As 2020 comes to a close I am chagrined to see how much time has passed since my last posting.  The horror of having lost hundreds of thousands of souls to COVID-19, and the economic fallout of the pandemic have made “deep dives” about wine seem less important.  It is fast becoming a cliché to call this past year one “like no other.”  Wine is supposed to bring people together, but that is not really possible during a time of quarantine and stay-at-home orders.  Restaurants, bars and wineries are taking a beating as businesses and many will probably just not survive.  Many of the experiences that have prompted my writing in this space in the past have just not been happening since March.

What to write in this wine journal as 2020 finally ends?  Some hope can be seen in observing how the wine world has adapted to the COVID world.  Wineries that used to rely on restaurant and “on premise” sales have made moves to deepen their relationships with direct-to-consumer customers.  Greater use of online tastings, video content and podcasts during this pandemic may pay dividends in the years to come.  Even those of us fortunate enough to live near great wine shops have had to give up browsing the aisles and attending tastings in favor of online shopping and having wine shipped.  When wineries ship directly, they sidestep wholesalers – and their cut of profits.  Hopefully that added revenue will help as they await the return of restaurant sales.  In a world that has changed and that requires us all to adapt, creative problem solving is encouraging.

Cooking every meal at home has made me appreciate the blessing of having a wine collection.  Many wine writers have encouraged us to “drink the good stuff” this year.  Our having come face to face with life’s fragility underscores the point.  During the lockdowns, a varied collection of wine has allowed us to experiment with food/wine pairings in a more intentional way.  It has led us to be more conscious of what kinds of wine we enjoy with the foods we most often prepare.  We have tried to add new recipes to our repertoire and new wines as well.  Even though we cannot invite others to enjoy meals with us, wine still offers distraction and even solace from the concerns of the day.  Eric Asimov recently wrote in the New York Times, “As with people, the myriad differences among wines, sometimes subtle and microscopic, and sometimes profound and obvious, are what make the subject so fascinating.”  Wine’s many stories and sensations will have to suffice until we can host dinner parties again.

 These are hard days.  But wine has helped make them more bearable on several levels.  My hope for the new year is not only that things will improve, but that we will decide to keep some of the new ways we have developed during the trials of 2020.