In the wake of the George Floyd killing and the wave of protests that followed, Rodney and Susan Tipton asked themselves what they could do to help improve race relations.
It was a discussion likely occurring in homes across the country, but the Tiptons were well placed to take concrete steps toward rectifying what they saw as a national shortcoming.
Aspiring Napa winemaker Daren Clark flanked by other members of the Lodi intensive during a tasting of wines made with traditional Spanish grape varieties at Bokisch Vineyards. Photo by Randy Caparoso.
They focused on their backyard, Lodi, where they are engaged members of the wine trade as the owners of Acquiesce Winery, a small family-run facility specializing in white wines inspired by the grapes and traditions of France’s Rhone Valley.
In short order, their reflection led to the development of the Lodi Appellation Inclusion Collective (LAIC, or “lacey”), a program to recruit and mentor members of minority groups they see as under-represented in the nation’s wine trade – people of color, the indigenous, LGBTQ.
The intent of the program, which also includes the Lodi wineries Michael David, Klinker Brick, Bokisch and Lucas, among others, is twofold: To increase diversity in the wine trade, and to raise the standing of Lodi not only as a source of grapes and wine but as an all-embracing enclave for the industry.
The backbone of the outreach is periodic week-long sessions in which a half dozen or so aspiring wine professionals are invited to Lodi to meet with grape growers and winemakers who introduce them to topics ranging from pruning practices to blending decisions, all alternating with meals and wine tastings.
Kenda Waugh with cluster of Nebbiolo grapes at Potrero Vineyard in the Lodi sub-appellation Clements Hills. Photo by Randy Caparoso
“I wanted to join this trip to make practical the things I was reading. I wanted to feel what sandy loam soil felt like. I wanted to see the sun exposure on the vineyard. I wanted to taste a grape right off the vine. I wanted to touch a wine barrel,” says Kenda Waugh of New Orleans, one of six LAIC scholars to join the group’s most recent immersion in October. “You can read how to prune a vine, but it’s nothing like touching it and evaluating it to figure out which branches should be cut and which way. I couldn’t have gotten any of that from anywhere else.”
Waugh is a native of New Orleans, where she works as a kidney dialysis technician with a yearning to join the wine trade. Five years from now, she hopes to own “a beautiful wine shop specializing in small-production and biodynamic wines.”
The Lodi program delegates selection of participants to The Roots Fund, another relatively new non-profit committed specifically to attracting financial support for scholarships, mentoring and job placement in wine for people of color.
Of LAIC, Ikimi Dubose, The Roots Fund’s executive director, says, “They could very well be credited for being our first supporters in California.”
In addition to being people of color, participants in the LAIC initiative must be legal U.S. residents and be actively pursuing education in the wine trade. For several participants in the two sessions so far, that has meant studying for certification as a wine professional through the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).
Tegan Passalacqua, winemaker for Turley Wine Cellars, pours a taste of one of his wines during lunch for the group at the Lodi restaurant Guantonios Wood Fired. From left, Trina Holmes, Toni Davis and Kenda Waugh.
For the October immersion, Lodi was an entirely new destination for most of the participants. Even Victor Matias, a Napa Valley native, and a cellar intern at Inglenook Winery of Rutherford, hadn’t before been to Lodi. He is new to the wine business, having previously been on track to be a professional dancer and choreographer.
For Matias, the Lodi exposure broadened his perspective on the range of occupational opportunities in the wine trade, from vineyard management to wine distribution, pest control to winery ownership.
He was no less struck by the range of grape varieties, styles of wine, and “eco-friendly vineyard methods” he discovered in Lodi, an appellation long identified largely with corporate rather than boutique winemaking and with one grape and varietal wine, Zinfandel. “Lodi has way much more than Zinfandel,” says Matias, impressed by the number of artisan winemakers he met and by vintners concentrating on such obscure but increasingly fashionable wines like Vermentino, Kerner and Cinsault.
Various reasons are given for under-representation of people of color in the wine trade, aside from Latinos who do much of the work in vineyard and cellar: The expense of delving into wine either as hobby or professional goal, the general lack of wine as a dietary staple in cultures beyond Europe, and flat-out racial bias.
One member of the group to visit Lodi in October, Trina Marie Holmes of Alexandria, VA, who began to segue into the wine business seven years ago, after earning degrees in political science and adult education and training at Howard University, can identify with all that, especially bias she faced as she was drawn to wine. “It’s been a journey to be taken seriously in the industry. I’ve definitely been ignored in wine spaces as an African-American female. It’s quite off-putting,” she says.
Nevertheless, after earning certificates through the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, support from The Roots Fund, and help from a mentor, she now is a member of the wine-education team at District Winery in Washington, D.C. She also oversees her own company, Chick on the Scene, which arranges introductory wine tastings for consumers.
“The Roots Fund and my mentor have helped me get into spaces I would otherwise be excluded from. Sending my resume out with my wine certifications is different now,” Holmes says.
Heather Pyle Lucas introduces the group to the organic and sustainable winegrowing practices she and her husband David Lucas follow at their Lucas Winery in Lodi. Photo by Randy Caparoso
For virtually each participant in the October immersion, Lodi was a surprise – for its size (100,000 acres under vine, about 90 wineries), for the amount of grapes harvested by wineries outside the area, including Napa Valley (around half of each year’s yield), for the rising presence of green grapes across the Lodi landscape (approximately two-thirds of Lodi’s wine grapes traditionally have been black), and for the spirit of community cooperation in better understanding and advancing the appellation’s potential for fine wine.
“The most surprising thing about Lodi is the number of varieties grown here, and that it has some of the oldest vines in the region. Also, the amount of grapes Lodi produces for other regions blew my mind,” says Kenda Waugh.
Trina Marie Holmes was similarly impressed. “I learned that some really great white wines are produced in Lodi that aren’t widely distributed on the East Coast where I reside. And I was really surprised by how much the Lodi community works together and helps each other,” she says.
Victor Matias of Napa and other members of the group during lunch and tasting at the Lodi restaurant Guantonios Wood Fired.
Rodney Tipton and other members of LAIC recognize that they also could be helping local Latino laborers who have worked in vineyard and cellar for years without advancing in the business. Toward that goal, LAIC is working on two certificate-based programs to help youth improve job skills and assume more responsibilities in viticulture and enology.
One involves developing a curriculum to help students earn an associate-of-arts degree in agriculture or wine. To get that curriculum up and running, LAIC is working with San Joaquin A+, a group of local educators and business leaders who since 1996 has focused on enhancing educational opportunities for youths, in large part by providing targeted tutoring.
“Of course, would-be employers will see the obvious advantage the graduates will have versus those who might be interested but have not had exposure or experience in agriculture or wine,” says Rodney Tipton.
The second program will address workers already in the wine trade who want to broaden their knowledge and elevate their careers. That program is to recruit local laborers for a deep dive into how Lodi has become a center for grape growing, winemaking, hospitality and marketing.
And now, how Lodi is broadening its welcome for people not often identified with the trade.