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and bars. They have been locked for months „ INTRODUCTION

For the majority
along with hotel lobbies. The corona pande- of Bordeaux, particularly the
mic has had a drastic impact on the service in-
dustry in particular. The hotel industry in New lesser appellations such as
York, according to data from the Department Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur,
of City Planning, saw 146 hotels with around the pandemic is a catastrophic,
42,000 rooms already closed, with more hotels appalling and devastating crisis.
closed every day. This corresponds to about
a third of all hotel rooms in the city, as the tab- In 2020, many vineyards went
loid New York Post has now calculated. bankrupt, hundreds of wineries
AJ Sanchez was known for his smile, wel- are for sale and finding no market,

coming spirit, and his love for food…before
he committed suicide. His Fishermans Wharf and hundreds more are hanging
pizza restaurants and wine bar have been strug- on by the skin of their teeth.
gling during the coronavirus pandemic and John U. Salvi, MW

rant owners. The Association is even offering

mental health webinars for the first time in its
history.
Back in early 2020 during the Unified Wine &

Grape Symposium, Allied Grape Growers Pre-
sident Jeff Bitter called on the California wine

industry to remove 30,000 vineyard acres to
achieve supply balance following a four milli-
on ton 2019 harvest where a record amount
of fruit was left hanging without a home. This
year it will be even more.
As Americans were focused on dramatic pre-
sidential elections, domestic crises, California

flames, and other disasters in 2020, turmoil was
rippling across the globe and that uncertainty
Pope Francis delivers his noon blessing from the may bring new challenges, and opportunities.
window of his studio overlooking an empty St. The United States has been building various
Peter‘s Square, due to anti-coronavirus lockdown barriers around itself, not just the ridiculous
measures, at the Vatican. (Vatican News) Trump one against Mexico. The biggest new
barrier to the foreign wine trade is the additi-
had seen a 90-percent decrease in revenue du- onal Trump administration tariffs on European

ring this pandemic. This is a relatable financial wines that went into effect after his election

struggle that many restaurant owners are also defeat, with wines over 14 percent ABV from
trying to cope with. We know about his tragedy France and Germany joining the group of alco-
because he was a public known personality. But holic beverages from France, Germany, Spain,
a similar ending is feared by many gastronomy and the United Kingdom as recently as Janu-
entrepreneurs around the world! ary 12th. What could have been a source of
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is pleasure and entertainment for Americans is

seeing first-hand the effects of the financial the EU distilling into alcohol, which is added

pressures this pandemic has had on its restau- to motor gasoline. Only the happier part of it
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