The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many businesses to close and others to struggle to stay afloat. But a South Jersey winery is taking a gamble and expanding.

The William Heritage Winery has just opened its new tasting room in Haddonfield. It opened this weekend for curbside pickup only.

“Let’s try and offer a little bit of excitement and open up a new business that’s COVID-friendly, so we would have all social distancing measure in place, six feet stickers on the floor, masks required and let’s have a kind of grand opening COVID-style, which isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing,” says Richard Heritage, director of marketing and sales for the winery.

Heritage says that while it wasn’t the grand opening that the winery was hoping for, it has allowed them to work out any of the kinks that come with opening a new business. Heritage says that offering curbside pickup is helping the winery stay afloat.

“Just the little things like curbside pickup and making our website that much easier to navigate. Being creative and retooling has completely saved us financially,” he says.

Once the tasting room is allowed to fully open, it will offer wine tastings from the vineyard in Gloucester County. A reservation system is in the works to limit the number of people who can come inside to allow for social distancing.

Heritage says that if the previous weekend is any indication of what’s to come, they are excited to welcome customers inside someday.

“The customers were so supportive and we already started feeling so comfortable here in Haddonfield, so it was really a great start,” he says.

The winery is also planning for outdoor seating for their vineyard in Mullica Hill once the outdoor dining restrictions are lifted in a few weeks.

The tasting room will remain pickup only until they are given the go-ahead by Gov. Phil Murphy to expand.