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INTERMEZZO #3

a lot of things stay the same… like not being
around people. Call me crazy, but I think we
need to embrace this one step at a time. It
takes claiming responsibility and I’ll go first.
Hello, my name is Michele and I am a pan-
demoholic. I will be one year from my 1st lock-
down on March 13th 2021, here is my story.
My husband and I, along with my brother-
-in-law and his wife, own and operate a small
winery in northern New Mexico, USA. While
battling the ignorance of people not realizing
New Mexico is indeed part of the United Sta-
tes, we naturally battle the idea that we do, in
fact, also make world class wines. Our winery Vivác Winery in Dixon
is tucked into a green valley nestled between
majestic ski resort mountains that can be an then, just as the James Suckling ratings were
unexpected jewel to tourists, a destination for dancing in our heads, the world screeched to
a wino or a head scratcher for most. I honest- a halt, ordered everyone to stop what they
ly can not count the number of times I have were doing and back away at least 6 feet.
been asked by bewildered people “what... In March of 2020, after an already busy start
what do you do here?”. The next runner up is to the year, flying back and forth across the
“how did you learn to speak such great english?” country touting the bible of Vivac, everything
so you see we have an uphill battle to say the disappeared, like an episode of The Twilight
least, and that was pre-pandemic. We were Zone. I’d just been in New York City, shaking
normal people, optimistic and crowd loving hands and kissing babies, when NYC really
people before becoming pandemoholics. started to explode, days after that trip all hell
We started the winery 23 years ago, brash broke loose there. From our mountain refuge,
young kids full of ignorance, way too much we didn’t see the urgency, we relied on the
self-confidence and enough loan debit to ability of our country to insulate us from the
rehang Billy The Kid. We were determined to rest of the world, and then like a fist to the gut,
make wine that the wine world would sit up everything went dark. The long list of concerts
and pay attention to, and we quickly learned over the summer and fall, cancelled. The fes-
in order to get them to notice, we needed tivals, cancelled. The International Wine Com-
to leave our little oasis to go be with other petitions, cancelled. The seminars and classes,
people and lure those people to our corner the weddings and celebrations, the press
of the world. In retrospect, a clear violation of tours and writers weekends, all cancelled. We
being a pandemoholic. Over the years we’ve were in a two week lockdown, but a full year
been successful at this approach too, bringing May Day. And perhaps for many of us, the
attention to ourselves as well as our growing strangest part was to go from a life of touching
industry, happily hiring a full staff of employees each other as we squeeze past in a crowded
to manage packed patios and tasting rooms, bar, motioning the late comer that the eleva-
hosting coveted events, running our own busy tor can surely hold just one more or enthusi-
distribution team that buzzed in and out of astically waving over another set of friends to
packed venues and beaming with pride as we join the already packed table at the restaurant,
nurture our Estate Vineyards growing at 6,000 to now, being aghast to the idea of going to
feet with a field of workers that love hugs. And a bar! Elevators in many places are closed or
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