So You Think You Hate Chardonnay…

Three glasses of white wine
Picture of Ty Robinson

Ty Robinson

Ty (he/him) started his career in the wine and spirits industry 14 years ago right here at France 44! He took some time away to get a Masters in Gastronomy and since, has worked in every facet of the industry, from restaurants to retail. Ty is a Certified Sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers of America. He returned to France 44 in the Fall of 2023 and is happy to have been welcomed back. His favorite wines are Chenin Blanc, Syrah and anything from Germany or Austria.

So you think you hate Chardonnay… So did I. Chardonnay is a grape that has no one true “style.” It’s a chameleon in the wine world. It can range in style from enamel ripping acidic to rich, luxurious and buttery. I feel like Americans have a skewed vision of Chardonnay because here in The States, we have become known for the big rich buttery popcorn laden Chardonnays that our moms all drank growing up. But that is only the beginning of the story for Chardonnay.  

Chardonnay is one of the most famous varietals in the world, and rightfully so. It can really be made in so many styles that there is one that will certainly suit you. I always thought I hated the varietal until I came back to the store and have been able to taste different iterations and styles of the grape. I have since come to love the varietal and differences between the many styles of Chardonnay. 

Chardonnay is grown across the globe with the main producers being France (Burgundy) and the USA (California and Oregon mostly). What makes Chardonnay unique is the the way winemakers can stylistically manipulate the grapes to produce a range of expressions.

Within Burgundy, you can see bright high acid fruity expressions with no oak (Chablis) AND rich, oily and textural versions that have almost a honeyed tropical fruit note (Meursault).

Oak barrels commonly used to age Chardonnay wine

The story is similar stateside, where our classic California Chardonnays range from rich and buttery, reminiscent of movie theater popcorn, to unoaked varieties that are bright and zippy, with driving acidity and minerality.

Oregon chardonnays tend to be more like Burgundy as they can’t get quite the same level of ripeness as in California, and they generally utilize oak in their winemaking with a lighter hand.    

Through all our wine team tastings, I have found that I love unoaked Chardonnay or Chardonnays that use oak in a well-integrated, not overbearing manner. Recently I have been loving the Alois Lageder Gaun Chardonnay from Italy. It sees some oak but it’s there for structure and imparts no flavor components to the wine. Beautifully bright and acidic with aromas of apple and lemon peel, this Chardonnay is light and easy to drink with enough complexity to keep you coming back for another sip.

I also have been loving the Martin Woods Chardonnay. The winemaker lets the purity of the fruit shine through and uses minimal oak (and what he does use is neutral) to create a wine that is reminiscent of Chablis. Bright, fresh, high in acid and a lovely mineral tone to keep the wine zippy. 

For oaked Chardonnay, my favorite of late has been the Becker “Schweigener” Chardonnay from the Pfalz in Germany. This Chardonnay is big and bold, much like its California brethren, but it uses oak only to create a rich, mouthfeel and a creamy texture. Beautiful, lush and well made, it made me appreciate what oak can do for Chardonnay.  

So get out of your comfort zone – pick up a bottle of Chardonnay and learn about the diverse wines this grape can produce!

The Season for Chillable Reds

Three bottles of red wine on a sunny sidewalk next to a picnic basket
Picture of Jennifer Simonson

Jennifer Simonson

Jennifer is a writer, photographer and wine enthusiast who publishes a blog called Bookworm, in which she pairs wine with books. It combines two of her favorite pastimes and is intended to make both reading and sipping wine more enjoyable. She recently received her WSET Level 3 in Wines certification through France 44 Wine & Spirits Education. She lives in Linden Hills and enjoys running around the city lakes, gardening, cooking and making art.

It’s nearly summertime, which means I’m craving easy-drinking wines to enjoy at the lake, on a picnic, or with friends in the backyard. While you can’t go wrong with bright and fruity rosé, did you know that some red wines can be equally as refreshing? The key is to choose the right wine and to serve it chilled to intensify its freshness.

The great news is that “chillable” red wine need not be expensive. Red wines that are fruity, light- to medium-bodied, with low tannin and high acidity, are great candidates to be chilled. Consider Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Zweigelt, Dolcetto, Lambrusco, and some red blends.

