Shopping for Wine Safely in Today’s Climate – The Key Tips

Getting a bottle of wine isn’t as simple as popping to the shop anymore.

With COVID-19 spreading as quickly as it did, many countries instituted lockdowns. These prevent you from going to the shop for anything other than the essentials you need to keep your house running.

But you’re probably still going to have to go shopping.

And that means you’ve got to take measures to keep yourself safe.

These are the key tips that we can share with you today.

Tip #1 – Buy Online Instead

The best way to stay safe when shopping is to not go out to the shops at all. That’s especially the case if you’re only looking to buy a bottle of wine, which isn’t an essential (even if it feels like it should be!).

Thankfully, your options are plentiful if you want wine and nothing else.

At Xtrawine, we’re still delivering wine to our customers. And most importantly, we’ve implemented safe working practices to ensure that your wines are under no risk of becoming contaminated.

Instead of taking your life into your hands when shopping, do it from the comfort of your own home. You’ll also be sticking to lockdown rules, which means you’re not risking a fine for the sake of a bottle of wine!

Tip #2 – Consider a Face Mask

Let’s say that you’re not going to only buy a bottle of wine.

Instead, you’re heading out to pick up some essentials and you’ve decided that you’d like to buy a bottle of wine while you’re at the shop. In that case, you’ll need some tips on how to stay safe when buying, which is what we’re going to cover for the rest of this article.

First, consider buying a face mask.

Now, there’s some confusion over the purpose that face masks serve. Some think that they’re not useful where others say they’re only good for stopping somebody who has the virus from spreading it.

But the simple message here is that a face mask is better than nothing at all.

It may not stop the virus if somebody comes to close to you. But that mask will help you as long as you’re following the rest of these tips.

Just make sure that you wear a fresh mask for every trip outdoors.

Tip #3 – Bring Hand Sanitiser With You (And Wash When You Get Back Home)

Thankfully, we seem to be past the period of panic buying that made hand sanitiser such a rare commodity a few weeks ago.

While it’s still not necessarily easy to buy, you should be able to find some if you need it.

And we’d say it’s a good idea to have it with you when you’re out shopping. After all, think about how many people might have touched the goods that you end up picking up. In an ideal world, people will only touch what they intend to buy. Unfortunately, you can’t trust everybody to follow the rules in that regard.

Apply your sanitiser liberally when you’re shopping to kill any traces of the virus that you might end up getting on your hands.

And don’t stop there. Make sure that you don’t touch your face at any point during your shopping trip. Plus, wash your hands well as soon as you get back home. You need to use appropriate soap and wash them for at least 20 seconds.

This will protect from you’re the potential irresponsibility of other people.

Tip #4 – Maintain Social Distancing

You’re probably sick of the term social distancing by now. But at this point in time, there are probably no two more important words in the English language.

When you’re doing your shopping, make sure that you’re at least 2 metres away from any other person. That’s 6 feet if you’re not a fan of the metric system.

If somebody encroaches on that space, keep stepping away from them. It’s not worth the risk of contracting the virus just so that you can stay in place. While backing away, remind them of social distancing measures. And if they ignore you, get away from that person. They may not have COVID-19 but they’re doing everything possible to put themselves at risk.

The good news is that a lot of shops have put measures in place to make social distancing easier. They have special queue systems and markings on the floor to help you. Abide by those rules and you’ll be safer as you shop.

Tip #5 – Don’t Wear Gloves

A lot of people have taken to wearing gloves to protect themselves during the outbreak.

The logic behind this seems sound. Whenever somebody works in sterile conditions, they’ll wear gloves to protect their hands.

But what do they do with those gloves afterwards?

They dispose of them.

If you’re wearing gloves while shopping, you may actually put yourself at risk.

For example, let’s say you touch on item that has traces of the virus on it. That trace stays on your gloves because you’re not using hand sanitiser on them, of course.

The virus will now spread from the gloves onto the next item that you pick up. And the next one after that. Soon enough, you may have a trolley full of contaminated goods.

And if you happen to touch your face during all of this, you’re in more danger!

Gloves can help if you take several pairs and have somewhere safe to dispose of the ones that you use. But that isn’t really a feasible option in most supermarkets.

It’s best to go barehanded and ensure you’re using plenty of sanitiser during your trip.

The Final Word

COVID-19 looks like it’s here to stay for a while at least.

But with these tips, you’ll at least be a little safer when you go out shopping.

However, we implore you not to head out of the house if you’re only looking to buy a bottle of Italian wine. Instead, order online from the Xtrawine team so that you don’t take any unnecessary risks.