 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(September 2020) |
Racism in the wine industry is a type of systemic bias and institutionalized racism that has resulted in low participation in the industry by persons of color.
Racism in the wine industry has been a topic of discussion within the industry at least as early as 2018, when Julia Coney wrote an open letter to Karen MacNeil and the wine industry entitled Your Wine Glass Ceiling is My Wine Glass Box in response to an article MacNeil had written for SOMM journal which discussed the lack of women in the wine industry and highlighted dozens of female wine professionals, none of whom were women of color. [1] [2] Sommelier Ashtin Berry said that the industry was both racist and classist. [3]
In June 2020, during the 2020 United States racial injustice reckoning sparked by the George Floyd protests, wine writer Dorothy Gaiter wrote an opinion piece on SevenFifty Daily, a wine industry news site. [4] Economist Karl Storchmann posted data from the American Association of Wine Economists that the US wine industry overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. [5] Jancis Robinson wrote a piece for the Financial Times, Too White Wine, [6] discussing the industry's racism. [4] Other Black wine professionals called out racism in the industry. [7]
According to Coney, "One of the problems is that most wine is not marketed to people who look like us. We have to change the perception of what a wine drinker looks like.” [8]
Winemaker Phil Long, president of the Association of African American Vintners (AAAV), in 2020 estimated that "About 1 percent of 1 percent of all winemakers are Black." [9] He said that in 2020 there were "a few dozen" who were both the winemaker and the brand owner. [9] Bloomberg estimated .1% of US winemakers and brand owners are Black. [8]
A 2019 survey by SevenFifty of 3100 industry professionals found that only 2% identify as Black. [1] The Washington Post pointed out that: [1]
A major entry obstacle for people of color interested in the wine profession is money. It is expensive to learn about wine, from tasting rare, famous bottlings to taking classes for professional certifications. Aspiring winemakers and other wine professionals build their résumés by traveling the world and working harvests in France and elsewhere. Opportunity comes with money.
In South Africa, there are approximately 60 Black-owned wine brands representing 3% of the country's wine industry, although the 2011 census figures showed 90% of the country identifies as Black African or Coloured. [8] [10] [11] : 21
Black wine professionals have reported experiencing microaggressions from others in the industry and other wine consumers. [1] [2] [12] Coney has said that in restaurants, servers and sommeliers will "steer her to cheaper wines or sweeter choices that fit their stereotype of what she might enjoy." [13] She has related stories of pours at tastings being smaller for her than for white men [14] and of being followed by staff at retail shops. [15] Other Black wine professionals tell of being assumed to be servers at wine tasting events. [16] Some report being grilled about their qualifications at wine events, asked who they knew who had invited them, or treated as if they were "either an imposter or an assistant, never the boss." [16] Until June 2020, the Court of Master Sommeliers required students to address Master Sommeliers as "master"; after sommelier Tahiirah Habibi related her discomfort during her 2011 introductory-level exam when she was the only person of color in the room, writing that her discomfort had been profound enough that she never again pursued any wine credentialling, they revised that requirement. [4] [17] [18] [19] [20] Brenae Royal, vineyard manager at Gallo’s Monte Rosso Vineyard, describes being mistaken for clerical staff in meetings. [10] Heather Johnston, a Brooklyn wine shop owner, describes having wine sales reps address their comments to her white male employee. [20]
Mac MacDonald founded the AAAV in 2002 with Ernie Bates and Vance Sharp to not only "find the needle in the haystack that is the Black winemaker, but also know it's there in the first place." [9] The organization was founded with the help of Urban Connoisseurs and the United Negro College Fund and supports African Americans pursuing careers in the wine industry. [12]
In 2005 Selena Cuffe co-founded Heritage Link Brands to support Black South African and Brazilian winemakers. [9]
Habibi in 2017 founded the Hue Society to provide a safe space for Black wine connoisseurs to enjoy wine without experiencing racism. [18] [19]
San Francisco sommelier Tonya Pitts reported in June 2020 that Millennial and Gen Z wine drinkers proactively requested wines from women and persons of color and were willing to pay more for those wines. [9]
Long and winemakers Theodora Lee and Danny Glover reported profoundly increased sales during the US racial reckoning. [9] In June 2020 the organization was reporting a surge in both memberships and donations. [12]
Coney created the Black Wine Professionals database in 2020 because she was tired of "being the only Black person invited to a tasting or on a sponsored trip to a wine region" and "seeing the wine industry toss money only to white social-media influencers" [13] and because industry "gatekeepers" had said they didn't contact black wine professionals because they didn't know how. [13] [21]
A group of wine professionals published Actionable Items for the Wine Community, a list of demands, in June 2020. [22] [23]
Robinson and Mags Janjo were as of June 2020 planning a survey of UK wine industry diversity. [4]
Wine Spectator announced that during the month of August 2020 they would highlight Black wine professionals in their Instagram Live series, Straight Talk with Wine Spectator. [24] [25] The series featured McDonald, Coney, Royal, Pitts, Carlton McCoy, Will Blackmon, André Hueston Mack and Terry Arnold. [25]
The 2020 film Uncorked, about a Black man studying for certification as a sommelier, "only lightly touched on" racism within the industry. [26]
A sommelier, or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the sommelier in fine dining today is much more specialized and informed than that of a wine waiter. Sommeliers Australia states that the role is strategically on par with that of the chef de cuisine.
Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a vessel like stainless steel. Oak barrels can impart other qualities to wine through evaporation and low level exposure to oxygen.
Master of Wine (MW) is a qualification issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom. The MW qualification is generally regarded in the wine industry as one of the highest standards of professional knowledge.
Blinded wine tasting is wine tasting undertaken in circumstances in which the tasters are kept unaware of the wines' identities. The blind approach is routine for wine professionals who wish to ensure impartiality in the judgment of the quality of wine during wine competitions or in the evaluation of a sommelier for professional certification. More recently wine scientists have used blinded tastings to explore the objective parameters of the human olfactory system as they apply to the ability of wine drinkers to identify and characterize the extraordinary variety of compounds that contribute to a wine’s aroma. Similarly, economists testing hypotheses relating to the wine market have used the technique in their research. Some blinded trials among wine consumers have indicated that people can find nothing in a wine's aroma or taste to distinguish between ordinary and pricey brands. Academic research on blinded wine tastings have also cast doubt on the ability of professional tasters to judge wines consistently.
Wine fraud relates to the commercial aspects of wine. The most prevalent type of fraud is one where wines are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products and sometimes with harmful chemicals and sweeteners.
The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export, and tourism.
A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to wine:
James Halliday is an Australian wine writer and critic, winemaker, and senior wine competition judge.
Alternative wine closures are substitute closures used in the wine industry for sealing wine bottles in place of traditional cork closures. The emergence of these alternatives has grown in response to quality control efforts by winemakers to protect against "cork taint" caused by the presence of the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA).
The process of fermentation in winemaking turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeasts transform sugars present in the juice into ethanol and carbon dioxide. In winemaking, the temperature and speed of fermentation are important considerations as well as the levels of oxygen present in the must at the start of the fermentation. The risk of stuck fermentation and the development of several wine faults can also occur during this stage, which can last anywhere from 5 to 14 days for primary fermentation and potentially another 5 to 10 days for a secondary fermentation. Fermentation may be done in stainless steel tanks, which is common with many white wines like Riesling, in an open wooden vat, inside a wine barrel and inside the wine bottle itself as in the production of many sparkling wines.
The harvesting of wine grapes (Vintage) is one of the most crucial steps in the process of wine-making. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to produce. The weather can also shape the timetable of harvesting with the threat of heat, rain, hail, and frost which can damage the grapes and bring about various vine diseases. In addition to determining the time of the harvest, winemakers and vineyard owners must also determine whether to use hand pickers or mechanical harvesters. The harvest season typically falls between August & October in the Northern Hemisphere and February & April in the Southern Hemisphere. With various climate conditions, grape varieties, and wine styles the harvesting of grapes could happen in every month of the calendar year somewhere in the world. In the New World it is often referred to as the crush.
James Suckling is an American wine and cigar critic and former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator as well as European Editor of Cigar Aficionado. Suckling is internationally regarded as one of the world's most influential wine critics, and one of the most experienced critics of vintage cigars.
The Sadie Family is a South African producer of wine located in the Swartland region. Following the emergence of flagship wines Columella and Palladius, winemaker Eben Sadie has been described as an enfant terrible, South Africa's first certified celebrity winemaker, and by supporters as "one of the greatest and most original winemakers in the southern hemisphere". He has also branched out to other wine regions, such as in Spain.
The Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) is an educational organisation established in 1977 to encourage improved standards of beverage service by sommeliers, particularly in wine and food pairing. From the court's inception through 2018, a worldwide total of 274 people have earned its Master Sommelier diploma, the highest level.
Vinologue is a publisher of an enotourism guidebook series of the same name. It was founded by Miquel Hudin in 2007 with the guides are designed to allow those interested in enotourism to visit "Big Wines from Small Regions" as they focus exclusively on the wines as well as the gastronomy and local culture of small regions throughout the world.
SGC is a brand of three Bordeaux wines coming from parcels of land that were not discovered at the time of the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The secret parcels on both left and right banks of Gironde river produce a Grand Vin. SGC parcels are small in size and produce a red wine in the following appellations: Medoc, Pomerol and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
Julia Coney is an American journalist and wine writer who has advocated for diversity and inclusion in the industry. She wrote an essay about racism in the wine industry and created Black Wine Professionals, a database tool intended to increase diversity in the industry.
McBride Sisters Wine Company is a Black-owned, female-led wine company in the United States. The company was founded in 2005 by African American winemakers Robin and Andréa McBride, who first met as adults and bonded over a shared passion for winemaking. The brand uses grapes from both California and New Zealand, and is focused on providing quality bottled and canned wines that are affordable and "celebrate inclusivity". As of 2020, Wine Spectator noted that it was the largest Black-owned wine company in the US by volume. According to the Boston Globe, McBride Sisters is also "one of the few Black-owned wine labels that encourages consumers to be socially conscious."
