Electra Moscato is bottled on the line of Quady Winery in Madera. Photo contributed

The fruits of wine-grape growers’ labor are coming to bear at a time coronavirus has disrupted the bottling process and market access.

Shelter-in-place orders from state and local governments recognize wineries as essential businesses, but closed tasting rooms have blocked a reliable funnel for customers. Vintners are increasingly turning online to sell product.

For wines not already on store shelves, the significant increase in retail sales at grocery stores may not bring any relief if wholesalers don’t pick up new contracts.

February, March and April are typically the months wineries bottle their wines made from the previous fall’s harvest.

“With our product in particular, we can’t just let it sit,” said Colin Hough, marketing manager for Quady Winery in Madera. “It either gets bottled when it’s ready or it gets ruined.”

Securing raw materials has also been a worry for vintners. A lot of small parts go into the process, such as corks, labels and glass.

In October 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission launched an investigation into complaints from the American Glass Packaging Coalition claiming China had been dumping manufactured glass onto the market and subsidizing losses to gain an edge against foreign competitors. What that meant for Quady Winery was having to order 140,000-plus cases worth of wine bottles before retaliatory penalties hit on glass imports, according to Hough.

Toca Madera Winery has had to put its bottling process on hold. Luckily, they had already bottled their moscato variety, which wouldn’t have held up against delays, said winemaker Shayne Vetter. But for their red and other white wines, they’re having to wait until June, hopefully, Vetter said.

“There’s been times in the past when we’ve bottled right before harvest — sometimes even during harvest, which has not been fun,” Vetter said.

Wineries have also had to adapt to social distancing guidelines.

Bottling isn’t a labor-intensive process, but “things can get tough when bottles need to be handed off to one another,” said Hough. At Quady Winery, the fortified wine they produce provides access to high-proof alcohol. In previous years, it’s been used to sanitize equipment, but now has also been repurposed for hand sanitizing.

CRU Winery in Madera was able to keep everyone employed by putting some of its tasting room staff to work in the bottling process.

Some wineries are turning to virtual tastings to keep revenue streams alive.

Wine tastings — which then translate to consumer sales — are a majority of Toca’s income. Vetter turned to Instagram and Facebook for live tastings every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

They will reach between 75-100 people online a day, nearly what they might reach if their tasting room were open. Via Instagram, viewers will ask questions about the wines. Some will even have a bottle to taste as Vetter describes winemaking processes and what flavors they should be noticing.

 

The interaction between Vetter and the virtual community has different nuances. Picking up on nonverbal cues can be hard when steering conversations. Also making jokes to an empty room can sometimes leave Vetter wondering if the humor lands or not. Sales are “just as good as at the tasting room and sometimes better on certain weekends,” said Vetter.

Where they have been hurt are weddings and events.

CRU Winery also does virtual tastings on its website. They’ll release what wines will be featured and who will be talking about them.

They’ve also used the internet to reach out to members offering special deals.

“Club members have been a great support to us, which we appreciate,” said CEO Nathan Stern.

Quady Winery also releases a virtual tasting.

Wineries have been working hard to reach customers through e-commerce. CRU, Toca, Quady and Ramos-Torres Winery in Kingsburg, among others, all offer severely discounted shipping costs. While wineries are unable to offer free shipping because of federal laws, deliveries fees are as low as $1 or even a penny throughout California and into states that allow for direct-to-consumer liquor sales.

Wine is a heavy and bulky product to ship, so wineries are taking on a lot of cost to reach customers.

“We were witnessing a natural shift to this over the past few years and this lockdown and COVID-19 basically expedited the whole evolution of that probably by years,” said Hough.

Across the beverage industry, sales are averaging 30% increases, with spirits experiencing the most. Some wineries, however, are seeing triple-digit increases in sales while people are stuck at home.

Large retailers, as well as grocery and liquor stores, are major components. But many of those stores aren’t looking for new vendors.

“What they were selling at the start of this is pretty much what they’re selling now,” said Stern. “If you’re already in an account, they’ll keep selling it, but they’re not really looking at new wines.”

And as restaurants face their own problems, wineries have come to rely on consumer sales even more.

Some grape growers are worried about wineries pulling back on orders, Stern said. Growers might also be hesitant to sell product to wineries because they might not be around to pay their bills.

Stern says he can rely on people wanting wine well into the future, but it takes priming oneself for the future.

“Whilst COVID requires everyone to be flexible and adapt during this time, it’s important to have a sound long-term strategy, and stick to it,” he said.