The Year in Review

Whew. Well, that was a strange one. This past year reminds me of a horseback ride I took several years ago through a national forest in northern New Mexico. Things started out just fine, even a little boring, but by the end, I was just glad to get off the horse in one piece.

Looking back through my blog posts for this past year, it’s clear that things went south pretty quickly. In January, I announced the opening of our new Wine Club Lounge, and in early March, I reported all the fun spring events that we’d be hosting. I think we all know what happened after that. Three weeks later, I was writing about all the games my family was playing to pass the time at home (note that we’re still playing those same games).

If I were to graph 2020, it would look like a W: We started up, went down with our first closure, opened again and did quite well (up), closed again (down), and then ended on an up. During the “high” times, we held modified Club Sundays, hosted Halloween candy and holiday cookie wine pairings, opened our rosé room, collected food for a local non-profit, and served LOTS of customers who were eager to get out of their homes.

During our “lows,” I wrote about what my teammates and I were doing to pass the time both at our homes and at the cellars: the wines we were drinking, the foods we were cooking and eating (SO much eating), the games we were playing, the skills we were learning (or not), the TV shows and movies we were watching, and the puzzles were were completing. I wrote about missing our Wine Club members and the steps we were taking to make visiting the cellars safe for everyone.

While I wouldn’t want a repeat of this year, I’m proud of the way our team handled it. We embraced new ideas and projects with enthusiasm, came up with creative ways to continue to serve our customers both in person and virtually, continued to provide superior customer service, and took care of one another. We’re a better team for having gone through this year together.

That said, all of us are looking forward to 2021. Our name change will be finalized in January, giving us the flexibility to try new approaches in our tasting rooms. We’ve hired some new staff. We’re going to continue to offer creative food and wine pairings (next up: Super Bowl snacks). We’re exploring ways to use our indoor and outdoor spaces differently to maximize our customer experience. We’ve got PLANS.

So, goodbye, 2020. I won’t say we’ll miss you. We’ve certainly learned a good deal having met you, but it’s time for you to go. We’re ready for 2021.

Happy New Year, everyone!