Central Market adds 8 new wines from Black-owned wineries and Black winemakers

Central Market regularly adds new wines to its shelves, and this February, the grocery store chain will add wines from eight Black-owned wineries and Black winemakers around the world.

Wines from Wade Cellars, Longevity Wines, Stark-Conde, Lievland Winery, Tesselaarsdal, Brown Estate, House of Brown, and Sun Goddess Wines will be featured this month in a nod to Black History Month, but they will stay on shelves permanently.

“This is the biggest focus that we’ve ever done for Black-owned and Black winemakers at Central Market,” the store’s beer and wine business development manager Keith Janosik says.

The wines come from three locations — California, Northern Italy and South Africa — and the wineries range from small, family-owned brands to celebrity-backed labels.

“These eight wineries that we’re showing really have a variety of unique stories,” Janosik says.

Longevity Wines, one of the featured brands, was created in the garage of married couple Phil and Debra Long 13 years ago in California’s Livermore Valley.

The Longs pride themselves on only creating wines with fruit from the best vineyards.

“Great wine starts with great fruit,” winemaker and founder Phil Long says.

Berene Sauls, owner of Tesselaarsdal in South Africa, first joined the wine industry at age 19, and now 15 years later grows vineyards on the same land where her ancestors became free.

“All of these wines are really underlying this moment in the wine industry where racial and cultural diversity are really energizing and enriching the entire wine community,” Janosik says.

According to Central Market and its wine partners, the barrier of who influences and creates the narrative in the wine industry is beginning to shatter. People of color and different genders are beginning to get their wines on the shelves, and it’s different than anything the industry has seen before.

“If you subscribe to any wine magazines, it’s always older white guys on the cover,” Janosik says. “It’s just how it’s been, you know?”

But now things are changing, and Central Market believes it’s a change they want to be a part of.

“It’s very important as we do things at Central Market that we talk about being the change,” Janosik says. “This is a part of being the change, and having really inclusive wine departments with really great wines from everyone is really important. All producers.”

The prices of the wines range from a little over $10 to right under $50 and will be on the shelves for the remainder of the month and beyond as part of the store’s permanent selection.

In March, Central Market plans to continue the trend of being the change by highlighting women trailblazing their way in the wine industry.