I generally refrigerate chillable red wine for several hours, moving them to the countertop 30 minutes before I intend to serve. If the wine seems muted, it might be too cold, so give it some time to warm up in your glass. Feel free to experiment and see what temperature brings out the best aromas and flavors in your favorite wine. Light-bodied reds should be served at 55 F, whereas the range for ‘chillable’ reds is slightly cooler, around 50-55 F. (And you might be surprised to learn that the recommended serving temperature for medium- and full-bodied red wine is a somewhat cool “room temperature” of 59-64 F.)

Chillable reds are delicious on their own, but they’re also extremely food-friendly because of their fruity character and high acidity. There’s no need to be fussy with your pairings – it’s summertime after all! Think about meals that come together easily and incorporate fresh vegetables and grilled foods or picnic fare such as pasta salads, cheeses and charcuterie. One of my favorites pairings with a chillable red is the fennel salami sandwich and potato chips from the France 44 Cheese Shop.

The wines I recommend below are made with care, but they’re not wines for cellaring – these youthful wines are drinking beautifully right now! In this line up, the first wine has the most broad appeal, the second is for adventurous drinkers, and the third offers a surprising twist on a familiar grape.

This juicy wine strikes the perfect summertime balance between ripe and tart fruit. On the nose find red cherry, red raspberry, blackberry, cranberry, red currant, plus a touch of baking spice. With light body, high acidity and low tannin, this wine can be paired with just about anything. Buy a case for your next patio party on a hot summer day – everyone will be happy!

The wine is a blend of 59% Carignan, 33% Zinfandel, 6% Petit Syrah, and 2% Mataro.

Three Wine Co. is a family-run, sustainable winery. Winemaker Matt Cline and his wife Erin, who runs the tasting room, work primarily with California’s historic, pre-prohibition varietals, including Zinfandel, Mataro, and Carignan. Cline utilizes blending in his winemaking to find “a perfect balance between the grapes.”

In the carefree spirit of summertime, this expressive red wine made from 100% Brachetto is a sensory adventure. It’s fermented with indigenous yeast in stainless steel and then aged for 5+ months on the lees of Arneis, a white grape variety native to Piedmont. It’s unfiltered and might appear a bit hazy.

Pronounced floral and fruity aromas jump from the glass – think rose petal, hibiscus, violet, fresh strawberry, raspberry, sour cherry, red fruit punch and orange peel. The acid is refreshingly high, but this wine has a bit more body and texture than the ‘Faux Pas,’ as well as an enjoyably, long finish.

Serve this wine to impress your most curious friends. It’s aromatic, intriguing and complex, but remains easy drinking. It’s a wine you’ll reach for all summer long, and I think it pairs perfectly with wood-fired pizza. Recommended serving temperature is 50-59 F.

The Negro estate, which dates to 1670, practices organic viticulture in the Roero subregion of Piedmont. Winemaker Angelo Negro works exclusively with the region’s native grapes, including Arneis, and Nebbiolo.

Most of us are familiar with full-bodied, rich and jammy California Zinfandel. But what happens to the wine when those Zinfandel grapes are grown in a cooler climate? The wine becomes almost “Beaujolais-esque,” like this one from Blue Quail exhibiting a lighter body, elevated acidity and medium alcohol at 13%.

The climate in Mendocino County’s Potter Valley AVA is cool with high diurnal range. Grapes ripen slowly during warm days, but cool nights preserve their acidity. They can hang on the vine longer under these conditions and develop a full flavor.

The fruity character of this dry wine is more candied than the previous two, but that sweetness is balanced with freshness. On the nose and palate, look for cherry vanilla cola, strawberry jam, cranberry, blackberry, and a bit of black peppercorn and earth. Of the three wines, this one can withstand the heartiest food pairing.

The McFadden Family planted these Zinfandel vines in 1971, and they’re some of the oldest in Potter Valley. The organic grapes are whole cluster pressed and fermented in oak.

Earth-Friendly: Wine Beyond the Labels

Mary Certain

Mary is a wine enthusiast and Level 3 WSET graduate. She loves walking around Lake Harriet to admire all the happy pups, cooking with her foodie friends and family, and is extremely competitive about jigsaw puzzles.

