When Wine Speaks, Who Does It Speak To?
The traditional language of wine is coded. That language was designed to belong to those deemed sophisticated enough to speak it. It drips with classical elitism and European formality — the “right” way to describe, the “proper” way to serve, the “educated” way to taste. That’s why variations of the word “snob” appear so often in wine spaces: most of us were never invited into the conversation, let alone taught the script.
Enter Black folk. We are a colorful people you can’t unsee, with one of the most intellectual and sophisticated language systems in the world, as eloquently explained by linguist Language Jones. Black English is complex because it’s a living fusion — blending traditional English with African linguistic roots, regional dialects, cultural codes, and layered social meanings — creating a richly textured form of communication that carries history, identity, and nuance all at once.
Our language carries double meanings, tonal shifts, and coded brilliance that have shaped global music, humor, and communication. What sounds casual to the untrained ear is often layered with history, intellect, and improvisation — a language that moves between play and power with ease.
Take the phrase “I’m good.” In our language, it can mean many different things — I’m fine, I’m full, I’m done, I’m holding it together, I got this, we’re cool. It can also mean “we’ve got a problem,” when said with a slight, yet unmistakable curve. The meaning shifts with tone, side-eye, or silence. That flexibility isn’t confusion — it’s fluency. And our language is evolving further away from that of our European “forefathers.” As America becomes increasingly diverse and our language becomes even more sophisticated, we have even less desire to re-adopt European ways of communication. I’ll make all of that real clear –our language, already embraced by pop culture, music, TV, and mainstream conversations, will continue to have a strong standing in the future.
How We Season Our Words: The Black Language of Taste
Food and flavor are cultural pillars in the Black community, and describing them has never, ever been our struggle. Ever. We already use a full, expressive language to talk about what we eat, drink, and taste.
We aren’t always interested in being proper, rather, we like to be correct (two completely different things). We use words and phrases with shared meanings for our own ears. We may not say a wine has “bracing acidity,” we say “it bites back.” We may not say “this wine has a lingering finish,” rather “it stays with you.” We communicate through poetry, texture and rhythm, and we’re really good at it. We use song lyrics to describe a taste – “this wine is giving Hard Knock Life,” or church phrases to evoke a feeling when we can “turn toward our neighbor” and “touch and agree” that a meal was amazing.
Our palates are shaped by collard greens that “hit the spot,” jerk marinades that taste like reggae, sage candles that reset our vibe, and Sunday dinners – a concept that reaches well beyond food and has a whole sacred meaning unto itself. In other words, the Oxford Dictionary can’t fully capture how we speak or what we mean. Yes, our words and phrases are rooted in standard English, but remixed many times over to reflect the constant evolution of poetic Black expression.
Ultimately, the wine industry doesn’t need new drinkers -it needs to embody and elevate Black and Brown translators because we are already at the table. My recommendation to the wine industry: invite us into the conversation.
When Formal Wine Education Felt Like ESL (European as a Second Language)
Formal wine education was built in a European dialect — one that assumes proximity to places, flavors, and fruits that many of us have never seen, let alone tasted. When I first started my formal wine journey — tastings, restaurants, and especially wine education courses — I realized something quickly: the room was full of words that didn’t sound like home. People were saying things like “minerality” and “unctuous,” “forest floor” and “terroir.” The first time someone said a wine smelled like “wet stone” I stared blankly ahead, trying to scrape my brain for familiarity…..nothing.
I’ve also never smelled or tasted a gooseberry, elderflower, or lychee (none of these grow in my neighborhood), yet I was required to list them as flavors I tasted on my wine exams. I was forced to adopt and master London’s language, because it’s the language of those giving out the grades. Never mind that what’s natural to them is foreign to me and others. It begs the question – who sets the standard, and why should students have to master “European” English in order to be deemed qualified? For me, the journey was frustrating at times, because as a foodie and avid chef in my own kitchen, I knew the language of flavor. But my native language wasn’t acceptable on paper.
As an ESL — European as a Second Language — learner, I spent my wine-study years constantly code-switching: Oxford and Cambridge by day, Black English by night. But that dual-language fluency ended up being my superpower. It prepared me, and other non-European wine students, to be bilingual. As a result, we are able to reach 10 times further into the industry than our traditional peers, with a potentially greater impact over time. Yet, another reason to include us in the conversation, because we are an asset and have a powerful reach.
