Bridge Press Cellars took a large economic hit when the coronavirus pandemic caused the business to temporarily close its tasting room, ballroom and live music venue.

The winery’s temporary closure resulted in a $50,000 loss in March and cancellation of 17 events, said Drew Padrta, owner of Bridge Press Cellars.

“The winery went from having 300 to 400 people every weekend to zero,” Padrta said. “Not only have we been hit economically, but it delayed bottling time. We can’t release wines in May. It sets everything back about three months.”

Bridge Press Cellars, which became a licensed winery in 2009, specializes in small volume cabernet sauvignon and merlot. It was founded by Drew’s parents, Brian and Melody Padrta, who handle winemaking and finances for the winery.

Bridge Press Cellars is among more than 1,000 wineries in the state affected by Gov. Jay Inslee’s order that directed tasting rooms to temporarily close, which forced cancellation of Spring Release Weekend this weekend – one of the largest wine event weekends in Walla Walla – as well as this spring’s release weekend for The Cork District, featuring more than 20 Spokane-area wineries and tasting rooms.

Washington state is the second-largest wine producer nationwide. The state wine industry generates $2.4 billion annually. More than 4,800 people are employed at wineries and tasting rooms, according to the Washington State Wine Commission.

Wineries – considered an essential business under Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order – can still produce wine, conduct retail and online sales, and offer curbside pickup. Employees are permitted to work at vineyards if they follow social distancing guidelines.

But for several wineries, tasting rooms and spring release weekends provide opportunity to socialize with wine club members, gain new customers and generate a large amount of revenue.

Wine tourism accounts for $146 million in visitor spending in the Walla Walla Valley and $60 million of that amount is spent on wine purchases, according to the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance.

“It obviously has a huge effect on wineries in the area. Wineries that sell to restaurants and hotels are very much affected,” said Robert Hansen, executive director of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance. “People visiting Walla Walla wineries tend to buy cases of wine, and now that’s not going to happen.”

Spokane-based Barrister Winery has also felt the financial impact of event cancellations, said Greg Lipsker, owner and winemaker at Barrister Winery.

“A lot of people discover us during those types of events,” Lipsker said. “Also, we do two to three events every week in terms of weddings and client appreciation events. All of those have been canceled, and that has a negative impact on us.”

Barrister Winery temporarily closed its downtown tasting room, but the winery remains open for retail sales and curbside orders. Barrister’s wine club – with more than 1,500 members – has been “extremely supportive” during the temporary closure, Lipsker said.

The coronavirus had minimal impact on Barrister Winery’s bottling schedule. The winery bottled 3,000 cases of wine in January and it postponed a bottling scheduled for the first week of May.

“We are fortunate that wines bottled now won’t be released for another year, so we will have adequate wine for the club and general public,” Lipsker said.

Barrister Winery will be able to sustain a temporary closure of its tasting room because major expenses, such as purchasing grapes and barrels, occur in the fall, Lipsker said.

“I’m hoping the coronavirus cloud will lift and allow us to get back to normal and proceed through harvest as originally planned,” he said.

Wineries that partner with restaurants for sales have been hit the hardest by COVID-19 closures. But some have found creative ways to gain customers, such as offering patrons a percentage off wine purchases by presenting a take-out receipt from a partner restaurant, said Steve Warner, president and CEO of the Washington State Wine Commission.

Wineries also had to shift how they do business by pivoting from hosting tastings to online sales as well as marketing delivery and pickup options, Warner said.

“Wineries who have been creative with digital marketing and wineries that had more sales off premise in grocery stores and wine shops – those will all continue to be successful, even as we come out of this,” Warner said.

Bridge Press Cellars is offering curbside pickup for its wines and Padrta has delivered product to more than 30 homes since the winery temporarily closed its tasting room.

“I will do whatever we need to do to keep us in business. We have the biggest tasting room in Spokane and we have a lot of overhead,” he said. “Luckily, we are frugal, so we’ll be able to make it through a couple more months.”

Spokane Valley-based Latah Creek Wine Cellars says it has received a large amount of support from loyal area customers.

“We haven’t seen a huge drop in sales, because people are supporting us locally,” said Mike Conway, Latah Creek owner and winemaker. “We’ve been pretty fortunate. We’ve been able to stay ahead of the game, but (the coronavirus) will have a dramatic impact when it’s all said and done.”

The Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance is continuing with its inaugural Walla Walla Valley Wine Month celebration, but instead of holding in-person events, it’s shifting to live happy hours and virtual wine tastings that include suggestions of pairings with local takeout appetizers.

The organization’s website has a calendar of events, timeline for virtual tastings, and an online buying guide with promotions and shipping discounts.

Although Warner anticipates a continued shift for how customers purchase wine, online sales won’t replace the experience of visiting a tasting room, he said.

“I don’t think that will ever go away because it’s such a unique part of the wine industry,” he said. “My hope is we get through this quickly and people get out to tasting rooms and events quickly and continue to help the industry grow.”

Padrta, of Bridge Press Cellars, is looking toward the future. He’s planning a blues festival in November with eight live bands that is expected to draw more than 400 people to the winery.

“Hopefully, we recover once all this ends. We have a nice group of regular people that come down and support us,” he said. “We know they’ll come back and, hopefully, people can still come down and enjoy themselves once this pandemic ends.”