Spring is here with its usual energy, but this year is different: we all feel the excitement that the COVID Pandemic is abating in the US with the mass distribution of vaccines. Many have already been vaccinated and it looks like vaccines will be available to all by summer. Last year at this time we were all shocked as schools closed followed by our businesses as COVID spread. Fear of the unknown was great as store shelves were depleted and we wondered just how bad things would get. At the same time, we had to do something so everyone got creative in finding ways to be safe and at the same time keep operating our businesses at some level.

I admire the team spirit in the wine industry. All of us worked together to share ideas and experiences of what worked and what didn’t. We had a decent summer even with capacity restrictions in our tasting rooms, and a good fall.  Winter was challenging with new restrictions on tastings and wine by the glass sales but we worked through it.  Quietly in the background, a great vintage was developing in the vineyards during a warm, dry summer and fall.

Now we are bottling many of those wines and preparing to share them with our guests who are ready to get back to more “normal” conditions.  We are almost at the finish line and need to keep using COVID precautions during the vaccine rollout. Paraphrasing a friend –

“We are out of jail but still on parole”. As we look forward to better times ahead, I want to thank all of you who worked together to get through a year like no other.”