Why the Industry Can’t Grow Without New Translators
Europe doesn’t own wine or standards. And if the industry wants to keep growing, it has to reconsider that stance. Currently, Blacks are 12% of America’s wine consumers, which means we are not just culturally important, but financially essential to the industry. As loyal and consistent consumers, the story should also be told in our dialect, given that we are living in an increasingly diverse society. But of the roughly 168 Master Sommeliers in the U.S., only 4 are Black — a stark reminder that while our community participates in the industry, we’re still vastly underrepresented in the highest levels of wine expertise, communication, and decision-making. When the same people tell the same story for centuries, the story may dull and eventually die.
New voices bring new metaphors, new foods, new ways of describing flavor, new audiences, and new reasons for people to care about wine at all. Without those voices — Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant, Southern, Caribbean, LGBTQ+, multilingual — wine becomes a closed loop, recycling its own ideas until it grows stale. Growth requires translation, reinterpretation, and imagination. In other words: the wine industry may soon be on life support and it will need ALL of us to bring it back to life, sooooo “minus well start now.”
The 5 Senses of Black Wine Culture the Industry Needs to Know
Across the country, Black voices are already doing just that, and reshaping the entire wine industry through five powerful lenses: distribution, culture, expression, education, and physical space. Each one expands access, challenges perception, and keeps the industry alive.
1. Distribution — The Business of Access
Black participation in distribution and wine ownership is essential because it centers us in the industry and builds real economic power in our communities. But this is extremely hard to achieve when we own only 1% of the wineries. When Black distributors, importers, and label owners enter the pipeline, the wines on our shelves begin to reflect our tastes, traditions, purchasing power, and shifts who gets to shape the narrative and tell the story. For wine to stay alive, it must include us at every level of the supply chain, not just the checkout line.
Take Chrishon Lampley, who built Love Cork Screw not just as a label but as a distribution revolution — getting approachable, story-driven wines onto retail shelves and into everyday homes. Through major partnerships with Target, Mariano’s, and Meijer, she turned representation into visibility. Her wines entitled “We’re Movin on Up” -we all know that line from the Jeffersons, our Black sitcom forefathers- and “Hard Knock Life” are examples of labels that resonate in the Black community and invoke a specific feeling due to their cultural relevance. Her wine is speaking.
Nationally, other trailblazers are expanding this lane: McBride Sisters Wine Collection, now the largest Black-owned wine company in the U.S., built an empire of inclusion through distribution, retail education, and brand accessibility. Brown Estate, rooted In family, legacy and place, is Napa Valley’s first and only Black-owned estate winery, and it stands as a quiet but powerful landmark. Other notable brands include Maison Noir Wines (Oregon), Theopolis Vineyards and FLO Wines (California), and Sip & Share Wines (Indiana).
2. Culture — The Storytellers of Taste
Storytelling through journalism and social engagement gives wine a voice that matters. When Black writers and creators shape the narrative, wine connects to our music, kitchens, history, and humor. Journalism challenges gatekeeping, and social platforms make the conversation human. Together, they turn wine from a Euro-centric institution into a living cultural story shaped by us.
Chasity Cooper, Chicago-based journalist, connector and author of Wine Convo Generator, has become one of the most visible cultural translators of wine — writing about new spaces, local tastemakers, and global Black wine experiences. Through her events and features, she creates an open bridge between culture, lifestyle, and the glass.
Across town, fellow Chicagoan Derrick C. Westbrook is a storyteller in wine because he doesn’t teach wine—he teaches people through wine. His whole approach is rooted in culture, memory, and emotion, not sterile tasting-room language. He weaves music, community, Chicago identity, and sensory experience into everything he does.
Across the country, others are pushing culture forward through storytelling, and Julia Coney is one of the most influential. As the founder of Black Wine Professionals, she amplifies underrepresented experts and challenges the industry to rethink who gets visibility and access. Her writing blends history, identity, and lived experience, turning wine discussions into conversations about culture and power. Through her advocacy and media work, she doesn’t just open doors — she reshapes the room to finally center voices long overlooked.
3. Expression — The Art of Creative Identity
Self-expression makes wine colorful and alive without leaning on Euro-coded rules. Black creativity blends everyday life with art, shaping how we taste and describe wine. Our language turns tasting into storytelling and makes wine feel human, not academic. When we bring our full, unfiltered selves to it, people feel both inspired and seen.
Brion, known as The Certified Wino, bridges fashion, music, and wine. “Sometimes, my fashion is inspired by what’s in my glass, and I’m reminded that personal style & taste is just that — PERSONAL.” Brion’s work proves that wine isn’t bound by etiquette — it’s about energy, emotion, and style. He translates tasting into self-expression, showing that a playlist, an outfit, and a bottle can tell the same story. He blends wine, fashion, and music to spark fresh conversations and spotlight the stories of talented industry professionals. He invites people to geek out with him, whether he’s discovering new bottles, curating looks, or hosting pop-up events in cities across the country.
