When it comes to winemaking in the U.S., Latinx, Latines, Latinos, Hispanics—whatever you’d like to call our cohort—have indelibly made their mark.
While wine is produced in all 50 states, the majority of U.S. wine production is still based largely in California (nearly 81%), and Latinos have not only worked the vineyards, but have become enmeshed in the industry’s history.
Now, younger cohorts, particularly with Mexican and Central-American roots, have seen their family’s work in the fields transcend to winemaking, and even more so, to owning wineries. Adding to this, recent arrivals of Latinos from the Caribbean and South America have also entered the wine realm in the U.S., helping to create new wine opportunities not only in California, but in all parts of the U.S., from Oregon to New York.
To further this movement, Maria Calvert and Lydia Richards co-founded nonprofit Hispanics in Wine, alongside board member Gabriela Fernandez, to provide educational and career-advancement opportunities to the ever-growing Hispanic and Latine community of beverage professionals in the United States and worldwide.
“Sometimes you can’t know what’s possible if you can’t see what’s there,” says Fernandez. “When we did the LatinX Wine Summit, it was really meant to bring together a whole bunch of people so that we didn’t feel all disconnected and create that space and that platform… it was [also] the first time that many producers had been in one space that were all Latinos. And I heard from so many consumers being like, ‘I didn’t even
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
