The business of wine in 2020 was like no other, and requires no explanation. We lived it in all its boring, isolated glory. As I tap out this column, sheltered at home in much the same way I was for the majority of 2020, I wonder if we are in for another year of same-old-same-old-business-is-anything-but-usual, haze. Zoom, drink, tweet, repeat. Yet for each one of my downtrodden toasts professed from the comforts (or is it confines?) of my home, there are experts who prefer to tell a less tainted tale.
At year’s end, Philana Bouvier, VP of fine wine at National Distributing Company, a large wine and spirits distributor in North America, wrote about how wineries can sustain business in 2021. Her recommendations—reinvention, innovation, critical thinking, and the formation of essential connections with virtual consumers. Those who once turned to restaurants and bars to discover new wines have instead been relegated to dining at the restaurant of choice since the onset of the pandemic—home. Traditional on-premise sales continue to evaporate as we move in and out of shutdown as if on bad tilt-a-whirl trip, leaving consumers to brave big box stores and supermarkets to get their wine goblets filled. Or, for those looking for a safer more varied choice, winery websites, online retailers and snazzy new tech solutions are options.
Pix.wine, which plans to launch its wine discovery platform (site and app) this spring, aims to connect everyone from newbies to oenophiles with the right bottle for their tastes, in the fewest clicks possible—a noble and appealing cause in our housebound, Zoom-frenzied world. Another virtual venture, Vivant, from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Michael Baum, plans to keep the virtual feel-good vibes rolling with curated, live-streamed experiences from wine regions around the world.
Julia Coney, writer, editor and founder of Black Wine Professionals, who hosted wine-related Zoom and Insta live sessions for thirsty folks throughout the pandemic, is one of many who see the value of virtual experiences, “People use to have to go to the winery, now we are all dancing together, in people’s homes. They can find more wine from more producers. You may not be able to go to California or Oregon right now [for wine tasting], but you can continue to make people feel welcome.”
For all of those wannabe robot lovers out there, your time has arrived. Once hotels reopen (again), Healdsburg-based Hotel Trio is ready to serve with Rosé the Robot Butler, who is set to deliver room service wines right to your home-away-from-home door. Keeping with COVID times, she will be sanitized after each “room” call she makes. Earlier this year, two M Group restaurants out of London introduced their takes with Bailey and Sage the wine robots, who in cooperation with Veuve Clicquot and Dom Perignon, deliver the bubbly good stuff to their patrons. But tech (and tech alone) will not save our sheltered souls, according to Bouvier, “People will remember what you did during the pandemic. Make sure your story is genuine, inclusive and honest.”
It is for all these reasons, that when I was approached to attend a virtual whiskey tasting from a new brand to the U.S market called Busker, I said “yes.” All my self-inflicted bias against booze was tempered when our Irish taste meister, Woody, hit the virtual stratosphere and regaled us with pithy factoids about whiskey. That I was drinking at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday, was beside the point. My taste buds were tickled, I was engaged and best of all, entertained.
Woody led with, “The biggest ingredient in whiskey is time.” I certainly have enough of that on my hands, so I swirled and sipped, but instead of looking for legs, I learned, it’s all about teardrops falling (not COVID-related for once!), which allows oils to part on the glass.
We tasted the Busker single malt, which was floral on the nose with smokey, almond, cherry and chocolate flavors with a soft creamy finish. There were lots of “oohs and aahs” when it came time for the single-pot still, which blends malted and unmalted barely in the “mash.” The result—a spicy dance across the tip of my tongue, with caramel, honey and vanilla flavors and a hint of pine. The teardrops came nice and slow, just as I like them—in life and now whiskey. And so too, was an unlikely connection formed, with a brand new drink I never thought I’d like, and to the people who poured it.
In closing, Woody explains what a “busker” is, beyond a brand name on a bottle. “It’s a person who wants to perform and shine. It’s about creating the moment and enjoying that moment. To stop, stand and listen to what is causing the euphoria.”
Couldn’t we all use a little euphoria right now?