Wine may technically be a luxury item vs. a necessity, but for many (myself included) it greatly contributes to the enjoyment of life, and is not something I’m looking to cut out. So, with our wine habit here to stay, how can we reduce the environmental impact of our consumption? As with most goals that seem too big or unclear, the important thing is to get started, do the best we can, and keep going!

Buzzwords (Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainably grown, Eco-friendly, etc.) can be a helpful place to start, but can also be redundant or confusing. Beyond that, many wines are made using the same conscientious techniques, and yet for one reason or another they don’t use these terms overtly. The following are a few other pieces I think about when seeking a wine that will be better for the Earth (and taste better, too!)

Vineyard Care

This encompasses everything from water use to pest control to soil stewardship, and beyond. Grape vines take years to mature and are high-maintenance to keep in healthy condition, annually producing the best possible fruit. 

So, I say the single best indicator of a sustainable wine is a wine-maker’s enthusiasm for the site and soil where their grapes are grown. When they have pride in the land they tend, they are judicious with their resources, cautious with interventions, and careful in how they manage the fruit once picked. They take a long-view approach and do what is best for the earth, because that same ground will continue to grow the vines for future years and they know exactly how special it is. 

Love of the land and masterful winemaking knowledge translates to a delightful bottle in Christina Gruner’s Veltliner Austria 2022. 

(Full disclosure; I happened to meet Christina recently and can vouch that she is a lovely gracious person as well as being a passionately responsible winemaker!)

Barrels

Using oak barrels to ferment and age wine is a longstanding tradition, but mature oak trees are a slow-growing resource and add significant cost as well. By using neutral (previously used) barrels for their wine, a winemaker can take advantage of the benefits of oak, allowing it to soften and gain complexity, but without imparting oaky flavor notes. 

This means the hard work of growing healthy grapes in the vineyard isn’t overshadowed by the wood and they are able to reuse existing barrels. Win(e)-win(e)! Queen of Sierra Amber Calaveras County 2023 uses only neutral oak for barrels (as do all wines from Forlorn Hope).

Packaging

This is where we as consumers have the most direct impact! Aside from packaging being a source of waste, the weight of heavy glass bottles is relatively high compared to alternatives and the space required to ship is double. 

If you’re serving wine for a large gathering, consider a boxed wine. The quality and range of options in boxes is constantly increasing as more people are appreciating this flexible option. And if serving a boxed wine feels too informal, simply transfer it into a lovely pitcher or carafe. Bandit Pinot Grigio from California is a great choice and a crowd pleaser!

Riesling Reflections: Literary Inspirations & Wine Explorations

Picture of Jennifer Simonson

Jennifer Simonson

Jennifer is a writer, photographer and wine enthusiast who publishes a blog called Bookworm, in which she pairs wine with books. It combines two of her favorite pastimes and is intended to make both reading and sipping wine more enjoyable. She recently received her WSET Level 3 in Wines certification through France 44 Wine & Spirits Education. She lives in Linden Hills and enjoys running around the city lakes, gardening, cooking and making art.

Pairing books and wine is not unlike pairing food and wine, in that I look for areas of congruence and/or contrast, always in search of balance. The pairing can be inspired by many things – a character’s personality, the writing style, the author, where the novel takes place, or my final impression after reading a book. Most books have multiple pairing options, and to create your own, simply consider what elements speak most to you.

Below is a summary of a recent pairing that incorporates one of my favorite grape varieties, Riesling. While it’s made in a range of styles from dry to sweet, with its naturally high acidity, Riesling is always refreshing. (Perfect for spring and summer!) If this pairing inspires you to explore more Riesling, consider the additional recommendations at the end of this post.

And visit my Bookworm blog for the complete book review, wine tasting note, and a lengthier explanation about why the pairing is successful.

The Book: North Woods by Daniel Mason

North Woods by Daniel MasonBroadly, this novel is about a home in New England and all of its inhabitants from colonial times to the present day. It’s filled with evocative language, imaginative characters and delightful surprises – and it’s one of the best books I’ve read in years. While the story is dark at times, it’s also humorous and hopeful.

Among the memorable characters are an orchardist, spinster sisters, a painter, a spirit medium, a mother devoted to her schizophrenic son, and an amateur historian. Their emotional lives are rich with longing, delight, absurdity and deceit. While the people in the home come and go, it is a testament to Mason’s skill as a writer that we remain immersed in their stories.

