For Folktale Winery, the pandemic has been a time to experiment and find ways to share a love of wine.

Over the past three months, restaurants, wineries and breweries have had to make major adjustments to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic. They’ve had to pivot from traditional dine-in services to takeout-only, and now there’s a new chapter as establishments – including wineries that serve food – are allowed to reopen at limited seating capacity.

At Folktale Winery, it has been a whirlwind of adapting to new ways of doing business, both as a winery and as a wedding venue (they’ve taken weddings virtual). Shortly after they opened for curbside pick-up, customers requested more: Wine club members weren’t satisfied with just picking up wine and going home; they missed the interaction and discussion about the wines, like they were used to at pick-up parties.

That’s how they hatched the idea for their virtual taste-a-longs on Instagram, in which winemaker David Baird, Chef Todd Fisher and Folktale VP John Fitzgerald talked about food and wine pairings. Their series, Tasting with a Winemaker, became a fun way for all customers to learn more ways to pair wine with food at home. For Memorial Day, they did an episode on wines that pair well with barbecue.

Now, they’re shifting gears again as they prepare to reopen for dine-in customers. That means implementing new health and safety protocols, training staff and figuring out the best way to continue curbside pick-up while allowing dine-in guests. Initially only wine club members will be allowed to dine in. “Once we have our new systems down, we will open it to the public,” Fitzgerald says.

While it’s been months of navigating changes to what’s allowed, the wine itself remains the same.

FOLKTALE WINERY & VINEYARDS, 8940 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel. 293-7500, folktalewinery.com