Acknowledgments

First, we want to acknowledge and honor the work of so many who came before us who laid the foundation for the wine industry we have today. Specifically, we are talking about: 

• Enslaved Africans and their descendants, some of who planted some of the earliest vines in the United States. Throughout American history, the wine industry has failed to credit Black workers for their contributions. 

• Indigenous people whose land was stolen and exploited by white colonizers. We also honor the experiential knowledge Indigenous people hold that can help us practice ecological stewardship of the land.

• Chinese immigrants whose labor contributed to creating California’s wine and related industries in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

• Latinx immigrants and migrant workers who are invaluable to the wine and hospitality industries.

All of these people worked under and sometimes still endure oppressive conditions. Their labor is often uncredited, and we think they deserve more than mention but a prominent place in the history of wine in America. 

We appreciate women - wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and others - who contributed to wine production, distribution, and sales and never received credit or recognition for their work. 

The Vinguard also salutes the work like-minded of like-minded organizations in the wine industry, including: 

• Batonnage

• Black Wine Professionals

• Diversity in Wine and Spirits

• Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum

• Industry Sessions

• The Lift Collective

• The Hue Society

• The Two Eighty Project

• Wheeling Forward