6 Black Owned Wineries You Should Know
As a wine lover, I’m on a quest for well-made, balanced wines with a great team and story behind them. But if that wine is also made by someone who’s expanding the notion of who makes wine, then that’s even more appealing.
Virginian John June Lewis founded Woburn Cellars, the nation’s first Black-owned wine brand, in the 1940s, but the memory of it was lost a generation later.
In the late 1990s, discovering a Black-owned wine brand felt like a combination of Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. I still remember my delight with the early New Zealand sauvignon blanc in bottles with gorgeous botanical details by sisters Robin and Andrea McBride (of the McBride Sisters Wine Company). And I felt so proud to be a guest at a San Diego wine dinner that paired André Mack, the sommelier-turned-vintner of hip-hop inspired Maison Noir (then Mouton Noir) with his mentor and friend, Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars.
Back then, Black-owned wine brands were so rare that some consumers were ready to buy for that reason alone. But as McDonald often says, race has nothing to do with making good wine. “My proudest moment was getting folks to accept Vision Cellars as a wine, and not a wine made by somebody who is Black,” McDonald told me. “If they’re Black and make good wine, forget the person is Black and enjoy the wine.”
That’s still true in wine and in life. However, in an era when many consumers intentionally seek out brands that mirror their values and lifestyles, the people behind the wines matter. Here are six excellent, personality-driven wine brands to try that just happen to have Black owners.
Corner 103 tasting
Founder Lloyd Davis first came to wine country to help a client save an investment in a struggling Sonoma winery. As a savvy, New York financier, Davis knew that there were many more lucrative investments than owning a winery.
But as Davis spent time in Sonoma, the intangible joys of wine country life charmed his epicurean soul. And so he decided to leave New York and start his own small wine brand. He founded his tasting room on a corner overlooking the Sonoma Square. Winemaker Ron Goss makes 3,000 cases of balanced and appealing wines including a tropical Sauvignon Blanc, a North Coast sparkling rosé brimming with tart red fruit, and a bright, food friendly Bordeaux blend called Inspiration.
Over the past decade, Davis and his Corner 103 team led by Brent Johnson have attracted a loyal following by offering approachable wines in a relaxed setting. The tasting room overlooking the Sonoma Square is known as an inviting place for people of all levels of wine knowledge and taste. There’s no hard sell, and they take time to talk to guests to discover what they like. In fact, Corner 103 was voted the No. 1 tasting room by USA Today in 2020 and 2021.
Part of the reason is their lively wine and food pairing events that match up bacon and lobster with their wines. “I wanted to do my pairings in an unpretentious way,” says Davis. “And I want people to feel comfortable about experimenting. If you like a good Cab and you also like grilled flounder, you can have both together. If that’s what you like, that’s what you like.”
The tasting room was damaged by an early morning transformer fire in January, but the team was thrilled to welcome guests back to the new tasting room in July.
Brenae Royal of Violet's Paradise
Brenae Royal made her name as a viticulturist, managing the famed Monte Rosso vineyard in Sonoma’s Moon Mountain District for nearly a decade. Monte Rosso means “red mountain” in Italian and thanks to the basalt and volcanic soils, it’s known for producing red wines with hints of red fruit and spice. As she managed the vineyard, Royal’s faithful dog Violet, a black Labrador she adopted as a puppy, was by her side.
That famed vineyard is the source for all the wines in Royal’s new 2023 vintage collection, currently available on Violet’s Paradise.com. The collection stars cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel along with petite sirah, cabernet franc, sangiovese, malbec and petit verdot. Though each wine has distinct characteristics, they all reflect the vineyard. “There are red notes in my portfolio …but we enhanced the blue and purple fruit,” Royal says. They have “a common thread of acidity that is very vibrant and the alcohol is lower than most.”
And while she was stewarding the historic vineyard, Royal had the opportunity to leave her mark on Monte Rosso. In 2017 and 2018 she planted two blocks of grenache there, and made a fruit-forward wine from it. “It’s too easy to drink. This is strawberries, a little bit of watermelon and nice tannins in the middle,” says Royal, describing her grenache. “The perfume on the nose is really crazy and special.”
While Monte Rosso is renowned for red wines, Royal says the oldest semillon vines in the northern hemisphere are planted there. Her latest release is a dry sparkling semillon with notes of honeydew melon, citrus and minerals. A portion of proceeds going to The Veraison Project, which is working to diversify the wine with a training program that exposes people from underrepresented groups to all facets of the wine industry.
She’s devoted to making wines from fruit that she’s grown, so she says it may be a minute before she releases another wine collection. That’s all the reason to seize the moment and try these wines now. It's also a good reason to sign up for her newsletter.
Malek Amrani at the Basket Press photo credit Vice Wines
His parents wanted him to be a doctor, but even at 17, Malek Amrani had other ideas. The Casablanca, Morocco native left medical school in Senegal and went to New York City to find his calling. A series of odd jobs led him to bartending, eventually becoming a top salesman for Moet Hennessy distributor.
“When I had a taste of Napa Valley wine that changed everything for me,” says Amrani. “Wine is my vice.” In 2016, he founded the brand The Vice Wines with his wife Torie Greenberg.
Amrani follows a minimal winemaking style, so the vineyard can express itself. “They’re 100% varietal wines meant for everyday drinking,” Amrani says. “Our wines age really well but they're priced to be enjoyed today.”
