Raising a glass
LAST WINTER, right before the pandemic sent the world into lockdown, visitors and locals alike gathered at Taos Ski Valley for the annual Winter Wine Festival. Soon thereafter, several people complained of the awful flu going around, and one local who wishes to remain anonymous was given steroids to combat a terrible lung condition that developed with the aforementioned “flu.” She had sat next to a vintner from Milan.
In fact, one of the Winter Wine Festival’s main players, Roger Mariani (of Inn At The Snakedance) was one of the first COVID cases registered in Taos. Mariani said “it felt like a bad flu,” when asked about his experience. “I was down for a week.” His wife, Diane, did not catch it.
This year, the wine festival was postponed for obvious reasons, but we reached out to Greg Byrne to see if they had anything planned virtually. And sure enough, they do! So grab a glass, log on and join the party.
Winter Wine Fest 2020 made it just before COVID hit – can you tell us a bit about how the pandemic has affected your trajectory? TWWF 2020 was the first weekend of February and it was among the last of the national food and wine events to happen before COVID hit. We had our usual great time with 24 winemakers and winery owners attending and pouring their wines at the Taos Ski Valley. So many of the wineries have reached out this winter and reported they cannot wait to gather again in Taos in JanuaryFebruary 2022.
Wine sales are up, a little bird tells me, please talk about that?
With most restaurants closed for nearly a year since COVID hit, most of those restaurant wine sales have shifted to retail sales where yes, wine sales are up. Many of our TWWF winery supporters are wineries that mostly feature their unique wines in restaurants. They have kept engaged with their consumers by hosting Zoom webinars and Instagram interviews the past year, sharing their wines and stories on virtual platforms and either shipping wine direct to consumers, or making it available at local retail wine shops.
You have something planned for local wine connoisseurs, can you tell us a little about it please?
To keep the TWWF in front of our guests, we are hosting four virtual wine tastings over the next four Fridays. Using our TWWF winery supporters and the Zoom Webinar feature, we will have a combination of in-person tastings at Bottega Del Vino (a wine bar at the new Food Hall in Santa Fe) bringing the winery host in on the big screen tasting the wines along with the guests, and also having the option of picking up a wine tasting kit of the wines at local retailers (like the Cellar in Taos) featured for guests to host their own watch party at home. We encourage guests in Taos to get some food to-go at their favorite local restaurant if they are tasting at home.