Month: June 2020

“Whether writers, sommeliers, retailers, farmers or winemakers, black people in the wine world face a barrage of slights, whether small, possibly unconscious hostilities or overt racism. As a result, getting ahead requires a constant, fatiguing effort to pull against the friction of discrimination that slows what for whites would be a natural career progression.” In the New York Times, Eric Asimov speaks with nine black wine professionals “with the hope that their shared experiences might result in a deeper conversation and understanding among their peers in the wine world.”

“I got into wine because of its ability to connect people. We share bottles, we share stories, we share our vulnerability and ourselves. I connect with wine in a similar way that allyship and advocacy leads me to connect with my own and others’ humanity. Structures that aim to keep people like me away from this space don’t get the point of why wine exists.” In PUNCH, sommelier Miguel de Leon explains why it’s time to decolonize wine.

Robert M. Parker Jr. is this year’s Decanter Hall of Fame laureate. Andrew Jefford looks back on his legacy. “Robert Parker is the only rock star the wine world has ever produced. By that metaphor I mean a figure whose reach and influence is global, and whose name had a resonance beyond the confines of wine traders, enthusiasts, geeks and nerds.  He not only expanded that circle of enthusiasm colossally, but he altered and lifted the aesthetic parameters of what was possible in every wine-producing region around the world.”

Alder Yarrow explores the wines of Edmunds St. John. “Edmunds is notable, even venerable as a pioneer of California wine. But what makes him truly remarkable is the unswerving consistency of his winemaking vision. Edmunds St. John wines have always had a presence to them, a direction in which they are clearly headed. What they might seem to lack in flash (to some), they more than make up for in simply consistent deliciousness.”

It’s been 15 years since the US Supreme Court voted to allow interstate wine sales. Yet out-of-state commerce is still stuck. Jeff Siegel asks why in Meininger’s.

In Wine-Searcher, W. Blake Gray shares how Jesse Katz has endured opening a winery in the face of the pandemic.

In Forbes, Jill Barth looks at how wine tariffs may further impact small wine business in 2020, and explains how consumers can weigh in. “The next review is set for later this summer, and that process will again include a public comment portal which will address the goods currently impacted by the Airbus tariffs plus other items including wines from Italy and additional products from Europe.”

The Wall Street Journal reports on how US wine importers are bracing for higher tariffs.

In the New York Times, a pandemic work diary of Napa winery Heitz Cellar CEO Carlton McCoy, the first African-American to run a major winery.

Jancis Robinson provides some updates to her social progress report on South Africa. “A common complaint was that, while Black engagement in the wine industry may have improved a bit quantitatively (the number of Black-owned wine labels, etc), qualitatively there is still a great deal to be done.”

In Wine Enthusiast, Kerin O’Keefe reports on reactions to the new Prosecco Rosé designation. “However, not everyone is thrilled. Producers in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, a separate appellation located north of Venice, strongly oppose the new designation.”

In the Washington Post, Dave McIntyre covers recent efforts to make the wine industry more inclusive.

Amber Gibson offers a beginner’s guide to consigning wine in VinePair.