Nature is featured as largely as any of the characters in the book, and the wooded, rural landscape is described with extraordinary attentiveness. The natural world is a constant, albeit evolving, presence. The chapters follow the months and seasons, illuminating the interconnectedness of all living things.

The author links the home’s inhabitants – and the landscape around them – in extraordinary ways, shining a light on the mystery and magnificence of human existence. North Woods is at once a majestic exploration of the centuries and a detailed study of a specific place. Both undergo tremendous change, filling us with curiosity about the past, wonder at the present, and inevitably, hope for the future.

Ravines RieslingThis dry Riesling comes from the Finger Lakes AVA in central New York State, which is known for it’s deep glacial lakes, gorges, waterfalls and woods. In this cold climate, producers Morten and Lisa Hallgren seek to make wines that “embrace mother nature’s variability.”

Floral aromas of honeysuckle and orange blossom mingle with lemon zest, lime, fresh apricot, just-ripe pineapple, yellow apple and wet stones. This wine is medium bodied with a citrus-forward palate and refreshing acidity, and it’s absolutely delicious.

Why the Pairing Works

For me, Ravines Dry Riesling evokes the lush, forested environment that Mason describes so eloquently in North Woods. Imagine a New England landscape where “(s)lugs leave hieroglyphs on the beech bark,” and a brook “splits the hillside like a tear in the fabric of the earth.” Just as the seasons are integral to this story, so too is climate to wine producers in the Finger Lakes.

While winter here is generally too cold for Vitis vinifera, the exceptionally deep lakes create a special microclimate that allows for viticulture. (Several of these glacial lakes are deeper than the sea floor!) Large bodies of water cool down and heat up more slowly than the surrounding land, which circulates air and moderates temperatures in the nearby vineyards. The best vineyards in the region are located on the steep-sloped shores of lakes Seneca, Keuka and Cayuga.

This Riesling embodies its extraordinary growing region and pairs perfectly with North Woods, where nature takes center stage.

Other Rieslings to Try

While cold-tolerant, late-budding Riesling thrives in the Finger Lakes, most world-class Riesling comes from Germany. Autumn is long, cool, and generally dry, allowing grapes to reach peak sugar ripeness and to retain acidity. Stylistically, the wines range from dry to very sweet. Riesling is known for its ability to age in the bottle where it develops aromas and flavors of honey and toast, but maintains freshness.

The following two German Rieslings are among my favorites at France 44, and they are quite different from one another:

This dry sparkling wine is made using the traditional method, just like Champagne, but it’s produced in the Pfalz from 100% Riesling. The organic grapes are hand harvested, and only the first 50% of the pressing goes into this wine. The base wine is fermented in stainless steel and large oak barrels. Then, it undergoes the traditional second fermentation in bottle, capturing the carbon dioxide, and spends 30 months on the lees.

The lees, which are dead yeast cells, break down and impart texture, richness and notes of brioche. Ripe apple, pear and lemon zest round out the nose and palate, and the bubbles are energetic and refreshing.

I first tasted this wine in a German Wines class at France 44, and I immediately loved it. I was told it’s phenomenal with fried chicken – a pairing I can’t wait to try!

The Karthäuserhof winery in the Mosel is the eighth oldest in the world, dating back to 1335 when Carthusian monks farmed the vineyards. Today, it’s managed by the 7th generation of a family who has owned it since 1811.

While this estate produces mostly dry wines, this one is sweet. Spätlese means late harvest, so as the grapes hang on the vine they accumulate sugar. The riper grapes produce wines with greater flavor concentration and body, which is immediately evident in this wine.

On the nose and palate, expect ripe fruit like apricot, peach, apple, pear, and pineapple, as well as orange blossom, wet stones and ginger. And while the sweetness is noticeable, it’s perfectly balanced by high acidity and fruity flavors.

At 8.5% ABV, this low-alcohol wine pairs nicely with spicy foods as alcohol tends to exacerbate the burning sensation of chili heat.

Women in Wine

Winemakers Cris Yagüe Cuevas and Maria Falcón
Picture of Nicole Collins-Kwong

Nicole Collins-Kwong

Nicole is a wine enthusiast who has completed the WSET 3 certification through France 44 and continues her education with tasting groups and events around town. She adores all wines, especially the unique and unusual styles. When she's not popping corks, Nicole loves to cook, hang with her husband and two boys, and tend to her urban zoo complete with dogs, a cat and chickens!

