Who doesn’t love to enjoy a chilled glass of white wine after a long day after work? Ingrid Best, founder of IBest Wines, would agree that there’s nothing better than raising your glass filled with white wine and branzino to toast to a beautiful summer day.
However, Tia Clarke, founder of Roman Clarke wines prefers a robust red wine. That’s the beauty of wine, your palate and preference is entirely up to you. Wine is more than just a drink—it’s history, culture, and craftsmanship in a glass. From vineyards to tasting rooms, today’s panel conversation at the Food and Wine stage at ESSENCE Festival Of Culture and moderated by ESSENCE Senior Lifestyle Editor, uncorked the stories behind winemaking, the rise of Black-owned wine brands, and how diverse voices are shaping the industry.
Panelists, Ingrid Best, Tia Clarke, Buchi Osondu and Dozie Osondu, engaged in a thoughtful conversation on the diverse world of wine, and how Black people have always been part of it, whether we receive the acknowledgement or not.
For Best, part of her journey in the wine industry has been encouraging people who look like her to get involved. “When I first got my start in the industry, there were not a lot of people that looked like us. And for me, that was the opportunity. I was like, ‘You know what? There’s not enough of us here and I’m going to do everything that I need to do in my career to make sure that I’m bringing folks along so that we can change that.’ So for me, I viewed it as an opportunity. But, yeah, only one person, less than 1% of the wine industry, is made up of folks that look like us. So there’s lots of opportunity. But I like to tell people, you know, this is an overnight success. I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. This is not an easy industry. You need to master it, and that takes time,” Best said to the ESSENCE audience.
Clarke couldn’t have agreed more with Best’s statement. “It’s been a journey, to say the least. However, as she said, it’s not a lot of us here. Sometimes that means that we have to knock on the door a little bit harder. Sometimes you have to kick the door in,” she stated.
Clarke continued, “However, we’re here now, and as a woman in the industry that you know, predominantly male dominated, aside from it being less than 1% it’s different. As she said, it’s an opportunity. I stand on the shoulders of Best and other women that have come before me, and we’re here, and we’re making the space for others to come in. But the beauty of it is why we’re here now, and, you know, we were doing our thing, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Dozie Osundu, founder of Fine Wine Series added, “I think one of the things that we’ve learned over the years is there’s tons of barriers in place, like they mentioned, since this industry wasn’t built for us – it’s something we’re taking over. There’s a lot of barriers in place that make it a lot more difficult for Black-owned brands to actually enter this space and succeed.”
But it’s important to note that just because we aren’t super visible in the wine industry, doesn’t mean we aren’t there or don’t often enjoy wine, despite perceived misconceptions and placed barriers.
“I’m gonna answer this in two ways. We’ve always enjoyed wine. We were just told that wine wasn’t for us. And so I think now, because there are platforms like social media, we’re able to share, we’re able to see what each other is doing, but I think that the best way to keep people out of something is to tell them it’s not for them. And so we need to remind ourselves all the time that whether it’s wine or art or any of the things that they have tried to convince us it’s not for us, we need to take up space,” Best stated.
She then told the audience that “you can’t be it if you don’t see it,” urging them to shift their mindset around delving into the wine world. “The fact that you were able to see me, helps. And so the more we are being bullish about the fact that this is a space that we belong to and that we do make really good products. Because I think that there’s this myth oftentimes that if it’s black owned, it’s not luxury, it’s not good, it’s not award winning, and we’ve developed all of that,” she says.
Best also underscored the importance of knowing that the wine industry is a profitable business, and one that takes time, effort, and persistence. “I think we have to show the young people who are thinking about different careers that they can do this as a career, because this is a business. It isn’t just about drinking wine. I launched this brand to make money. And I think the more we show people the business side of wine, the more you’ll see more people interested in becoming not just wine makers, because I’m not a winemaker, I’m I’m a wine negotiator. I’m in the business of wine who works with a winemaker. But I think people will be able to see all the things that it takes to actually launch your own brand.”
The ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola® will take place July 3-6. For more information and updates on the festival, visit our website and follow us on social media @ESSENCEFest on X, Facebook, and Instagram.