While 70 percent of their production is focused on their top selling cabernet sauvignon, pinot moir and sauvignon blanc, they seek out fruit from acclaimed sites to make experimental micro lots of wines. For summer 2025 they released a Miami Vices Rosé of Pinot Noir with a graphic label. They also offer a pair of canned wines that make it easy to enjoy good wine on the go.
Their portfolio features five orange wines including The Brooklynites, an orange gewurztraminer that’s one of their best sellers. “It’s off dry, it’s got a little sweetness, very aromatic and super easy to drink with just 11 percent alcohol,” Amrani says. Another delicious choice is their Pickleball, a fruity and refreshing orange viognier.
Winemaker Chris Christensen of Bodkin Wines
Growing up in Iowa, Chris Christensen says his parents didn’t drink so he didn’t have much exposure to wine. In his formative years, Christensen nerded out on Shakespeare and medieval military battles. Eventually, he’d go on to name his winery Bodkin, after the armor-piercing arrows English peasants used against French knights.
Determined to leave a boring banking career behind, Christensen worked at Gallo and a couple other Sonoma wineries before hiring on with a winery noted for minimal intervention winemaking. Ever since the Stanford graduate entered the wine world, he’s brought a very original approach to both branding and his style of winemaking.
Working for Medlock Ames, Christensen acquired the skills he needed to make his own wine, along with a fondness for fine Sauvignon Blanc. He launched Bodkin Wines in 2012 with a sparkling sauvignon blanc — the first in the US — and an eye-catching label depicting a medieval battle. The wine had bright acidity and relatively low alcohol, putting it at the vanguard of the European style bottlings so in vogue right now.
Since then, he’s gone on to develop and expertise in fine canned wines. And Christensen partners with Jenny & Francois selections to create Where’s Linus? a collection of natural wines sourced from intriguing California locales.
Besides the sparkling wine, his current Bodkin lineup includes The Exciting White Blend, a mashup of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, viognier and muscat canelli, as well as Light Skinned, a chillable zinfandel rosé made with brief skin contact. A tongue-in-cheek reference to the various skin tones found in Christensen’s extended family, it’s also quite tasty with its dry strawberry and watermelon notes.
Justin Michelle Ward Trabue
What do you get when you combine a love of wine with irrepressible joie de vivre? The captivating and exciting brand called Ward Four Wines by Justin Michelle Ward Trabue.
“My motto is wines of joy, no fuss,” says Trabue, who just turned 30. “So if you’re sad at the beginning of the bottle, there is no way you’ll be sad at the end.” Sourced from acclaimed growing sites around California, Trabue’s minimal-intervention wines are fresh, approachable and imbued with meaning. Her juicy muscat blanc is inspired by her brother’s playful personality, the vibrant mourvèdre rosé is a tribute to her mom, while the richer petite sirah is for her father.
Wine has influenced Trabue’s life even before she was born. Her wine-loving parents named her Justin because she was conceived on a Paso Robles vacation that included a memorable stop at Justin Vineyards & Winery.
Watching the way her parents and their Washington, DC circle of friends enjoyed sharing wine, Trabue decided to pursue winemaking. She earned a degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and learned her craft working in Australia, New Zealand and Santa Barbara. She launched Ward Four in 2021 with grants from wine equity nonprofits including The Roots Fund and Dream Big Darling.
What makes Ward Four fun, besides Trabue’s infectious giggle, is the way she brings her personality to her brand. She transforms wine into an everyday lifestyle experience by pairing her wines with video games, hobbies, movies and music. You can taste her wines in a gondola on the Napa River or at one of her events, which have featured flower arranging and listening to scary stories.
The unconventional pairings and experiences are part of her strategy for attracting more people her age to wine. “It’s about finding spaces for ourselves and knowing we don’t have to conform,” says Trabue.
Okapi wines
Dan Johnson was a young attorney when his job first took him to Sonoma wine country. He represented Chateau St. Jean in a lawsuit, and after he won the case, the winemaker asked what he knew about wine.
Johnson admitted he didn’t know anything about wine, so the famed Dick Arrowood poured tastes of their wines including the flagship red Bordeaux blend. Johnson took wine home, and became a loyal client. “He gave me the 30% winemakers discount, so that made me a pretty popular guy around the office,” he says.
Years later, as he was planning his eventual retirement, Johnson settled on a property in Oak Knoll District. His next door neighbor, a winemaker, told him if he planted cabernet sauvignon vines, he’d buy the fruit. So Johnson and his wife Kim planted two acres of vines, and found a young vineyard manager named Mike Nunez. They called the vineyard Jungle Love after a pair of scantily clad African bronze statues he found at a San Diego antique shop. They’ve since acquired a framed Hermés silk scarf of the same name depicting an amorous pair of cheetahs.
The wine from Johnson’s very first harvest was so good, he and his wife decided to start their own small wine brand. They knew the name Jungle Love lacked the gravitas needed for a luxury Cabernet Sauvignon. Their search for the right name led them to the okapi, an endangered African animal. The okapi has a giraffe head, zebra hindquarters, and is so shy it’s rarely seen. “We wanted to pay homage to Africa,” he says. “The name is different so people become intrigued,” says Johnson, who has poured his wines at Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Each vintage, the Okapi label releases just 500 cases of cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, a pair of red blends, a tropical and fresh sauvignon blanc and a rosé of cabernet sauvignon. Winemaker Ted Osborne crafts the Cabernet, a blend of clones 337 and 4, to be elegant and age worthy with approachable tannins wrapped around abundant dark fruit. “I want you to be able to taste the fruit, so you can appreciate it,” Johnson says. And, a portion of proceeds from each bottle go to support the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.