I recently attended a talk by a prominent importer who specializes in small growers, especially generational family-owned wineries. What struck me most about his talk had nothing to do with the wines, but the casual way he described all winemakers and growers as men. This left a bad taste in my mouth, which was unfortunate, because he was pouring some really great wines!

The phenomenon isn’t entirely surprising, though, given the history of leadership roles passing down from father to son. Or in the absence of a son, son-in-law. Women were typically only allowed to step in when there was a death (check out the book Widow Clicquot about one of the most infamous examples of this).  Things are slowly beginning to shift, with daughters taking over more and more.

 There’s still a long way to go, though. So, what can we do?  

  1. Listen to stories about women in wine: Winesplaining – a podcast hosted by an LA-based sommelier and owner of a female-focused wine shop, the show peels back the layers of the women‘s journeys that are shaping the wine business.
  2. Bolster careers of women who want to BE in wine:
    • March 25 is National Women in Wine Day! Created by two female winemakers from California, the celebration aims to support and empower women seeking to enter the wine business. Their website features dozens of accomplished women and their stories, and invites visitors to nominate more. They also offer scholarship and donation resources to help women on their journey. 
    • Dream Big Darling – a non-profit aiming to help women in the early stages of building their wine careers, they offer education, mentorship, community and access to opportunities.
  3. And perhaps most importantly, drink wine made by women! The wines featured below are all available in the shop. Or ask a staff member for guidance finding MANY additional women-made wines we carry in stock.

Anónimas Wines

Winemakers Cris Yagüe Cuevas and Maria Falcón make Albarino from their home base in the northwest Rias Baixas region of Spain, and also source grapes from other areas of Spain to create highly-rated wines. “Anónimas is a project from the vine to the consumer, a tribute to the anonymous women that should have had their place in history and were never recognized. We collaborate with other women in the world of winegrowers, winemakers and enologists to make these personal wines.”

Anónimas Albariño Os Dunares Rias Baixas 2022 – $25.99

This Albariño is grown less than a mile from the ocean on 30+ year old vines, using sustainable winegrowing processes. No oak aging, unfiltered, this natural wine is dynamic and fun to enjoy on its own or with seafood or Manchego.

Anonimas Wine

Knudsen Vineyards

Page Knudsen Cowles is the owner and managing partner, taking over the family business from her parents, who were some of the first wine pioneers in Oregon in the 1970’s. Fun fact: she also has roots established locally, splitting her time between Minnesota and Oregon.

Knudsen Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 Willamette Valley – $64.99

This fresh-faced Pinot noir brings light body and a good balance of youthful fruit and complex spices with a whisper of oak in the background. The fruit turns pleasantly tart on the palate with suggestions of orange blossom and allspice, supported by crisp acidity and a pleasantly long finish.

Penley Vineyards

Winner of the 2024 Australian Winemaker of the year, Kate Goodman brings a contemporary winemaking style to the Coonawarra valley. She joins sister owners, Ang and Bec Tolley, to round out this award-winning winery full of women in leadership roles. They make bloody good wine, too!

Penley Cabernet Sauvignon Phoenix Coonawarra 2021 – $21.99

This wine shows dominance of spicy cabernet fruit, a dense ripeness with hints of smoky oak and grape tannin. A wine made to enjoy while young, ripe but elegant, distinct Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon characters are evident.

Penley Vineyards

Zulal

Meaning “pure” in Armenia, Zulal is the creation of Aimee Keushguerian, second-generation winemaker who celebrates native Armenian grape varietals. Her story was recently featured in the documentary, “Somm: Cup of Salvation,” a film about Aimee and her father’s journey to make exceptional wines in one of the most historic, and tumultuous, regions in the world. 

Zulal Areni 2019 – $24.99

Made from the native Armenian grape Areni, this wine brings aromas of red cherries, plums and black pepper. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied with refreshing acidity and concentrated flavors of berries and spices. 

