We hope that you are all well. We think of you daily, and miss our conversations with you. Over the past two and a half weeks that we have been closed, we have done lots of reading (I can strongly recommend Frederic Van de Water’s Reluctant Republic: Vermont, 1724-1791, an entertaining account of Vermont’s struggle to unify and be admitted to the union and the wonderful mystery series by Tarquin Hall set in Delhi featuring the Most Private Investigator, Vish Puri), exercising– which is good because we are also cooking more and eating lots, cleaning up the yard and thinking about organizing the basement. I imagine that you all are reading, cooking, tackling projects that have been on your “to-do” lists for months/years and, aren’t we all spending time socializing via Zoom?
Speaking of which, we have organized some virtual tastings. You can get a bottle to open, join the meeting and participate with our presenter and each other. We have lined up winemakers and importers to be with us on Saturdays at 4:00. Our early start is a function of time zone differences; it will be 10:00 p.m. in Italy, Austria and France. Details about how to participate are below. We expect to continue with these through early June, finishing with some rosé tastings. Here is the first part of our schedule, along with the wine we’ll taste together. As we fill out the calendar, updates can be found on our website and on our Facebook page.
- Saturday, April 11th: Matteo Cantoni, Fattoria Fibbiano— tasting together the Pianette
- Saturday, April 18th: Camilla Rossi Chauvenet, Massimago— Valpolicella & Garganega
- Saturday, April 25th: James Hull, SelectioNaturel— Furlani, Negrik and Alpino Frizzante
- Saturday, May 2nd: Eva Steininger, Weingut Steininger— Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal
- Saturday, May 9th: Carrie Sumner, Domaine Des Enfants— Le Jouet, rouge and l’enfant perdu
Frank and I have continued to struggle with the issue of whether to stay closed or re-open. We have been following the directive to stay home. But . . . we are in business and know that people have alternative sources for wine, whether joining wine clubs on line or picking up wine at the grocery store or general store they frequent. We worry that if we are closed for 3 months, people will shop elsewhere so that when we re-open, we might have a number of former customers. We so want to maintain our connection to this wonderful community.
After myriad conversations with customer-friends who want us to survive, and in the context of developing these virtual tastings, we are putting one toe tentatively back into the water with a limited window of being open, curbside pick-up only. Curbside pick-up will be available on Fridays, from 11:00-3:00– for now. Send orders to me by Thursday, 12:00 p.m. at info@windhamwines.com.
We wish each of you health in the weeks and months ahead. We want to see you when we might again share the same space while we hear how you spent your time during this strange era. Be well, friends.