Nothing To Hide?

Letting You In On Some Concerns About Natural Wine

A few months ago, I did something I’m not very proud of: I got into an online battle of words with an Instagram influencer in the wine world. She is a Black woman based in the U.S. who gained a strong following, including me, during the surge in awareness of racism in the wine industry that followed the “Valentina Passalacqua” scandal. Of course, when I say “surge in awareness,” I’m talking about white people, or folks who pass as white, who have been able to go through life without awareness of racism — a privileged vantage point. The argument centered around a post this influencer did — I honestly don’t think she’d want me to name her — which stated that natural wine is a culture of white supremacy.

I found this startling. Natural wine, a world I’ve been involved in since 2013, always seemed to me politically radical, and therefore more embracing of those who fall outside of the realms of normativity, whether that’s gender-based or ethnicity. Surely, I thought, natural wine is less hierarchical? Less upholding of the patriarchy? Less centered on white privilege?

I’ve had a long think, and a few things have happened, and I no longer feel certain about any of that.