This afternoon, Governor Inslee announced changes to Washington State’s phased openings.
If I am reading his statement right, it looks like wineries, tasting rooms and bars are closed to indoor service. As of July 30, they can only serve alcohol outside on patios (which requires special licensing from the state liquor board).
Restaurants and Bars
Indoor dining is limited to members of the same household. If you want to sit with people you don’t live with, you must sit outside.
All restaurants are required to close vending game areas like pool tables, darts, and video games until Phase 4.
In Phase 3, the maximum table size for dining is 5 and occupancy is 50% for indoor dinning.
Alcohol service at restaurants must end at 10 p.m and all bars will be closed for indoor service regardless of their ability to provide food service. This includes taverns, breweries, wineries, and distilleries.
These changes go into effect July 30.
You can read another article about the changes at King 5 news, at the Seattle Times, at The Washington Post, and at US News & World Report.
As you can imagine, our local Woodinville winery and restaurant owners and our Washington wine industry friends are a bit freaked out at the moment, trying to figure out a plan.
We’re waiting to hear back from the Washington Wine Commission on their advice on how to proceed from here on out.
Jen and I feel extreme sympathy for our local small business owners who are going to have to figure out how to stay in business through this continuing coronavirus crisis. They’ll be likely purchasing tents (if they have room outdoors to host tastings), getting special licensing from the liquor board to open up outdoor patios where possible, and hoping for good weather in our area known for beautiful summers with occasional rain showers.
I might recommend getting your reservations to our local Woodinville tasting rooms right now, if you want to do wine tasting this weekend. Everything will change by next week (July 30).
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more news. Stay safe!
Carrie and Jen
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