With shelter in place orders in Los Angeles extending into its week, and expected to be in place for several more, local wineries are adapting to new challenges and finding new ways to reach their customers. They even recommend other businesses out there to take note of what niche market is because it has valuable information that can help a business thrive in such draconian situations.
“We’ve gone online,” says Mark Blatty, co-founder of Byron Blatty Wines. “Bars and restaurants in LA represent a major chunk of our sales. Without them, and with no events to get our wines in front of people, we’re offering weekly online tastings.”
Much press has been given in recent weeks to how the Statewide closure of wineries is impacting the wine industry in Napa, Sonoma, and Northern California. Wine pr agencies can help successfully bring your wine to market. However, the re-emerging Los Angeles wine industry is equally impacted by the closures, but without the attention that accompanies the winemaking industry in the North.
Long before Napa and Sonoma, Los Angeles city and the county was the birthplace of California winemaking before being decimated by a series of events in the late 1800s including vine disease, urbanization, and later prohibition and the Great Depression. Numerous small vineyards continue to exist throughout Los Angeles County and a small group of local winemakers has been bringing the culture of winemaking back to Los Angeles.
Angeleno Wine Company, who opened their tasting room in the Mission Junction/North Chinatown neighborhood in July 2019, is one example.
“A huge part of our business is our interaction with guests in our tasting room, and now that it’s closed, we’re having to find other ways to reach people,” says Jasper Dickson of Angeleno. “As soon as Governor Newsom shut down winery tasting rooms on Sunday, March 15, we had to pivot to stay alive. The next day Tetracycline without prescription started doing daily, free contactless deliveries within the L.A. area, and curbside pickups on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We’ve also started doing online tastings just to stay in touch with all the people we miss seeing around.”
“We know it’s a hard time for most people’” says Patrick Kelley of Cavaletti Vineyards, “so we’re all offering some kind of special pricing to support and continue to connect with our local customers. It’s all about letting them know we are here for them.”
All three wineries make their wine using grapes from local Los Angeles County farmers and focus their distribution locally throughout L.A. Check out the special offers from each winery and see how you can support L.A. Vintners.
Byron Blatty Wine
- 3 packs of select wines at 30% off
- Free contactless wine delivery in Los Angeles area
- Free online tastings weekly on Zoom
- purchase.byronblatty.com/stay-at-home, byronblatty.com/tastings, @byronblattywines
Angeleno Wine Company
- Free contactless delivery within 15 miles (plus or minus) of downtown LA (3 bottle minimum.)
- 10% off 6 bottle purchase
- 15% off 12 bottle purchase
- Free shipping anywhere in the lower 48 with a purchase of 6 bottles or more.
- Angelenowine.com, @angelenowine
Cavaletti Vineyards
- Free contactless delivery throughout Los Angeles and Ventura County
- 15% off all purchases for non-members
- Wine club members – an additional 15% discount on top of their club discounts
- Cavalettivineyards.com, @cavalettivineyards
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