Wineries create a new blend of sales strategies

Ramona wineries are responding to an abrupt halt to tasting room activities by offering sales of bottled wines at curbside, in restaurants and stores, and through wine club sales.

Carolyn Harris of Ramona Valley Winery Association (RVWA) said she was incredulous when she first heard in mid-March about state mandates to discontinue pouring wine and selling open bottles at wineries as a safeguard against spreading COVID-19.

Harris said all the winery operators she knows of in Ramona are respecting coronavirus-related regulations and guidelines issued by the county, state and California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).

“You can go into a tasting room to purchase bottles of wine as long as there’s social distancing,” said Harris, who co-owns Chuparosa Vineyards in Ramona with her husband Andy Harris. “It’s not unlike what you would see at a grocery store or market.”

Restaurants that are licensed for onsite consumption of wine can also sell closed containers of wine with a takeout meal. The containers must be closed and not accessible to anyone while driving.

Harris said the restrictions are hurting boutique wineries in particular because they had been prohibited from hosting events, so their main activity was offering wine tastings.

Chuparosa is holding on by selling wines by the case. Customers have stepped up their online orders, which they pre-pay and pick up at the tasting room.

“All of our established customers now are in the habit of ordering online and picking up the wine,” Carolyn Harris said. “Our customers from all over the county came to pick up wine last week while provisioning for the COVID-19 shutdown. The wine goes in the trunk and they drive off. Being a producer of a product, I can’t imagine the impact on a business that is totally dependent on folks coming in and sitting down.”

Like other wineries, coronavirus restrictions have freed up Chuparosa to do winery and vineyard maintenance.

“The onus is on us to have something to show when we reopen,” Carolyn Harris said. “In the meantime, there’s no prohibition on continued production of wine. There are weeks and months between the time wine is bottled and when it’s put in the hands of consumers. Everyone is going to have a heightened sense of sanitation, but the industry has always practiced high levels of sanitation.”

Susanne Sapier, president of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association (RVVA), said while tasting rooms are closed, off-site sales are picking up at grocery stores and liquor stores but declining at restaurants, where brand development is strong. But distributors can also deliver wines from a warehouse to stores, restaurants and consumers.

Sapier estimates the temporary rules are having an impact valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars just on the roughly 45 wineries in Ramona. The effect is felt by furloughed staff, the local artists, musicians and caterers serving wineries, and the bars and restaurants that can’t serve open containers of wine.

“The wineries are a huge economic driver in Ramona and now that’s at a standstill,” Sapier said. “So many people are affected, just about everybody in the hospitality and service industries. It’s shown the vulnerability of the hospitality and tourism business. You can hold your breath and stay underwater for awhile, but I’m not sure you can do it for a month or eight weeks.”

The RVVA has stepped up its assistance to members in several ways. The organization is distributing “Taste Ramona Wines” bottle hangers to retail outlets that carry local wines to promote Ramona wine sales in stores; it has increased its social media presence to advertise that most Ramona wineries are open and offering pickups by the bottle; and it’s offering virtual happy hours on the RVVA Facebook site where people can log in, socialize and show off the type of wine they’re drinking.

The RVVA also held its first virtual monthly meeting on March 24 for about 50 of its 250 members. On the upside is an innovation that may have lasting effects on providing a virtual option, but on the downside the restaurants that host the meetings are temporarily losing out on business. The annual Lum Eisenman/San Diego County Wine Competition set to be held at The MainCourse Restaurant in Ramona has also been postponed.

“The world’s going to change and we’ll probably be permanently changed in the future,” Sapier said. “The next time there’s a pandemic we’ll be prepared and know what to do.”

Laurie Wagner, co-owner and co-winemaker with partner Ian Vaux at Turtle Rock Ridge Vineyard Winery in Ramona, said current sales are not able to sustain their business. She’s had to lay off a few staff members, including her own son, Christian Wagner, who has been TRR’s tasting room manager for four years.

In ordinary times, she said the business thrives equally on wine tastings, club sales, and wholesale distribution which includes selling bottles of “Hello Gorgeous” wines at Costco on Scripps Poway Parkway. Before coronavirus struck, TRR had planned to add Thursday to its Friday through Sunday schedule and extend its hours past 6 p.m. April to September.

Now in addition to store sales and curbside pickups, the winery is hosting virtual happy hours on Fridays. Participants in the online TR Wine Night are encouraged to buy a bottle of TRR wine, open and pour a glass, take a photo and share it on social media, tagging the winery. If the event goes well, it will continue every other week or once a month.

“People can stay connected, share stories of how they’re getting through this and continue supporting each other,” said Wagner, whose economic pinch prompted her to get creative in promoting their product. “People can still have a sense of community.”

During the lull, Wagner said she continues to work on production by pruning the grapevines while maintaining social distancing between rows, and moving wine from secondary fermentation to barrels. The winery remains open from 4 to 7 p.m. every day and accepts prepaid phone orders for pickup or free local delivery by calling 760-789-5555 or 760-533-4397 to place an order. Wagner said she’s taking precautions to keep things clean, wear gloves while handling the bottles and to place orders in carts to avoid contact with customers.

“At this point everything helps,” she said. “Even if people call and purchase gift certificates, we can put them in the mail or email them.”

Ramona Family Naturals Market is chipping in to help wineries by reducing its retail price on Ramona wines.

Robert Bradley, president and co-founder with his wife Victoria, said discount prices of $22 for a bottle of red wine and $20 per bottle of whites applies to about a half-dozen Ramona wineries that Ramona Family Naturals had an existing wholesale relationship with. Participating wineries include Barrel 1 Winery, Correcaminos Vineyard and Winery, Hatfield Creek Vineyards and Winery, Julian Wine & Chocolate, La Finquita Winery and Vineyard, Milagro Farm Winery, Pamo Valley Winery, Ramona Ranch Vineyard and Winery, and Vineyard Grant James.

“I’m cutting out our profit on it,” said Bradley, who displays Ramona’s wines beside the wine rack holding other bottles. “It’s a way for us to help them sell their wine and it’s a way for consumers to get the local wines at a lower cost. “

A flier says Ramona Family Naturals will also honor 10 percent discounts for three bottles of wine purchased. No cost changes are expected of the wineries. The sale will be effective through March 31 but may be extended through April.

“Whatever we need to do to help the local community is what we’re going to do,” Bradley said. “Whatever we need to do to keep these guys going, that’s our objective.”

Colleen Doulgeropoulos, bar supervisor at The Par Lounge, said their golf course restaurant is shut down and along with that is the closure of Wednesday Pasta Nights that paired six Ramona wineries with buffet-style, made-to-order pasta dishes. During Pasta Nights, one Ramona winery was featured at a time. Participating wineries regularly sold at The Par Lounge are Correcaminos, Hatfield Creek, La Finquita, Ramona Ranch, Turtle Rock Ridge, and Vineyard Grant James.

“The wineries are not the only ones losing out, we’re losing drastically,” Doulgeropoulos said.