Mas Vino Latino Please! (+ I'm doing a panel!)
Celebrating Latino Winemakers & Producers in every way I can!
Did you know that only 16% of winemakers in the US are Latino and 45 wineries in California are Latino-owned? That’s a pretty small fraction of winemakers, despite Latinos being integral to the expansion of the California wine industry during the 20th century through the Bracero Program, which allowed Mexican laborers to come to the US through short-term agricultural labor contracts (1940s-60s). To this day, the agricultural industry thrives off of Latino farmworkers and there are a lot of Latinos who make the wine world go round.
Latinos are also one of the fasted growing groups of wine consumers on the market. The first viral wine video I made was an orange wine I reviewed while making arepas and the reaction I got was incredible. People were finally seeing trendy wines with the foods they grew up with and I knew I wanted Mas Vino Please to be something that could hold space for that. I want to share ways people can integrate their love of wine, while simultaneously embracing their culture, their food and their music. I’ve always wanted to use my platform as a space for my culture and my community to feel seen, especially in places where they are often forgotten or ignored. This month, I also started a mini series on Tiktok called Más Vino Latino, to highlight some of the Latino-produced wines I love, which I’ll continue to use to highlight the brilliant winemakers in my community. The best way to support Latino winemakers is to buy Latino produced/owned/operated wines! Buy them, tell your local shop to buy them, order direct, post about them, and share them with your friends! So much of this industry relies on word of mouth and connection and the more you share, the more we can uplift these incredible producers.
The landscape of Latino winemakers in the US and beyond is diverse— some got their start through the restaurant industry, others are children of farmers and agricultural workers, others studied viticulture or horticulture, some were even teachers who followed their passion for wine and took a risk. All their stories, like the stories of Latin America, weave a brilliant and beautiful quilt of culture, vino, y amor. As with all wine, there are so many stories to be told through a single bottle’s journey and I hope this space can help share the stories of Latinos in wine. Mas Vino Latino Please!
Latino/a/e Produced Wines
Wine Event You Should Go To:
On that note, my good friend Vino Papi is coming to LA this weekend and we’re linking up at The Aster, where he’s hosting a very special night celebrating Mexican winemakers (from Valle!!) and invited me to speak with him on a panel (yaaass! I love a panel!!). Every time Vino Papi’s in town it’s a good ass time!!! So RSVP and pull up!
Latino Heritage Month is coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean we should stop highlighting, uplifting and supporting Latino-owned businesses, especially in wine!
Wines I’ve been drinking:
Sometimes you just need a classic pizza-pasta wine that ever and this bad boy has been my go-to for years (honestly anything by Chris Broc is a go-to). The Broc Cellars Amore Rosso is an Italian table wine made from a field blend of Barbera, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, & Negro Amaro all grown at Fox Hill vineyard in Mendocino.
I really love and appreciate Broc’s attentional to detail when it comes to wine making. They harvest from the very best vineyards in the area and make wines that are literally ALL crowdpleasers. Not a single miss from them, ever.
What I ate + what I drank:
Pistachio gelato and Erbaluce (indigenous grape from Piedmonte). Sometimes I try to drink wine after I’ve had some ice cream and it just doesn’t vibe. The cream and the acid do not work for me BUT I finally found the perfect gelato and wine pairing!
Erbaluce is a crisp, bright white wine with lots of melon, almond and tart gooseberry-like notes. We had a glass or two left after dinner so I decided to pair it with Bianco’s homemade pistachio gelato and the pairing was exquisite! The nuttiness of the pistachio balanced the acid and almond of the wine so well, I really needed to pat myself on the back for that one.
Wine bar (shop) you should know:
Sobremesa Miami: If you’ve been here for a while, you know how much I love the practice of sobremesa. It’s an act so deeply engrained in me culturally —it’s one of my favorite ways to connect with people. I’ve been dying to check out the Sobreamesa Wine Shop’s pop-ups and tasting in Miami. Anyone who appreciates a good sobremesa sesh is my kinda people.
Wine term you should know:
Tannins: a compound found in the skins, stems, and seeds of a grape (and sometimes wood barrels!) that help provide structure and balance to a wine. Intensity can vary depending on the grape or wine style, and are most commonly attributed to red or orange wines, although they occur in all wines to a degree (some more intense than others). Wines with higher tannins can age a lot better/longer.
You can’t taste tannins, but you can definitely feel them—it’s more of a texture in wine. You might feel sensations like “mouth-puckering”, astringent or dryness and a bit more “mouth feel” (which is also probably a term that deserves its own section. Ever notice that an orange/skin contact Grenache Blanc feels a bit… heavier? bolder? more grippy than a white Grenache Blanc? That’s due to the tannins that come from macerating the skins of the grape with the juice!
Final Girl wines are sooooo good. I adore their Petite Verdot!
Interesting about sobremesa. While us Euro-derived white folks don't have much of a history of anything quite like it, I think we have a history of "retiring" to the living room, study, the "smoking room" or what have you, where we do aperitifs and keep the chat going. Probably because we have less of a history of drinking with food (unless you're directly French or Italian), but definitely a history of drinking after. That's changing though!
Love the layout of the new newsletter! Latino Vino forever- so cool of you to include info about the bracero program. Keep buzzin, bb!