Race and Wine

I was watching Shark Tank and saw a recent episode where one of the attempts at getting investment was by a black couple who run a winery and were seeking money on the basis of race having some additional value to offer.

I had never thought about this - didn't think race was an issue, just quality of product, and I never pondered what the racial background of any of the winery owners whose products I valued might be.

Thought I'd ask here - does anyone think that being of one race or another is a value added to a winery as an investment? And if so, is it effective everywhere or just in the US?

As a fan of Cape wines in general, I am aware of the increasing number of black winery owners in this century and winemakers under the Wine Arc umbrella, but I wasn't aware of any of them using race as a selling point.

Ditto for around here - we have one winery, Nk'mip, that has been around for twenty years, owned and run by a local Indian band. They make good wines and have no trouble selling it but have never as far as I know use race as a selling point (there is another native owned winery but I have no experience with them - they are much more recent being less than 10 years old and I haven't tasted their product).

PS - I have no experience with the Shark Tank winery - it is in Texas and Marc Cuban did invest in them, but they don't seem to make the sort of wine that I'd see here nor that would appeal to me.

See https://www.dallasnews.com/food/drinks/ ... ark-cuban/

[David M. Bueker]

In general US winery ownership is not at all diverse. I can imagine it’s even less diverse in the developing Texas wine scene. There are some efforts to change that, but nascent at this point.

I'm pretty sure some people prefer to support wineries with an agenda of social equality.

That may lead to wineries run by women and marginalised races getting more business that they otherwise might, but I'm not sure - for every woke buyer of wine, there might well be a counterbalancing one with old fashioned prejudices.

Interesting question! In Europe, wine estates run by women are becoming increasingly common and are often outstanding, e.g. Weinbach and Le Pupille to name but two. On the other hand, I cannot think of any estates run by "marginalised races" but there probably are some, particularly amongst the non-European refugees from French Algeria after independence. For the avoidance of doubt, I don't consider that, for example, the Rothschild family belongs to a marginalised race!

I am gender blind when it comes to my wine buying decisions. For my other main interest, classical music, I delight in finding fine works written by women, e.g. Lili Boulanger and Florence Price, the latter of whom especially delights any woke traits in me by having been partly of "marginalised race". What is more important, however, is the originality and fine quality of her work.

On the other hand, I cannot think of any estates run by "marginalised races" but there probably are some...

Surely you remember Ray Walker from Burgundy! I guess he qualified as a 'marginalized race', although as an individual he had plenty of advantages.

[David M. Bueker]

On the other hand, I cannot think of any estates run by "marginalised races" but there probably are some...

Surely you remember Ray Walker from Burgundy! I guess he qualified as a 'marginalized race', although as an individual he had plenty of advantages.

And he squandered all of those advantages.

[David M. Bueker]

Reagrding French domaines run by women - Mugneret-Gibourg!

On the other hand, I cannot think of any estates run by "marginalised races" but there probably are some...

Surely you remember Ray Walker from Burgundy! I guess he qualified as a 'marginalized race', although as an individual he had plenty of advantages.

And he squandered all of those advantages.

And in a big way!

https://www.burgundy-report.com/burgund ... ison-ilan/