How Uncorked Wine Festivals Went From Passion Project to 200,000 Tickets Sold With Eventbrite

In 2015, Michelle Harris had an idea.

Her husband was producing successful beer festivals across the U.S., and she saw an opportunity hiding in plain sight. 

“I’m an avid wine lover,” Michelle says. “I grew up in a family that loves and appreciates wine.” But unlike the booming beer festival scene, there wasn’t a large-scale, non-intimidating wine event that invited everyone in.

That idea became Uncorked Wine Festivals — immersive tasting experiences hosted in beautiful spaces, including museums, botanical gardens, and parks across the U.S. Guests sample wines from around the world, dance to DJs, grab a bite from local food trucks, and discover new favorites without committing to a full bottle.

Today, Uncorked is a nationwide brand. And since 2016, Eventbrite has been the engine powering its growth.

Building a one-woman business without a team

From day one, Michelle made a deliberate choice: keep it lean.

That meant she needed a ticketing platform that was intuitive and didn’t slow her down. Eventbrite’s unparalleled reach, combined with the widest suite of built-in self-serve tools to deliver a seamless attendee experience, empowered her to do just that.

“I’m the kind of person who doesn’t want a team. It’s just me. I want to handle it myself,” Michelle explains.

“If I need to make an instant change, like alter a date or add a promo code, I don’t want to have to reach out to a ticketing platform and wait for someone to handle it for me. I want to be able to do it myself.”

“[Eventbrite’s] really easy to use,” Michelle adds. “It’s very user-friendly.”

Marketplace reach that drives ticket sales

Since launching on Eventbrite, Uncorked has produced 143 events and sold just under 200,000 paid tickets. Nearly 22,000 people now follow the brand on Eventbrite, which Michelle says fuels long-term loyalty.

“I love that people can follow me, and then anytime I release anything, boom, they get an email, and they can stay on top of all the new events that I’m releasing.”

Eventbrite’s unrivaled reach of 90 million users is more than a shop window. It’s a growth channel: 15% of Uncorked’s ticket sales are driven by Eventbrite’s marketplace.

“I like that it suggests events in your area. My event might get put in front of eyes just because people are local and it’s coming up,” she says.

And for a business that must constantly attract new attendees, especially in cities where events happen twice a year, that marketplace visibility matters.

“It’s always casting that wider net,” she adds.

Integrated marketing that saves time and boosts ROI

Eventbrite doesn’t just power ticketing for Uncorked. It anchors Michelle’s entire marketing stack.

An unlock is Eventbrite’s integrated paid social ads. “I don’t get Facebook. Facebook ads are Greek to me,” she laughs. “So to have the ability to set up and launch Meta ad campaigns without leaving Eventbrite makes it simple for me, and I feel like I have control over who’s seeing the ads.”

Eventbrite’s TikTok integration streamlines things further. “Being able to release an event and then send it to my TikTok … it just pulls everything straight out of Eventbrite and puts it right up on TikTok. It’s one less step, or sometimes two or three steps less for me.”

In one recent TikTok campaign, her Charlotte, N.C., event post generated 168 saves, 381 likes, and an 11% click rate — 96% of which came from users who discovered it on their For You Page.

Eventbrite Ads have also played a major role in reviving slower markets. When one previously sold-out Cleveland event was underperforming, Michelle used Eventbrite Ads for a final push, which resulted in a 1,150% increase in ticket sales.

“The year before, I was selling approximately 12–20 tickets per day with a month to go. That year, it was more like 3–4 per day. After I launched the Eventbrite Ad, it bumped up to 50+ per day in the last week of the event. 

“You can see that exponential increase at the end. You’re kind of like, ‘Okay, that would not have happened organically.’”

“I also love using SMS marketing,” she adds. “Text marketing meets people wherever they are on their phone, and I love that integration.”

For Michelle, the ROI equation is simple, and she has a neat analogy for it.

“You can have a budget airline where you have a basic service, but then you have to pay for this and that on top,” she explains. “With Eventbrite, everything is included, so there are no nasty surprises. I’m spending less to begin with on marketing and reach. I’m personally spending less. So that automatically bumps up your ROI.”

Delivering a seamless attendee experience on the day

Eventbrite’s ease of use extends to event day operations. Every Uncorked festival attracts thousands of attendees, and with no permanent staff, check-in teams change from city to city.

“I love the check-in functionality on the Organizer App,” Michelle says. “It’s super easy to scan and look up names.”

When a glitch once affected physical scanners, she troubleshooted instantly. “I can have staff download the Eventbrite Organizer App to their phone … It’s incredibly user-friendly, and it’s really fast to use. When you’re doing several thousand people at an event, you need that.”

Why Uncorked stays with Eventbrite

After a decade with Eventbrite, Michelle is clear on why the partnership has been so successful.

“The built-in marketing tools, the organizer app, the ease of use on site … you’re just not going to find that anywhere else,” she says.

“And people trust that tickets are on Eventbrite. Having that name behind it and having the caché that comes with so many people attending and following is a huge plus as a brand.”

Her advice to other organizers?

“Talk to a couple of ticketing companies, and you’ll see very quickly that you are not going to get the same level of service and the same level of marketing integration … or the same level of like a team without actually needing an additional team.”

From a single idea in 2015 to nearly 200,000 tickets sold, Uncorked Wine Festivals proves what’s possible when a passionate organizer pairs vision with the right platform.

Cheers to that.