Received email today that the Cayuse Release Party was cancelled. This follows on the heels of last week’s Betz Release Party being cancelled. On a larger scale Taste Washington was also cancelled. This all makes sense. Having 100’s if not 1000’s of people mingling in a confined space spitting into buckets sounds problematic right now. I’m actually surprised that The Wine Spectator has yet to cancel their grand tastings next month in Las Vegas and Chicago. Not only are these bigger in scale but countless winemakers are scheduled to fly in from countries like France and Italy.
There is no word yet on Spring Release weekend in Walla Walla. It is still a couple months out and I suppose the hope is things get better rather than worse. I have also not heard of any local wineries closing their tasting rooms at this point. I think that would be premature as well.
So what am I going to do as a wine consumer? I think it is time for all of us to go out and buy some wine from local wineries that will sorely miss the foot traffic they receive due to events like the Cayuse Release Party. All of these wineries have an online presence. If you aren’t going to Walla Walla you can still buy wine online.
We will get through this like we always do but my heart breaks for all the small business owners who will bear the brunt of people like myself being told to stay home.