Zulal

Complicating the Black Relationship to Wine: Part 2

Barrel holding two wine bottles
Picture of Kaleigh Swift

Kaleigh Swift

Kaleigh has been working with the France 44 events team since January 2023. She received her WSET 1-3 certifications through France 44. Kaleigh also works in communications at the University of Minnesota. In her free time, she enjoys playing and watching volleyball, spending time with her cats, and working on house projects. Kaleigh is an avid vermouth fan and never misses an opportunity to introduce someone to Spanish-style sweet vermouths!

If you read part 1 of this blog post duo, you’ll know a bit more about the early history of fermented alcoholic beverages in pre-colonial Africa, along with some mentions of the first Black viticulturists and vinters in the United States.

Now, we can look more at the “why” behind that history, to help make sense of how we got to today, where Black presence in wine is becoming more visible. This post will look more closely at false stereotypes, Black perceptions of wine, and on my own personal experiences as a consumer and professional in the industry.

While researching the origin of the stereotypes I mentioned last week, which assert that Black people don’t like fuller-bodied, complex wines, I ran into quite a few interesting finds. Several articles that re-affirmed these stereotypes with less than impressive lines of reasoning, some blog posts pushing back, and even a few published research papers.

Quite a few modern pieces hypothesized an explanation for these stereotypes that I think is logical. Racism and white supremacy is a socialization process and system of power that dehumanizes Black and indigenous people, erases their cultures and histories through colonialism, and insists that they are fundamentally incapable of producing complex and “civilized” societies. Through the normalization of these beliefs, especially in America, harmful stereotypes have emerged, rooted in the assertion that Black (and indigenous) people are too uncivilized to understand, participate in, or comprehend the complexities of society.

Black people, almost by default, get excluded from, or written out of wine history because acknowledging our ancestors and their contributions also forces society to reconcile with the fact that, as I mentioned last week, “undoubtedly, where grapes were grown and wine was produced in the new world, slave labor was being used to do so”. Black history and the history of wine are intertwined. We, in fact, are fully capable of understanding wine, having complex palates, and knowledgeably producing quality products.

Articles seeking to broaden the discourse on the Black experience in the wine industry often begin with personal narratives of authors encountering assumptions about their presence at industry events or being directed towards budget and sweeter products. These anecdotes underscore the persistent challenges of racism in the field.

And in my research for this blog, I started to question whether or not this stereotype I’ve been researching, the preference for sweeter wines like moscato among Black wine drinkers, actually existed, or whether it had in some way been manufactured by the industry insisting and marketing folks into believing that was the case.

On the one hand, let’s acknowledge that moscato is an easy drinking wine that is a great intro for folks who are new to wine, or just looking for something a little sweeter. On the other hand, that is the case for all people, not just Black people. And our ability to enjoy wine doesn’t stop at moscato alone, as evidenced by Mother Vines: A History of Black Women and Wine, a research project explaining over 400 years of documented history of Black women’s relationships to wine and exploring this intersectionality between race, class, and gender.

My own experiences of wine have included very little moscato that I can recall. Even prior to studying wine, I purchased primarily Pinot Noirs or Sauvignon Blancs. I was always willing to try new things and found wine to be utterly fascinating.

Some years ago, I started visiting my uncle regularly in the Bay Area, and one of our favorite things to do was go up to Napa wineries. It was during these visits that my journey to becoming a wine professional started. Not because I was in awe of the folks presenting us wines in Napa, but often because I felt like I wanted to know more and my inquisitiveness was often met with derision and hasty answers, lacking depth.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be nurtured by the wine professionals at France 44 who saw my interest as a positive quality and happily answered my questions throughout WSET (a wine certification program administered by France 44), and beyond. I am excited and proud to be Black in wine, and have found a lot of joy in this journey. Unfortunately, this is not the experience of many. We have a long way to go before people who have historically been written out of wine are able to be fully recognized and appreciated for their value and contribution to the industry.

Complicating the Black Relationship to Wine: Part 1

Picture of Kaleigh Swift

Kaleigh Swift

Kaleigh has been working with the France 44 events team since January 2023. She received her WSET 1-3 certifications through France 44. Kaleigh also works in communications at the University of Minnesota. In her free time, she enjoys playing and watching volleyball, spending time with her cats, and working on house projects. Kaleigh is an avid vermouth fan and never misses an opportunity to introduce someone to Spanish-style sweet vermouths!

