Dec 31, 2020
The past 12 months have been a year to remember ... and one almost everyone would like to forget. A global pandemic killed more than 1.76 million people and shut down multiple nations, often more than once. The restaurant and travel industries were particularly devastated and have yet to recover; in the United States, more than 110,000 restaurants have permanently closed and the number is expected to rise.
Wildfires devastated parts of Australia and the U.S. West Coast, with the Glass Fire destroying buildings at more than two dozen Napa Valley wineries and other fires blanketing wine regions from Santa Cruz to Washington with heavy smoke for weeks. A trade battle between the U.S. and the E.U. continued to hurt wine importers, retailers and consumers.