Alexandra Schrecengost

Many of us at Wilson Daniels — myself very much included — are negotiating the intricacies of working from home while homeschooling kids. My 5-year-old twins may not know much about the fine wine industry now, but we’ll see how that changes as our social distancing time goes on! I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to grow in this way, however. This new period has infused our whole team with urgent responsiveness, ingenuity in problem-solving, and most of all, confidence in their intuition.

The team has transitioned flawlessly to remote work, and our safety program for warehouse and delivery personnel adheres to each updated standard as recommended by health officials. I’m astounded every day at the collective effort across the board, and very proud to be part of this remarkable team as we work through these uncertain times.

Our colleagues in the restaurant are of the utmost importance to us, and we’re all doing our part to support this essential community. We miss interacting with our sommeliers and chef partners very much, and we’re here to bolster their resilience and offer our assistance in the spirit of friendship and fellowship. Food and wine are inextricably tied, and for that, we owe the hospitality world our best efforts in recovering from the economic devastation of their clientele’s widespread self-isolation. I’m certain that before too long, we’ll all be dining together again, and until then, the best thing we can do is keep in touch and offer any help we can.

While worried for family, friends, and ourselves of course, we remain optimistic about the future, and I myself am awestruck to see everyone joining the cause in such dedicated and responsible ways. There is not yet a way to predict the outcome of this troubling and sometimes frightening period, but it can be assured that it will have a huge impact on the hospitality industry as a whole. From what I’ve observed over the past few weeks, Wilson Daniels is uniquely suited to weather this storm and gain new insight from conditions as unforeseen as these.

I look forward to clinking glasses of our next greatest find to better times ahead, and will take the lessons learned with me as we continue bringing the world’s most extraordinary bottles to the American market.