Wine Country Times

Most California wineries had to overcome the multiple challenges of COVID-19 restrictions plus summer wildfires in order to safely navigate the business into 2021.

Renae Perry, owner of Papapietro Perry Winery in Healdsburg, Calif., told Wine Country Times about the impact that coronavirus restrictions and the summer wildfires have had on her business.

“We are actually doing OK so far, in that we’re lucky enough to have a patio that has a beautiful view of the Dry Creek Valley,” Perry said. 

Having outdoor seating has enabled the winery to continue some limited service for customers in a socially distanced manner to follow guidelines set forth in response to the pandemic. While that approach worked fine during the summer season, Perry anticipated having to make some adjustments as the weather got colder.

“We used to give people blankets but we can’t do that anymore, so we’re just telling people to dress appropriately, we have heat lamps and we’re hoping for the best,” Perry said.

The winery is taking reservations for the first time due to its limited capacity under COVID restrictions, and also as a way of gathering customer information for state-mandated contact tracing, she said.

Perry said the business was fortunate not to have been greatly impacted by the wildfires despite its relatively close proximity to some of the devastation. The biggest issue, she said, was being forced to shut down periodically for mandatory evacuations.

“Luckily, the fire did not come here,” she said. 

Since Papapietro Perry Winery's product comes from grapes that ripen early in the season, most of its fruit came in before it could be tainted by smoke from the wildfires.

“A lot of other wineries were in much worse condition when their grapes had to sit out for a long time in the smoke,” Perry said.