The key to understanding Black people’s historical and modern relationship to wine–grape growing, winemaking, selling, and consumption–is to look at Black people’s relationship to this land, this society, and our ancestors. 

We are well overdue for a confrontation of the harmful stereotypes around Black people’s “preferences” of sweeter wines and assumptions that we have no interest in more complex, robust, full bodied beverages as writer Kimberly Marie Ousley details in her 2017 article “Stop Telling Me to Drink Sweet Wine Just Because I’m a Woman of Color.” 

We won’t get through the entirety of this conversation in this one blog post, but I hope to at least direct you towards some good sources, and of course some good wines! We’ll focus on some broad topics that will help to sketch a more nuanced picture of how we got to today, where less than 1% of the US’s more than 11,000 wineries are Black-owned, and it’s commonly assumed that Black people have had no place in winemaking history.

The intentional fermentation of grape juice into an alcoholic beverage is thought to date back to the early neolithic era with earliest evidence dating back to 6000 BCE from the Gadachrili Gora settlement in Georgia. (Did you make it to our Ancient wines pop up? So cool!) By 2700 BCE, a winemaking industry was well established in ancient Egypt, a civilization that was also actively trading with others in the Mediterranean, North Africa, West Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Near East.

The wine industry in Egypt was likely brought by experts from the Levant. And while grapes and wine didn’t feature prominently in Africa until the time of the Egyptian dynasties, the fermentation of fruit and grain juices was far from uncommon across the entire continent of Africa (and across the whole world). 

Early alcoholic beverages were likely early forms of mead, as honey was a product cultivated as early as 40,000 years ago. Palm wine, a popular beverage made from the sap of certain types of palm trees in west Africa, has also long been important to cultural and social traditions.

In the “modern era” (meaning settler colonialism onward), wine’s importance to Western European culture and ritual necessitated its export to the places they colonized. 

And undoubtedly, where grapes were grown and wine was produced in the new world, slave labor was being used to do so, though written documentation is scarce. The estate of Thomas Jefferson confirmed that enslaved laborers were in fact responsible for cultivating the 193 acres Jefferson had designated for producing wine grapes. The earliest written record of a Black person making wine comes in 1888 when in Orra Langhorne’s book Southern Sketches of Virginia, she recounts a visit to the Charlottesville, VA estate of Robert Scott, a Black man, where she enjoyed, “…an excellent glass of wine made from his own grapes.”

Much of Black people’s historical relationship to wine remains obscure, though anecdotally many families’ histories speak of their ancestors making “jug wine” for consumption by their own families or communities. Sound familiar? This is how much of the wine of the world is produced–locally and at small scales. This method of production undoubtedly made wine more accessible and cost effective for Black people. 

However, over the course of the 20th century, Black land theft likely made any small production that was in existence virtually impossible. The longstanding socio-economic disparities caused by systemic racism, particularly around access to land ownership and capital, has played an outsized role in the lack of diversity in the industry. 

Less obscure is Black peoples’ historical relationship to liquor production, including famous brands such as Jack Daniels. The crops used to produce many types of liquor were more readily available and actively grown in the US for food–unlike grapes–leading to continuous production of liquors even during prohibition.

We got the first Black-owned winery in 1940 in Clarksville, VA, where John June Lewis Sr. opened a small commercial winery that successfully produced a dry red wine and a dessert wine made from dried (raisin) grapes. In the decades leading up to the 21st century we have a small handful of trailblazing Black wine professionals making splashes in the industry, such as Deneen, David and Coral Brown of Brown Estates in Napa, Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars in sonoma, and Iris Rideau of Rideau Vineyards outside of Solvang. These wineries still exist today! In recent years, the presence of Black viticulturists, winemakers with vineyards and estates, and even négociants is actively increasing and becoming more reflective of consumers. 

The conversation continues in part 2 HERE!

We’re highlighting some of the work of fantastic producers this Black History Month. You can learn more about and purchase some select products below!

In Sheep's Clothing Cabernet

Black cherry and dark brooding blackberry balanced by bright lifted notes, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from both Wahluke Slope and Red Mountain in Washington state. The opulence of fruit is dominant, balanced by smooth tannins and a long finish.

O.P.P. Pinot Noir

An accessible, great value wine that stays true to the character of the vineyards from which it was born. Earthy, spicy, floral, herb-framed flavors of cherry with gingery wood spice tones.

