Wine Country Times

Facing the challenges of the economic crisis created by COVID-19 restrictions, and of the pandemic itself, thrown in during a season of wildfires, Williamson Wines in Healdsburg, Calif., has worked hard to keep operations going and workers employed.

In an interview with Wine Country Times, owner Bill Williamson explained what makes the company he operates with wife Dawn stand out among the competition.

In the case of the pandemic, just as in the past when the region was ravaged by fires, Williamson said there is nothing people want more than a return to normal life.

“At Williamson Wines, we made the decision to maintain as normal an operation as possible throughout this disaster while still observing all the required guidelines,” Williamson said. “While other wineries are closed with their staff on unemployment, we have worked hard to stay open. Our staff are serving wine and doing tastings on the sidewalk and in the car park.”

Williamson Wines has had to decrease the number of customers it can serve at any one time. This is while having to cover most of the same overhead costs it would if it were able to accommodate more people, Williamson told Wine Country Times.

“We retained all our employees, they are like members of our family, but all we are doing is exchanging our inventory for revenue to cover our costs,” Williamson said. “Having spent over 20 years building a business, there is no profit, just work.”

Social distancing and other pandemic restrictions have not been the only thing to cut into their profits, Williamson said. Difficulties were added as interruption in services resulted from the raging wildfires. 

WIlliamson Wines had material losses from the wildfires, Williamson said. Even with a diversified crop spanning multiple vineyards in Sonoma and Napa counties, the multiple, simultaneous fires were more than it was possible to prepare for, he said. 

While they didn’t lose crops directly to the fires, all of their vineyards were affected by “smoke taint,” a condition arising from the compounds in wildfire smoke being absorbed into the grapes and ruining the flavor. Much of their crop wasn’t even salvageable, Williamson said. Yet, they were still able to do better than those wineries that simply chose to not harvest any grapes from last year.

Williamson said his winery has too high a commitment to its craft and all those the company employs, directly or indirectly, to take that route.

“It hurts the grape grower who spent a year working in expectation of a payment for their grape harvest and doesn’t add to the number of wineries and labs seeking a solution to the smoke taint issue; an issue that will only crop up more and more in the future,” Williamson said.