Last week I learned that a charming wine bar in Valencia is closing its doors permanently, a victim I presume of the ongoing shut-down of the hospitality sector due to Covid.

This particular bar was owned by a self-taught oenophile with an idiosyncratic palate. She poured distinctive, eclectic wines from small, local producers.

She worked every hour the bar was open, and plenty that it wasn’t. She hosted tastings and birthday parties. People rarely left her bar sober, never frowning. It was a cheerful, good-hearted, quirky hangout and the city is poorer for the lack of it.

One drop in a deluge of bad news for and from the wine industry. According to The Buyer, the wine industry “went into Covid-19 with 1.1% fall in volume decline around the world and that will drop by as much as 13.6% in 2020 – with ecommerce sales not making up for the big losses from the on-trade.”

Every winemaker I’ve spoken to, any one who owns a bar, shop or wine tourism business, is wondering where this is all going to end — and if their business will survive to see it.

There isn’t much we wine consumers can do about this except… consume. To the extent we can, we need to support our favorite wine businesses now, otherwise we won’t have the chance to later.

Buy online, get curbside pick-up, send a bottle to a friend or loved one. For the sake of your mental health, don’t drink it all at once.

If you have a great wine bar/shop/vineyard to recommend Tweet @Vinediction and spread the word.