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

A fruit-driven, full-bodied, complex red blend sourced from Southern Oregon and Washington State. The rich, ripe, voluptuous fruit comes from the Syrah out of the Rogue Valley in southwestern Oregon, with just enough Washington Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to give it complexity and structure. Barrel aged for 10 months.

McBride Sisters Red Blend

A hint of toasty mocha carries the robust plum and cherry aromas through to the lush, full palate. Soft, round and full of jammy fruit, this wine finishes with an elegant touch of fine-grained tannins.

McBride Sisters Sauvignon Blanc

Generous tropical fruits pair with white flowers and citrus on the nose. Ripe peach and mango aromas play with more exotic fruits like passion fruit and Fuji apple. In the mouth, key lime flavors hang on a medium full body, which contrasts beautifully with the firm acidity and mineral tone on the finish.

The Wines the World Forgot

Grapes growing on raised trellis
Picture of Karina Roe

Karina Roe

Karina (she/her) as a wine educator and as our Events General Manager. She has her Diploma in WSET Wines & Spirits, and finds that her fridge is constantly occupied by bubbles, Riesling, and non-alcoholic beer. She and her partner share an adorable dog named Ziggy who loves eating sticks as much as she likes drinking bubbles.

We’ve all heard (and used) categorical language like “New World” and “Old World” when it comes to describing the kind of wines we like, with “Old World” largely referring to European wines and “New World” being used for countries like the United States, all of South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. While these terms are extremely fraught, we have a hard time breaking out of using them because they’re comfortable shorthand for the descriptive, esoteric (and exclusive/isolating) wine language we’re maybe less familiar with and less confident in using. 

There are, of course, some “New World” (aka, non-European) regions that have a longer winemaking history than some European regions and frankly, the lines get pretty blurry when it comes to why wines taste different between those two categories. They’re just not the accurate descriptors they may have once been. But honestly, our wine drinking culture today is far less focused on using accurate wine descriptors and categories and much more interested in the story of a wine. We want to taste a little pizzazz, a little romance! Doesn’t your wine taste better when you know the name of the horse that plowed the vineyard rows? 

But if we look beyond that western skyline (both literally and figuratively), there’s a wine story that’s far, far older than any European country. Marc Hochar of Chateau Musar in Lebanon purportedly coined the term “Ancient World” to bring that story back into the conversation. All the wine regions situated east of western Europe (or at least those that became aligned with the East after the fall of the Roman Empire) usually get conveniently forgotten when it comes to classic/traditional wine education. But where Europe’s winemaking began in earnest with the influence of the Roman Empire, these Ancient World regions were making wine thousands of years earlier than that. 

So, what are we actually talking about with Ancient World wines? Greece and Lebanon can absolutely be included in that category, for starters. Greece had a huge viticultural influence on the Roman Empire and helped spread wine all throughout Europe, and modern-day Lebanon was once part of Phoenicia (and we all know how much the Phoenicians loved wine). But equally or more ancient are regions like the Republic of Georgia and Armenia. How old are we talking? There are archaeological records dating back over 8000 years and 6000 years, respectively.  

The modern-day wines of these regions have benefited from the technological innovations of the 21st century, but the farmers and makers of these wines are fierce protectors of their heritage and champion their native varieties and ancient traditions. Use of qvevri and amphora for fermentation and aging vessels is not uncommon, nor are “orange wine” (or white grape skin contact) fermentations. Varieties like Rkatsiteli, Areni and Voskehat are cultural equivalents of what Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are to the western world. 

Our Ancient World Wine Bar Pop-Up on February 16 is the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with these varieties and techniques. These wines are deliciously approachable and thoughtfully made, yet perfectly unfamiliar and will invite you to spend a little more time with them. Join us to learn about their stories while you sip your way through ancient history. 

Sneak Peek of featured Ancient World wines: 

Keush ‘Origins’ Brut 

Lyrarakis ‘Voila’ Assyrtiko 

Orgo Rkatsiteli 

Chateau Musar ‘Levantine’ Red Blend 

And then, mark your calendar for February 20th at Parkway Theater for a screening of the newest of the Somm movies, the highly-anticipated Cup of Salvation, presented by Twin Cities Somms! Click HERE for tickets and more information.