COVID-19: The Journey To Adapt
In just weeks we went from celebrating the early onset of Spring to a stark and sudden need for social distancing, empty buildings, and farming through a pandemic.
While most human activity has come to a screeching halt, nature's rhythms don't miss a beat. The vineyard is brimming with new life and the cellar is humming with spring chores like bottling, disgorging, and barrel topping.
Our heartbeat has always been to create wines and experiences that connect people with our farm -- a true reflection of Maryland and her beautiful, bountiful offerings.
Our team was planning to launch events like Cru Cuvée Blending, Pét-Nat & Pilsner Oyster Fest, Summer Solstice Festival, a Mother's Day celebration at the farm, a summer farmer's market series and a Strawberry Moon Dinner. We had big eyes for the year ahead and an even bigger appetite to create memorable experiences for guests at our farm, including a new food program set to launch at the beginning of May.
But now.
Our parking lot is empty, the tasting room is closed, and events are postponed indefinitely.
We've had to completely change the way we interact, sell, and work as a team. Oftentimes we can’t even be with our core team members. We’ve had to absorb the shock, feel disappointment, and then get up, put on our face masks, and figure out our new reality.
Almost overnight, nothing is the same.
How have we changed and adapted? It’s a story worth writing down -- not only to remember these times, but also to attest to a community that has rallied to support us and a team that has come together to keep things moving.
By mid-March, news of COVID-19 became too loud to ignore. Every media outlet was discussing limitations on the number of people in a social setting, specifically recreational settings like bars and restaurants. Being a farm building with several hundred people visiting across any given weekend, we immediately knew we were in a tricky position.
Quick conversations turned into quick actions. Our first action item: Connect with customers and our community in a new way. Our second action item: Deliver wine directly to people at home. Through even quicker actions from our State supporting our efforts, we had the legal support to start delivering wines to people at their homes by the third week of March. By the fourth week, our tasting room was closed.
In a race against a competitor who got the jump start, the only means to gain traction is a quick strategy, hard work, and luck. This virus got the jump start. But our team came together -- showing the ultimate flexibility in responsibility-sharing, patience, and creativity. It’s a culture we are exceptionally proud of, a team made up of incredible humans; the ones we see everyday, and the ones we haven't seen in many weeks but who have continued working and supporting the mission from afar.
Into May now, we've been delivering wine to people for just over seven weeks. Averaging 400 deliveries a week, we can't thank our community enough for being an integral part of our journey to adapt. We're honored to be recently featured in The Baltimore Sun with our local community for helping to provide essential items to those in need by using our home delivery service to gather donations for the Crossroads Community Center food bank.
We'd like to thank you all for helping provide hundreds of supplies to people in need! We're so proud to be a part of the generosity from your families. From the bottom of our heart, THANK YOU!