What's Happening
New book on California wine. Anything but Vinifera. Leaving Virginia.
Hello, reader. Thanks for being here.
April marked my first anniversary of moving to Virginia and starting Red/Drink. What a year it was. Spring has been bittersweet, as I tend to mourn change before it happens. The short version is I’m leaving soon (More below). Knowing me, I’ll slip away without making a fuss, and we can keep in touch through this newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a non-exhaustive list of updates.
A Visit to Northern Virginia:
On Friday, May 9, eight of us made a pilgrimage to Linden Vineyards in Northern Virginia. Winemaker Jim Law and his family established their winery in the unincorporated village of Linden, outside of any AVA, in the 1980s. Elaine Chukan Brown wrote about Linden’s claim to fame, their estate-grown Hardscrabble Chardonnay. Our outing was organized by Oenoverse, the wine initiative that co-sponsored my first visit to Virginia two years ago. I felt like an Oeno Camper again and, for an afternoon, was at ease among a community of BIPOC wine professionals.
California Wine Retold:
Speaking of, Brown recently published their first book, The Wines of California. I appreciate the honest review by London-based writer Sophie Thorpe, who identifies the book’s purposes both as a “functional guide” and a “broader, more far-reaching and ambitious appraisal of the state of the industry.” But where Thorpe sees friction between the two, I see Brown paving the way for the rest of us to rewrite wine’s history. The cherry on top is the book’s dedication to longtime journalist Dorothy J. Gaiter, “who did it first.”
Wine Tariffs and Thomas Jefferson:
After Trump threatened to place a 200% tariff on Champagne and other European wines, a US-based wine importer posted a screenshot of Trump’s commentary alongside a caption quoting Thomas Jefferson: “I think it a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines, as a tax on luxury. On the contrary it is a tax on the health of our citizens.”1 Admittedly, I left a heated comment, and the quote was removed. There’s more to say about early America’s trade wars, alcoholism, and race. For now, I’m still meditating on the question: In the 19th century, who had access to imported wine, and who was forced to be a slave to whiskey?
Goodbye to Minimo:
A part of me wonders whether Trump’s sweep of tariffs will spur us to drink more American wine, as wine professionals like Patrick Cappiello have already campaigned for. The stark reality may also be the shuttering of more businesses. Ahead of the impending changes, Oakland’s Minimo wine shop and bar announced its closing after a ten-year run. I worked there during my stint in the Bay Area—my first job pouring wine behind a bar—and learned from owners Erin Coburn and Sarah Miller how hospitality can be a means for activism. Their presence will be sorely missed.
ABV Goes to Virginia:
If you’ve been following my work, you probably already know about the summit, Anything but Vinifera.2 I largely credit ABV founder Jahdé Marley for expanding my definition of wine during the early stages of my research on African American winemaking. Now, under the tutelage of the young, energetic sommelier Oniyx Acosta, the summit is coming to Central Virginia for an epic collaboration with Oenoverse. This Sunday, May 25, join us and more than a dozen East Coast winemakers, coming from North Carolina to New York, for a day of tasting and community building. Tickets are still on sale.
New Horizons in Delaware:
By now, I’d usually be working on my next magazine feature. I’d like to think I’m only putting this type of writing on pause. This fall, I’ll begin the History PhD track at the University of Delaware. It’s a scary time to return to school, with students being detained or having their degrees withheld, all for speaking out about the war on Palestine. Then again, college campuses have always been sites of social unrest, and what better time to study American history? I hope this work will be the fuel to keep me going.
This isn’t goodbye. In fact, those of you in Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, and New York will hopefully see more of me. I’m excited to be centrally located in the Mid-Atlantic and focused wholeheartedly on reading, writing, and research.
If you’re out there, reader, what personal or wine-related news would you add to the conversation? Share it in the comments.
This quote comes from a letter Jefferson wrote to the U.S.’s Secretary of the Treasury, William H. Crawford, on November 10, 1818. It’s worth reading in length.
For more about ABV’s traveling series, refer to the piece I wrote for Alta in December 2023.