Surreal. That’s the word many winemakers use about the lockdown, a stark new reality that defined 2020: the year that Covid-19 struck. ‘It was like floating in a bubble – your world feels undone, uncoupled’, is how California-based flying winemaker Paul Hobbs describes it. Given the unfolding pandemic and mounting death toll, some even started to question their profession. ‘Working in a winery felt perverse, almost devoid of reason at times,’ recalls winemaker and writer Oliver Styles in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
When things kicked off, the harvest was underway in the southern hemisphere. Most governments deemed wine an ‘essential business’, thus exempt from shutting down. A historically early vintage in areas including South America proved a godsend logistically, as the fruit was already largely in wineries come the start of lockdown.
This story is from the January 2021 edition of Decanter.
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This story is from the January 2021 edition of Decanter.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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