Technology expert and wine connoisseur James Feldkamp delves into current events and explains how COVID-19 is severely impacting the global wine market.
ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2020 / A wine connoisseur for much of his adult life, James Feldkamp is today an expert on the subject. In a professional capacity, he’s also an expert on cybersecurity and cyberterrorism. Further passionate about politics, teaching, and law enforcement, Feldkamp’s other loves in life include sailing and international travel. Here, James explores the continued impact of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic on the world’s vineyards, wineries, bars, and more.
“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is wreaking increasing havoc on the global wine industry,” suggests James Feldkamp, a technology expert and wine connoisseur, speaking from his office in Arlington County, Virginia.
With vineyards particularly hard-hit, James Feldkamp goes on to point out that it’s a reality felt not just within the world of wine, but across large swathes of farming and agriculture, too. “Vineyards are struggling as we enter another month of sheltering in place, but the same is also true of much of the agricultural landscape at the moment,” notes the wine expert.
Unlike crops grown for food, however, vineyard production has been largely overlooked-or even forgotten entirely-by many. “They’re facing the same struggles as everyone else, but outside of the industry, and outside of wine connoisseur circles, many of the world’s vineyards are struggling like never before, completely unbeknownst to the public,” reveals James Feldkamp.
The impact of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is also being felt well-beyond vineyards, according to Feldkamp. “The impact has quickly flooded down to wineries, bars, and restaurants,” he suggests, “which, of course, are already massively struggling amid shelter in place orders.”
What’s called for, then, both now and in the ultimate wake of the ongoing pandemic, is a push not just in production, but also in marketing and elsewhere, for example, James Feldkamp suggests. “The problems start with supply, but they certainly don’t end there,” adds James, “and the effects of current events will be felt for years, and possibly even decades, into the future.”
From wineries switching solely to direct-to-consumer sales in one example, current events have seen an enormous shift in the ways in which many aspects of the wine industry attempt to turn existing business models on their heads almost overnight.
While some work in vineyards and harvesting in certain countries continues, albeit under incredibly tight scrutiny and bound by a plethora of restrictions, vineyards, wineries, bars, restaurants, and more alike are all struggling to weather the storm. The issue now extends far outside of harvesting and production and into individual markets, global supply networks, and beyond, according to James Feldkamp.
Despite the adversity currently being faced, James Feldkamp remains positive about the future of the world’s vineyards and wineries, and is hopeful that bars, restaurants, and other businesses in the wine industry will mostly recover once the ongoing global pandemic is over. “Despite what the industry is facing right now, it’s my hope,” he adds, wrapping up, “that the global wine market and food and drink sector as a whole will pull together to recover in coming weeks and months, and moving forward into next year and beyond.”
