Sitting back, glass of wine in hand, John Kapon, the bespectacled chairman of Acker Merrall & Condit, a 200-year-old shop for fine and rare wines, leads scores of wine lovers in twice-weekly tastings.

Taking social-distancing mandates to heart, Mr. Kapon conducts the tastings using the teleconferencing platform Zoom as an extension of his business, a virtual function that he and other small-business owners had never contemplated before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy.

More than 5.2 million workers joined the tally of the unemployed last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, bringing the four-week total to about 22 million.

Faced with plunging sales as nonessential businesses are closed and more Americans lose their jobs, entrepreneurs are getting savvier about reaching their customers.

Mr. Kapon has set up a system in which wine aficionados can order ahead to have the bottles delivered before the tasting. The hourlong sessions are followed by continued discussions on Instagram Live with prominent wine figures who take questions from people at home.

“The backbone of our company is to drink and share great wines with our clients,” Mr. Kapon said. “Wine is meant to be shared. The Zoom format allows you to be with 50 or 60 people.”

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