In most places, it’s no longer as simple as popping over to the wine shop for a bottle. Here, some alternate options for stocking your cellar.
Photo: Cristina Spanò
SO MANY THINGS I’ve long taken for granted—ordering a glass of Chablis in a restaurant, visiting a winery’s tasting room or just standing in line in a liquor store—seem like distant memories. Now, restaurants all over the country are selling wines to pick up curbside. Wineries are holding tastings via Facebook or Zoom. And wine retailers are donating profits to support unemployed restaurant staff.
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Oregon winemaker David Patte had the bad luck to launch his brand-new label, Sun Break Wines, in early March. “When you think of all the risks—I didn’t think of this,” said Mr. Patte, who was at a UPS Store in Corvallis, Ore., mailing bottles of wine when we talked. Most of his sales have been to family and friends; hopes of finding distribution have been dashed as distributors around the country have laid off sales staff.
I found Mr. Patte’s winery through the Berserker Quarantine Relief forum on Wine Berserkers (wineberserkers.com), the online wine community launched in 2009. The forum, created in mid-March, lets small producers post offerings of their wines, often with deep discounts and/or free shipping.
“ Now you can chat and taste with winemakers via Facebook. ”
Berserker Quarantine Relief has been a vital means of support for small wineries. Erin Di Costanzo, who produces small amounts of single-vineyard Cabernet in Napa and Sonoma with her husband, Massimo, under the Di Costanzo label, said in an email that sales generated by the forum have given her winery a much needed “jolt.” Di Costanzo’s offering on Berserker Quarantine Relief sold out in three weeks.
Another winemaker who has benefited from selling via that online forum, Jeff Nelson of Liquid Farm winery in Santa Barbara, estimated revenue lost from tasting-room and wholesale sales at around $150,000 each month. Like so many others, he had to lay off his entire tasting-room staff.
Quite a few wineries hope to increase sales by offering oenophiles the chance to chat and taste with winemakers via Facebook or Zoom. Some tastings are free and some are tied to a purchase. I tried both kinds, with mixed success. The Zoom format was less satisfying, especially when the audio or video failed or the session seemed poorly thought out, and looking at multiple strangers in their bedrooms or kitchens was, frankly, weird. I did get to witness some inadvertently comedic moments from non-video-savvy winemakers—particularly those filming outdoors. My favorite winery-produced video didn’t feature wine at all but a flock of sheep grazing in Napa vineyards. If you’re having trouble falling asleep, you can literally count the Shafer Vineyards sheep: Simply click the image of woolly creatures on the homepage (shafervineyards.com) to link to 6 hours of pastoral footage.
As restaurants around the country pivot to takeout only, sommeliers are posting videos of their own—many of which seem to be more about cheering one another up than selling wine. But they’re doing the latter too. At Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, the entire cellar of Italian wines went up for sale to an “overwhelming” response, according to wine director Bobby Domenick, after he put the word out via social media. The fact that Pennsylvania’s state-controlled wine and liquor stores were all closed probably helped fuel the frenzy, as did the high quality of the Vetri collection itself.
In Portland, Ore., wine director and restaurateur Andy Fortgang received a similarly enthusiastic response when he emailed and posted news that he was selling wines off the lists of his restaurants Le Pigeon and Canard (lepigeon.com, canardpdx.com) at prices close to retail (40-50% off list price). Such was the demand for the restaurants’ deep cellar of great Burgundies and other collectibles, he decided to scale back to weekly “curated” wine packages that customers can pick up curbside.
In hard-hit New York City, after the state liquor authority allowed restaurants to sell wine directly to customers under a special proviso, Caleb Ganzer, managing partner of the wine bar Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, turned wine delivery man. He’s been taking orders via the bar’s website (compagnienyc.com), packing up bottles and delivering them via Zipcar. Although he’s been quite busy, the bustle hasn’t necessarily translated into big bucks. Mr. Ganzer estimated his wines sales are down 80% from what they were when the restaurant was open. He has been changing up featured wines often, with creative offerings like a selection of two “farmer” (small-producer) wines coupled with produce from the Union Square Greenmarket—“the ultimate CSA box,” as he describes it.
Mr. Ganzer offered to drive bottles to my house if I wanted to buy a few, but his delivery capacity is limited. I did buy a couple bottles of an attractively mineral 2018 Etienne Boileau Petit Chablis ($26) with my takeout dinner from Faubourg Montclair, in Montclair, N.J. (faubourgmontclair.com). The restaurant’s beverage director, Philippe Marchal, said he’s pricing wines just $1 above retail. And while sales were initially slow, people are now frequently adding wine—sometimes entire cases—to dinner orders. Mr. Marchal speculated that his customers don’t want to visit wine stores.
Still, retail wine sales are up, according to Nielsen, by 32% the week ending April 4 over the same week the year before. Recognizing that restaurateurs aren’t faring nearly so well, some retailers are offering special packages whose profits go to assisting unemployed restaurant workers. For example, Parcelle wine shop in Manhattan is selling a six-pack titled Shameless Plug ($150 at parcellewine.com), with wines made by prominent sommeliers such as Le Bernardin’sAldo Sohm. One hundred percent of the profits from sales of this six-pack will directly benefit restaurant workers in New York by way of a partnership between Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants (ROAR), the Robin Hood Foundation and the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. In just the first few weeks, Parcelle owner Grant Reynolds reported, he has sold more than 160 Shameless Plug charity packs.
On a much larger scale, New York-based wine importer Patrick Mata of Olé & Obrigado chose 19 Spanish and Portuguese wines from his portfolio, earmarking 50% of the profits from this “Restaurant Relief” selection for the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, which directly assists unemployed restaurant workers around the country; in certain states profits will aid local relief initiatives too. A month after Mr. Mata began his campaign, 83 retailers in 15 states are offering these wines.
I bought a case of Restaurant Relief wines ($120) online from Grapes The Wine Company in White Plains, N.Y. (grapesthewineco.com), and was pleasantly surprised by the caliber of the $10 bottles. My case included four bottles each of three wines, two Spanish and one Portuguese. The red was the soft, easy drinking 2017 Flaco Tempranillo from Spain; the white, the lively and bright 2018 Nortico Alvarinho from Portugal; and the rosé, the juicy, zesty 2018 Zestos Rosado Madrid.
I biked some bottles to the houses of nearby friends, including a few I knew needed a good glass (or two): a newly unemployed husband and wife, a journalist covering healthcare workers on the front lines, and a chef who had to close his restaurant. Everyone reported loving the wines, but we agreed that what we really want is to share a bottle when we resume normal life.
Write to Lettie Teague at wine@wsj.com
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