By Monte Belmonte
For the Valley Advocate
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. The leader of the free world is working diligently to rid the USA of DEI. And many organizations, large and small, public and private, are either obediently heeding our leader’s directives, or pre-emptively expunging any notion of the divisive notions of “equity” and the like from their organization’s mission. This wine column will move forward cautiously and follow suit. As major retailers like Target and Amazon question whether they will continue to support diverse makers, or continue programs like their Black Business Accelerators, I feel it is my duty to apprise you of some Black winemakers, both home and abroad.
Brown Estate’s 2023 Zinfandel won a Gold Medal at the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Competition.
First, at home. California. Napa Valley, to be exact. Brown Estate is Napa Valley’s first and only Black-owned estate winery. According to the Agriculture Human Values journal, only 2% of farmland is owned by Black folk. The Brown Estate claims that the previous generation of the Brown family purchased an abandoned Napa ranch in 1980 and planted wine grapes, selling to some of the biggest names in the world of California wine. Perhaps most notably Mike Grgich, who was a winemaker involved in the so-called “Judgement of Paris,” where California wines defeated Bordeaux in blind tastings, propelling California wines into a revered space in the wine atlas. But did Grgich want the Brown family’s grapes because they were of the highest quality or because of DEI?
Then, in the mid ’90s, the Brown family children began producing their own label and bottling award winning wines. Most notoriously, Zinfandel. Brown Estate’s 2023 Zinfandel just won a Gold Medal from the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Competition. I once brought a bottle of Brown to a party and a friend of mine who is knowledgeable about wines was very excited. He had recently been diagnosed with a condition that prohibited him from drinking too much wine, but he was willing to make an exception for a glass from this bottle of Brown. UPS may ask “what can Brown do for you?” But DEI begs the question, “did my friend risk his health for this wine because ‘woke?’” I also failed to mention that Brown Estate family wine is also women-led.
Black South African winemaker and sommelier Tinashe Nyamudoka named his wines “Kumusha,” which means “your home” or “your roots” in Shona, the language spoken by the Shona people of Zimbabwe, where he was born.
Speaking of women-led, I feel as though it is my duty to draw your attention to the McBride Sisters. Andrea and Robin McBride are half-sisters who grew up on opposite sides of the globe, but who were both raised in wine regions in disparate hemispheres. Andrea in Marlborough, New Zealand, and Robin in Monterey, California. Neither had much contact with their shared father, but one of his dying wishes was for his two daughters to connect. When they first met in 1999, they discovered that they both had a passion for winemaking. According to Wine Spectator, as of 2020 the McBride sisters were the largest Black-owned wine company in the U.S. Despite their financial success, they continue to encourage their consumers to be “socially-conscious.” And some of the proceeds from their wines, like Black Girl Magic and their canned wine, She Can, have been used to promote the advancement of women in business and for scholarships to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. HBCUs? Dei gratia regina.
As our investigation of potential DEI wines moves abroad, we turn to the home country of the head of our nation’s glorious efforts to “DOGE” the bullet of DEI, South Africa. While the status of refugees from certain nations is suspect, the White House is welcoming white South African refugees with open arms. White South Africans have not only experienced untold political oppression, but also potential economic oppression when it comes to South Africa’s wine industry. According to the New York Times, Black South African wines have seen a 20% increase since 2019. Twenty percent! Black-owned wineries now make up an entire 1% of the South African wine market. And while Black people still make up 80% of the population of South Africa, a 20% increase in five years? It gives one pause to consider why, indeed, white South Africans may want to flee to the U.S.
I recently tried a wine from a Black South African winemaker and sommelier, Tinashe Nyamudoka and his Kumusha wines. Nyamudoka is originally from Zimbabwe but moved to South Africa in hopes of making a better life for himself. He worked in fine restaurants and became an expert in the world of wine, and now has a commitment to making wines using minimal intervention and natural fermentation. He believes his wines are representative of the best that South Africa’s terroir has to offer, which is why he calls his wines Kumusha, which means “your home” or “your roots” in his native Zimbabwean Shona language.
I tried the Kumusha Wild Mutupo made with the grapes Carignan and Pinotage. Carignan is often used for adding coloring to wines and for beefing up a wine’s flavor profile. And this wine was beefy. But also brambly, with notes of raspberry. And Pinotage is the wild child grape of South Africa, where at its best, it is vibrant, creative, innovative and genius, and at its worst is uncontrollable, unhinged with an offensive musk. This particular blend struck a perfect balance. It’s the kind of red wine you might want to put a little chill on and then bring out to your back porch and contemplate the mysteries of the universe; Is it harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle? … Does absolute power corrupt, absolutely?
I hope this effort to make you aware of some potential DEI wines will help you make some educated purchasing decisions. And as DEI programs and initiatives are scrubbed from websites all over the U.S., you may want to help out your local Valley wine stores by removing these particular wines from their shelves. Buy them all and go back for more. Do it for America.
