Golden State Today

A Sonoma Valley winery marketing director said the industry has gotten "creative" to cope with shutdowns and other social distancing restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Joy Finn, the director of marketing for Meadowcroft Wines, said they've had to adapt with reservation-only tastings and small group visits held exclusively outdoors. Finn said they've been innovative when it comes to the Meadowcroft experience by launching virtual tastings.

Meadowcroft now offers a "blind virtual tasting" where customers go online to buy a kit and schedule a video call. That allows the consumer to have a private tasting from the comfort of their home. Finn said it has been successful for the winery. 

"We've also been doing live virtual events on our social pages where our customers are able to listen to virtual tasting notes from our proprietor Tom Meadowcroft," Finn told Golden State Today. "We even did a candy and wine pairing on Halloween virtually and it's been a great way for us to connect with our customers."

Finn said Sonoma County wineries have been impacted by the wildfires in some way. Meadowcroft's property wasn't damaged by the fires but some of its vineyards were affected.

"Luckily, we're so used to it that we're very adaptable," Finn said. "Our winemakers not only are extremely creative with their wine-making abilities, they're able to make sure that the wines are top-notch quality even though they may or may not have been exposed to smoke."

She's noticed that the tasting rooms that don't have the resources to engage their customers online are the ones shutting down. She said the "biggest hindrance to the industry" is the lack of e-commerce.

"Wine is a very, very old-school business and, you know, we have a rich heritage and a lot of times that means that the people are not as innovative," she said. "But this is creating a whole new world of innovation across the industry."

She believes the challenges presented by both the pandemic and wildfires has provided a catalyst for creativity and innovation, a silver lining to challenging times.