How Covid-19 affected wines and winegrowers around the world from New Zealand to California and Sicily

Cloudy Bay winemaker Yang Shen talks about how the pandemic made life difficult, but was ultimately good for business

In Sicily, Alberto Tasca d’Almerita and his family hunkered down at one of their vineyards when business dried up in 2020

5-MIN READ5-MIN

Covid-19 has hit winemakers around the world in different ways. Alberto Tasca d’Almerita, director of Tasca d’Almerita in Sicily, says 2020 was a “total disaster” in business terms but gave them time to discuss and implement new ideas.

Published: 12:59pm, 29 Dec 2021Updated: 6:44pm, 29 Dec 2021

There have been good reasons for wanting to drink a lot of wine over the past two years. Especially if you’re a winemaker.

The pandemic has been stressful and difficult for everyone in the industry. But there is a saying among vintners: stressed vines make better wine.

The challenges for a winery in New Zealand’s South Island may differ from those on the island of Sicily, in southern Italy. California’s Napa Valley has encountered its own difficulties. But making good quality wine is tough wherever your grapes are planted, and Covid-19 added an extra degree of difficulty.

“It was a stressful time when Covid began because it was harvest time,” recalls Yang Shen, estate director of Cloudy Bay, arguably New Zealand’s most famous winery. “It was early 2020 and a third of the harvest team could not come into the country. That was very stressful.”

Yang Shen is estate director at Cloudy Bay in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s rapid response kept the coronavirus at bay, but it hampered its wine industry. Shen, who emigrated from China with his family, accepts the good with the bad.

“On one hand, it’s a positive we shut down the border, but it was a problem for the wine industry. New Zealand is an island, so it’s easy to run out of resources and be stuck here. Luckily, it’s not a bad place to be locked up in.”