Go. Discover. Taste.
Gourmet Destinations is a culinary-themed travel guide offering its first trips in 2012 to Tuscany, Italy. If you love food, wine and travel, this experience is one you’ll want to add to your travel itinerary. Guiding small groups of six to ten, Gourmet Destinations will introduce you to local farmers, chefs and other artisans who will inspire with their passion and expertise in only the way Tuscans can!
Gourmet Destinations will offer five trips to Tuscany starting May 27-June 2, 2012. Arriving in Florence, the trip includes visits to the countryside in and around Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pienza, the Chianti territory and Greve with accommodations in splendid villas and boutique hotels. Opportunities to extend your stay in Sienna and Florence are at your fingertips.
We created the original website for Gourmet Destinations in 2006, a static html/css solution that has garnered much needed brand attention. Since the launch of that site, the domain name has risen in the ranks to find a number one spot on Google, a plum position out of over 17,000,000 search results for “gourmet destinations.” When the founder decided to re-invigorate the business, he wanted a new website with dynamic features and a content management system he could edit himself. We chose Drupal 7 and put as much content in editable modules as possible with a generous presentation of luscious photos from trips to Tuscany.
The website design/branding went through numerous iterations to get at the sensibilities of the modern savvy traveler with an emphasis on contemporary, clean and simple design. The content reflects the values of the touring company with a strong commitment to responsible travel that includes visits to sustainable farms, wineries and cheese makers.
Drupal modules include a jQuery rotating slide to show off the beauty of the Italian landscape on the homepage. The Superfish jQuery navigation plugin was adapted to a horizontal presentation that stays compact and does not overwhelm the user with heavy drop downs that obscure the rotator. Forms allow for collection of email addresses for follow up newsletters and a request for a brochure. The site is hosted on Dreamhost with shared hosting and load times appear remarkably speedy so far. Kudos to Rob Malon for his stellar development skills and team player approach!