Jermaine Stone, — a.k.a. The Wolf of Wine — brings hip-hop into the cellar through his Wine & Hip Hop podcast, bridging two cultures rooted in rhythm and storytelling. He breaks down wine with the energy and honesty of hip-hop, proving the conversation belongs in our creative spaces just as much as in traditional wine rooms.
4. Education in Everyday Language
Education becomes transformational when the language feels familiar. Wine is more approachable when taught through our rhythm — food, music, story, feeling — instead of rigid jargon. When tasting terms come from cultural memory, people stop worrying about being “correct” and start trusting what they know. Confidence grows not by making Black people learn wine’s language, but by making wine fluent in ours.
Across the country, Black wine professionals are reshaping how the next generation learns. Desiree Harrison-Brown is a respected wine educator at Napa Valley Wine Academy, known for her engaging, accessible teaching of WSET Levels 1 and 2. A 2022 Wine Enthusiast Future 40 honoree, she also founded Wino Shop, a lifestyle brand championing Black representation in wine. With WSET Levels 1–3 and a background in Fortune 500 project management, she brings both technical skill and cultural clarity to the industry.
Dr. Jeffrey K. Coleman is an Associate Professor of Iberian Studies at Northwestern University who has also carved out a significant presence in the wine education world. He co-founded the Milwaukee Wine Academy (MKE Wine Academy) with Tim Cole in 2023, with a mission of making wine education more accessible, especially for women and people of color. He’s also actively engaged in conversations about the lack of diversity in wine culture, using his academic lens and wine platform to challenge gatekeeping and encourage broader representation.
And for me, Kiana Keys. This very wine educational magazine Unpolished Grape, translates wine for Black audiences by teaching it in a voice that feels and sounds familiar. The tone and communication style is intentional – breaking down complex ideas into real language. The goal here is to make wine feel approachable instead of intimidating. The complex jargon is replaced with warmth and cultural context, a strategic approach to welcome ALL into the conversation.
5. And Finally, Owning the Physical Spaces.
In many of our neighborhoods, there are liquor stores on every corner but very few places that offer quality wine. We’ve been surrounded by alcohol but starved of wine education — and that gap is structural, not accidental. Black-owned wine bars change that dynamic by creating safe, intentional spaces rooted in culture, conversation, and learning. They shift the focus from simply buying alcohol to understanding wine, building community, and reclaiming both economic power and narrative within our own neighborhoods.
Across the U.S., more Black-owned wine bars and retail spaces are rising: The Urban Grape in Boston, led by TJ and Hadley Douglas, built a retail model around representation and education. Park Manor 75 in Chicago offers a warm, art-filled refuge where wine education, music, and fellowship meet on the South Side. In Brooklyn, Happy Cork has become both a neighborhood staple and a cultural hub, spotlighting Black- and Brown-owned brands while creating a shopping experience that feels joyful, stylish, and inclusive.
B’s Wine Bar in Missouri City invites guests to sip exquisite wines in a warm, communal space where laughter, music, and genuine connection are just as curated as the bottles. And LA’s 1010 Wine and Events blends curated wine flights with Black culinary excellence, turning every visit into a celebration of culture. These spaces don’t just pour wine — they pour representation, comfort, and possibility back into the neighborhoods they serve.
And the list goes on, and on, and on.
Closing: Rewriting the Language of Wine
In our community, the five senses of wine come alive through word of mouth and social gatherings long before any classroom. It’s in living rooms, cookouts, brunches, and festivals where we swap notes, pass glasses, and say, “Here — try this.” That’s the power of our spaces: we turn wine into a sensory, cultural experience shaped by people, not prestige — and that collective way of learning is exactly why our voices matter in the industry’s future.
Long story short, we’ve always had taste — we just needed the translation. Wine doesn’t belong to a region or a race; it belongs to whoever’s holding the glass. And we have plenty of hands. The more we speak wine in our own voice, the more we remind the industry that we don’t need an invitation to the table. We’ve been at the table, setting it, seasoning it, and bringing our ownership in the market too.
Black consumers and creators yearn to be a part of the industry, so it only makes sense that we’re fully included in shaping its future. Since wine is global, the industry and language should be inclusive of us all.
Cheers! #ToastToTaste
Thirsty For More?
New Release: Little Black Book of Wine + Food: 60 White & Red Wines to Make Your Tastebuds Blush
Here, sophistication meets style, and wine education finally feels personal. This beautifully curated guide explores 60 white and red wines from around the world—each paired with foods that flatter, flirt, and bring out the best in every sip.
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