How Wine Lovers Adapted to Staying at Home

Jun 12, 2020

According to WineBusiness.com, sales of wine increased 29% while everyone stayed at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to WineBusiness.com, sales of wine increased 29% while everyone stayed at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of the creative ways people have supported small local wineries and remained active in the wine community from the comfort of their homes.

Local Wineries

As wineries could not open their doors for tastings, they shifted to virtual outreach through websites, email, and social media. Customers were able to order wine for delivery or pickup, with no contact needed. Some wineries offered a discount on shipping, making it easy to get a bottle of your favorite wine delivered to your doorstep. A drop-off was also available for customers within a certain radius of the winery. Some wine brands offered wine tasting kits through their websites that included a curated collection paired with a virtual tasting. Another popular way to support local wineries was to purchase a gift certificate for use at a later date.

Virtual Wine Education

With most in-person classes canceled, various wine academies hosted virtual school. Courses offered included foundational classes, wine pairings, sommelier coursework, mentorships, and more. Online classes were not the only way fans of wine received a wine education; many libraries offered free access to thousands of books on wine, and with everyone staying at home, it became the perfect time to increase one’s wine knowledge.

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Online Wine Tastings

Wine lovers gathered on social platforms to video chat and drink wine together. Some even found it fun to organize wine tastings and pairings amongst friends and family. These virtual happy hours became a staple of staying sane and creating a sense of togetherness during such a difficult period.

Organizing Your Wine Collection

While staying at home, many of us found comfort in cleaning and organization. We filled our free hours going through drawers, pantries, and closets, making our lives feel less chaotic at home. This was also the perfect time for wine lovers to invest time in their wine collection. Some expanded their wine storage options with wine racks, wine refrigerators, and wine cabinets. There was no better time to experiment with storing wine long term than a period when we too were stuck at home.

Pickup or Delivery

Some of us found ourselves cooking three meals a day every day, but on days when we were too tired to cook, we ordered pickup or delivery. In addition to food, many restaurants also offered their cocktails, wine, and beer for takeout. This was another great way to support a local business while social distancing.

Did you do anything special while staying at home? Did you organize your wine collection or attend a virtual wine tasting? Let us know in the comments below.

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