Coronavirus pandemic forces traveling winemakers to change plans

As the coronavirus spread around the world, Nick Goldschmidt had to race out of Chile before the United States closed its borders in March. The vintner took the last flight out to Houston, Texas, then spent 14 days in quarantine at his home in Healdsburg.

Goldschmidt is a flying winemaker who produces wine in Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, as well as the United States. The coronavirus forced him to cut his time in Chile short by two weeks during the harvest.

Flying winemakers travel the globe, often making exotic varietals and bringing a wealth of knowledge to bear, gained from working in many cultures and winegrowing regions, typically through more than one harvest. When they can’t travel, their profits can suffer, and so can the quality of the wine.

“I think there are lessons here for California wines in 2020,” said Goldschmidt, corresponding from Chile before he left. “The harvest here (in Chile) has been totally disrupted. We have people to pick, but the workers in the wineries are very nervous and do not want to work too close to each other. We don’t have people to shovel tanks, rack, pump over and all the other stuff. Only about half of the usual workers are showing up.”

The pandemic upset the pace of harvest, throwing much off course in cellars, and it could affect both wine quality and quantity, Goldschmidt said.

The vintner of his namesake winery, Goldschmidt Vineyards, typically spends the entire months of March, July and November in Chile. This year, he hopes to return in July if travel opens up. He’s not certain when he’ll return to New Zealand and Australia.

For now the flying winemaker is making wine, tasting and blending, with his clients via Zoom. His Canadian client, the Mark Anthony Group, recently sent him 24 different wines to blend the 2018 chardonnay.

In addition to Zoom, Goldschmidt relies on email and WhatsApp to coordinate winemaking tasks.

“I have enjoyed the different communication, but there is nothing like being there,” he said from his home in Sonoma County. “For me, part of working as a flying winemaker is the culture and the social aspect of making wine. I don’t want to make Napa wine in Chile. I want to make Chilean wine with a U.S. twist.”

Goldschmidt said he doesn’t want to put anyone at risk, so he expects long-distance winemaking to continue for the time being.

“I will fly as soon as the wineries feel it’s safe for me to be there,” Goldschmidt said. “In the meantime, I am reviewing analysis and handling many questions around finishing off ferments from the 2020 Southern Hemisphere.”

Chris Markell is another Sonoma County winemaker grounded by the pandemic. The international wine consultant, who is based in Geyserville, has been working in Chile and France for about 15 years.

Close to home, Markell consults for wineries in Sonoma County and Napa Valley, following a wine from the vineyard to the bottle. But tasting and blending via Zoom with international clients is next to impossible for Markell.

“We are just hoping that air travel will open up by June so I can go down there (Chile),” he said. “This is particularly important for the three wineries that sell in bulk who will be getting visits or calls from prospective clients for samples. They hope I can be involved in making up various sample blend choices.”

Markell said it’s not always feasible to do this work long-distance because, in most cases, there are well over 100 wines to sample in creating several blends, too many to ship. What’s more, he added, these wines are young and they change quite a bit.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the term ‘cellar blindness’ where it’s just on the staff winemakers who taste, but they can get lost in the nuance of the wines and might miss some aspects,” he said.

Markell said for now he’s communicating with the winemaking teams on site through emails and phone calls.

“The pandemic has caused me difficulty in doing my job because it requires me to taste and blend wines,” Markell said. “And it’s not easy to do that from ‘shelter-in-place’ Sonoma County.”