As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second month, it’s crunch time for many of the businesses and workers affected by shutdowns intended to stop the disease from spreading – including those we’re following in Orlando’s wine industry. Bills are coming due just as a statewide stay-at-home order takes effect.
Thanks to Orlando composer Julian Bond for providing original music for UnWineding and to Amy Tardif for editorial assistance.
These days, just about every business that’s still selling wine is doing so at a discount. It would be newsworthy to find a shop or restaurant not offering some kind of deal.
Savvy observers may notice restaurants are offering especially deep price cuts, with many selling bottles from their wine lists at 50% off. Discounts at retail establishments tend to average around 15-20%.
Why the difference? Because restaurants generally charge patrons between two and four times what they pay their distributors for a bottle of wine; the retail markup, by contrast, is usually only 1.5 times. Cutting restaurant prices in half will get the costs down to around what consumers are likely to pay retail.
But many restaurants can offer producers and vintages that are hard to find in retail settings.
Three Orlando wine professionals consider how a new stay-at-home order will affect their livelihoods, amid rising concerns about their families and colleagues.
When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted around the world, restaurants and bars suddenly found themselves on the front lines of an economy that was rapidly shutting down. In Orlando, one of America’s hospitality capitals, people who make their living in the area’s blossoming wine community scrambled to adjust to ever-changing rules and realities.
Their experiences will become part of the history of this extraordinary moment in time.
UnWineding tells that story in their own words.
Thanks to Orlando composer Julian Bond for providing music for UnWineding and to Amy Tardif for editorial assistance.
As Central Florida wine businesses continue to adapt to the new COVID-19 reality, some are taking tastings and events into the virtual space.
Tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm, The Parkview will be live-streaming a tasting discussion on its Facebook page. The three featured wines are for sale in advance from the Park Ave. restaurant and wine bar.
Luisa’s Cellar in Sanford will host a similar virtual happy hour tomorrow at 5pm, with wines available beforehand. Owner Yellymary Quintero-Weyer has also launched a new brand, The Vino Dame, which will hold a series of wine webinars in the weeks to come.
The Tasty Trio is planning a virtual version of their popular “Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate – Perfectly Paired” event next Wednesday, with all the elements available in pick-up packs ahead of time.
When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted around the world, restaurants and bars suddenly found themselves on the front lines of an economy that was rapidly shutting down. In Orlando, one of America’s hospitality capitals, people who make their living in the area’s blossoming wine community scrambled to adjust to ever-changing rules and realities.
Their experiences will become part of the history of this extraordinary moment in time.
UnWineding tells that story in their own words.
This new podcast from Orlando Wine Blog will follow Central Florida wine professionals over time, as the fallout from COVID-19 continues to unfold over the coming weeks and months.
Editorial assistance from Amy Tardif
Swirlery Wine Bar co-owner Melissa McAvoy, pictured here with her partner Damian Roman, scoured Tuesday’s executive order from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demmings, desperately searching for the relief wine shops and other local alcohol retailers sought.
“I read it over and over again,” she said.
Liquor and wine stores are absent from the extensive list of essential businesses exempt from the order, which mandates a two-week closure of many of the county’s commercial enterprises starting Thursday night.
Continue reading “Wine shops can keep operating under Orange County stay-at-home rules”
Governor Ron DeSantis has once again tightened restrictions on Florida restaurants due to COVID-19.
In an executive order today, he ordered businesses to stop serving food and alcohol for onsite consumption.
Restaurants can stay open for takeout and delivery, however. The order also suspends a state law that prohibits most restaurants from selling alcohol for takeout. Those sales are now permitted, provided the alcohol is in a sealed container and food is included in the same order.
Today’s directive supersedes Tuesday’s order that allowed restaurants to stay open at 50% capacity.
It’s Day 3 of Florida’s COVID-19 bar and restaurant restrictions. More local businesses are joining those we reported on Tuesday and jumping on the curbside pickup bandwagon. They include:
But that’s not all. There are other creative ways local wine businesses hope to entice patrons to come, maybe not in the door, but at least close to it.
For Orlando’s food and beverage community, today has been perhaps the most tumultuous roller coaster ride yet on the dystopian fantasy fairground that is the COVID-19 crisis.
Just after 10am, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer sent the community into a panic when he issued an executive order banning all sales of alcoholic beverages for onsite consumption in the city until further notice.
A few hours later, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued his own executive order banning sales of alcoholic drinks for 30 days at all “bars, pubs, and nightclubs,” defined as businesses that derive more than half their gross revenue from alcoholic drink sales.
Under the state order, restaurants are subject to a number of new rules to ensure social distancing, but they can still sell alcohol to drink onsite.
Continue reading “After hours of confusion, Orlando reverses course on alcohol sales at restaurants”
UPDATED Tuesday March 17 4:30pm
Today was the day the other shoe dropped for Orlando’s wine and beverage community.
This morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer banned the “sale or distribution” of alcohol for onsite consumption, effective immediately. Soon afterwards, Governor Ron DeSantis ordered bars and nightclubs across the state to close for 30 days, starting at 5pm tonight.
Retail alcohol sales are still allowed, though, and local wine businesses are quickly adapting to the new rules, as well as to new expectations for social distancing.
Continue reading “Orlando wine businesses get creative in the face of new COVID-19 restrictions”
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