For Small Business Week, the Division of Small Business is celebrating Delaware small businesses that pivoted successfully during the pandemic. Today, we feature Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery in Frankford.

With warmer weather coming, Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery in Frankford will soon be opening up the doors to its enclosed patio so customers can sip their Pinot Grigio alfresco.

Enclosing the winery’s patio to accommodate year-round seating was one of the adjustments Salted Vines made to its business model during the pandemic. It is a move that has worked out “absolutely fantastic,” co-owner Adrian Mobilia says.

Indoor capacity limits meant Salted Vines’ tasting room could accommodate just 24 customers.

So, Mobilia used a DE Relief Grant from the Division of Small Business to enclose the patio with large glass rollup doors. That added room for another 46 customers.

“It’s allowed us to have people here when outdoors wasn’t an option,” says Mobilia, who owns Salted Vines with his wife, Jessica.  “If we didn’t have that space, we wouldn’t have made it through the winter. It’s an absolute lifesaver.”

Mobilia is so optimistic about the future, he is expanding production.

Enlarging Salted Vines’ bottling area and adding machinery will allow him to produce about 5,000 cases a year, up from about 3,000 currently.

Mobilia is also expanding his 18-person staff – adding three more servers and hiring two more people to direct traffic and handle crowd management on weekends.

And he’s looking to plant an additional acre of grapes, possible for Shiraz, or Teroldego, a red wine from northern Italy.