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As a sixth-generation winemaker, Livermore’s Steven Mirassou has had to wear many hats in his small business. Delivery man hasn’t been one of them. But in the coming days, you might spot Mirassou loading up his Toyota truck and delivering bottles of Steven Kent cabernet sauvignon to doorsteps around the Tri-Valley.
“My main goal as a person is to take care of others,” Mirassou says. “We are fundamentally a hospitality business and we want to do that in a safe and responsible way and hopefully add a little bit of joy to people’s lives through wine.”
It is just one of the dramatic pivots the California wine industry has taken to stay afloat following Governor Gavin Newsom’s order to close all tasting rooms in light of COVID-19’s spread. While the purchase and pick-up of wine at wineries is still allowed, business has slowed to a halt: Restaurant dining rooms are closed, events and sales trips have been canceled, and supplies may not arrive in time for spring bottling.
The silver lining? There is plenty of wine for sale and ways to connect with your favorite producers. Online ordering is your safest bet, but if you want to swing by a winery, just call or check their website to make sure they’re open.
Rhone producer Big Basin Vineyards, which has tasting rooms in Saratoga and Boulder Creek, is offering free shipping for six or more bottles and free delivery within 30 miles of either location when you buy at least three bottles. As of Monday, plans were still in place for the winery’s big Spring Celebration event, scheduled for April 18.
“Remember, we’re all in this together,” they said in an email statement. “Be safe, be kind to one another and drink good wine! We’ll get through this.”
Up in Napa, Judd Finkelstein of Judd’s Hill winery is also offering doorstep service. As a family business that does not distribute wine, Judd’s Hill relies on tasting room traffic to drive business. Closing the tasting room, even temporarily, creates a monumental challenge.
“This hiatus does not mean that the wine has stopped flowing, in fact, quite the contrary,” Judd and his mom and co-owner, Bunny, wrote on Facebook. “We can come right to you in many ways…You can elect to have your wine shipped, you can drive-through pick up at the winery, or if you are local, we are happy to make house calls and drop off on your doorstep.”
In addition to no-contact delivery, many wineries, including St. Helena’s Charles Krug Winery and Livermore’s Wente Vineyards, are waiving shipping fees or offering deep discounts on bulk purchases.
Atlas Peak’s Philippe Langner, owner and winemaker of acclaimed Hesperian Wines, is offering up to 68 percent off his coveted cabernet-only production. This week, the master viticulturist is releasing a 3-pack of 2004, 2007 and 2010 library bottles for $300 (bottles are regularly $250 each). A 12-pack of his second-label cab, Anatomy, will sell for $300, or $25 a bottle. They regularly fetch $45.
“I’m placing my hope on internet sales to stay afloat,” he said via email. “I will do these deep discounts to help everybody. I know that I drank a lot of wine during and after the 2017 fires in Napa, and it helped.”
Langner lost his home and some 300 vines in the 2017 fire. The wine industry facing this challenge, he says, was already in a tough spot. Wine consumption, which had grown for so many years, began flattening in 2019. And a big harvest in 2018, due to be bottled in mere months, was already putting downward pressure on prices.
“The uncertainty about the length of this shutdown is making planning for bottling in a few months very difficult,” he says. “I’m not even sure that I’ll have all the supplies needed for bottling.”
In lieu of events, some wineries are even turning to virtual tastings as a way to stay connected with customers. St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery in Rutherford is holding six weeks of virtual wine tastings every Thursday afternoon starting March 19, with the 2018 Dollarhide Estate Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, a 92 pointer.
The tastings, hosted by St. Supery winemakers on Zoom and Facebook Live, will be interactive. You go online and buy the 6-pack home tasting kit that contains the wines to be discussed — promotional pricing and shipping included — along with suggested recipes to pair with each wine, then tune in.
“Although a virtual wine tasting isn’t the same as enjoying a glass of wine together at the winery, it is the socially responsible alternative until we can do so in person,” the winemakers said in a press release.
And if you already have a bottle of St. Helena’s highly-allocated Dark Matter wines in your cellar, you can open it up and schedule a one-on-one virtual tasting guided by Angelina Mondavi, fourth-generation winemaker and great-granddaughter of Peter Mondavi Jr.
She’ll talk vintage with you and explain the philosophy behind the unusual long-aged bottlings made from their family’s vineyards. Virtual tastings are being offered via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp and FaceTime.
“In the last decade we have navigated fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters worldwide,” sisters and co-owners Angelina, Alycia, Riana, and Gigi said via email. “We are confident we will overcome COVID-19 and will come out stronger as a community.”
In addition to curbside and walk-up sales, the virtual tasting is something Livermore’s Mirassou is also hoping to offer via Facebook Live by the weekend.
“We’ve never been through anything like this before,” Mirassou said by phone. “But we’re going to figure it out and continue to engage with our wine club members.”
