With virtual wine tastings, great deals on shipping, fundraising, and online cooking classes, wineries are providing a grape escape while we shelter in place. Here’s to sipping safe—the new normal, at least for a little while longer!

SIP SAFE

California dreaming? Here are a few wine country virtual tastings worth raising a glass online for:

Comstock Wines presents Food and Wine SIP each Friday afternoon on Facebook Live with its panel of experts. The owner, executive chef and winemaker take you on an outdoor tasting adventure with a wine package including three remarkable bottles to explore. Taste along with the panel, pick up pairing suggestions and ogle the beautiful surroundings.

Stags’ Leap, Napa, conducts virtual wine tastings live on Instagram every Thursday at 3 pm PST. Pick your own patio and bring your smartphone. Purchase the wines in advance here and get more details on the tastings (or buy the wines locally to join the tasting online). A great Mother’s Day gift idea—hint, hint.

SUPPORTING TEXAS LOCAL

Fredericksburg winery William Chris Vineyards hosts interactive virtual tastings on Facebook Live every Saturday at 4 pm. Purchase your four-pack bottles by the prior Tuesday to get your shipment in time for the tasting.

Barrel up to your own bar and hop online with the Hill Country’s Southold Farm + Cellar for informal Instagram chats with a four-pack of mini wines ordered online. With a reservation, the winery also invites guests to picnic on the grounds and purchase wines (but no tastings until re-opening date).

Kuhlman Cellars in Stonewall, Texas, has a new French Perspectives four-bottle wine bundle for $119 (shipping included). It includes a one-hour virtual wine tasting with Kuhlman Cellars’ French winemaker Bénédicte Rhyne, who hails from Aix-en-Provence, and Kuhlman Cellars’ Assistant Vigneron, Olivier De Certaines from Lyon, France.

FOR THE ART LOVER

The Donum Estate in Sonoma welcomes wine shipments but also sports a must-see online tour of its amazing art collection. The estate grounds showcase an extraordinary collection of sculptures from talented artists all over the globe. The wines are phenomenal—pinot noir is a highlight—so pour a glass and go on a virtual tour of the property anytime while staying safe at home.

FOR THE EPICUREAN

Here’s your chance to hone cooking skills while sipping beautifully-paired wines.

Culinary Director Brian Streeter of Cakebread Cellars, Napa, will be coming to you live from his home kitchen Wednesdays at 3:30 pm PST via Facebook. Grab your apron!

Bricoleur Vineyards hosts Quarantine in the Kitchen with Chef Shane every Saturday at 4:30 pm PST for a live interactive cooking class (catch on Zoom/recipe on Facebook). Next up is May 2 with fried chicken and roasted fingerling potatoes—pair it brilliantly with Bricoleur rose.

FOR THE CLEAN FREAK

Check out these local breweries and distilleries that are selling hand sanitizer (and some are donating and involved in fundraising): Saint Arnold Brewing Co.; Gulf Coast Distillers; Maverick Whiskey and Yellow Rose Distilling. Garrison Brothers Distillery is donating limited release bourbon in exchange for COVID-19 donations.

WINE CHARITY

Texas winery Messina Hof is helping us all thank the heroes of this pandemic with their new Bottle of Thanks program, which allows customers to send a bottle of wine directly to frontline medical workers. If you don’t have a specific frontline worker in mind, or if you want to make a larger donation, Messina Hof has also partnered with local hospitals surrounding winery locations to get wine into the hands of a medical worker in those communities.

In California, Lail Vineyards, Benovia Winery and Inglenook are all supporting “Wine Country for Restaurants” in the online auction “86 Lost Wages.” They are three of the many wineries that have donated rare large format bottles or three-packs of spectacular wines to support the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund. The online auction runs weekly starting at 7:15 pm PST Sunday and guests can bid on wines to support the cause.

Cover photo courtesy Daniel Vogel on Unsplash

Robin Barr Sussman ([email protected]) is a freelance culinary and travel writer who studied at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone, Calif. As a chef for Sonoma County wineries, her specialty was food and wine pairing. Sussman is a columnist for Houston Modern Luxury Magazine, Prime Living and Houston House & Home. Her work also appears in Texas Monthly, Fodor’s and Private Clubs Magazine.