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No matter what you’re buying, where you spend your money can make a big difference — especially now, when so many small businesses have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s true of the wine industry as a whole, too. Despite a boom in booze sales, wineries and wine retailers are trying to stay in business.
If you’re a wine lover, it’s important to check out the labels on your cabernets and chardonnays and seek out smaller businesses whenever you can. That includes supporting Black-owned wine brands and winemakers who have often been overlooked by the overwhelming white wine industry.
“The spotlight on Black voices in the wine world is overdue but so welcome,” TJ Douglas, owner of Urban Grape in Boston, wrote in an email to HuffPost Finds. “My hope, however, is that when this spotlight inevitably dies down — and it will — that the media and customers will still seek us out. Not to talk just about the Black experience in wine, but to utilize our expertise and knowledge about wine itself.”
In addition to buying from Black-owned wine brands, you can make sure these brands are stocked on store shelves in the first place.
Robin McBride, one of the owners of the McBride Sisters Collection, recommends telling your favorite wine shops, restaurant and bars to carry Black-owned brands in their stores and online. It’s one of the ways to make sure this is “a movement and not a moment,” she said.
If you want to stock your wine rack with a few bottles by Black-owned wine makers but aren’t sure about where to start, we asked wine experts — including sommeliers, owners of wine stores or those with their own wine lines — for their recommendations of Black-owned brands that everyone should try out.
Remember you can always support Black-owned businesses, including Black-owned Etsy home decor shops and Black-owned beauty brands, along with buying books by Black authors and art from Black artists.
Check out these expert-recommended Black-owned wine brands: