December 2020 | InspiredByPenta.com | 19
Andrew Thomas Lee
Black Master Sommeliers among 172
who have earned the prestigious desig-
nation in the U.S., and zero Masters of
Wine among 409 certified through this
rigorous program worldwide.
But change is afoot as several Black,
indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)
professionals in the wine world are
calling out the implicit, and explicit,
racial bias they have experienced, and
are actively working to effect change.
Tahiirah Habibi, a top sommelier
who describes her job today as “freedom
fighter,” chose not to pursue a dream of
becoming the first Black female Master
Sommelier after experiencing blatant
racism from an administrator of the
introductory exam. Now Habibi is team-
ing with Carlton McCoy, CEO of Heitz
Cellar Estate in St. Helena, Calif.—and
the second African-American to be
certified a Master Sommelier—and
hospitality consultant Ikimi Dubose, to
launch the Roots Fund.
The fund aims to assist Black profes-
sionals in initiating career paths in
wine, with help from mentors, intern-
ships, and scholarships that can pay
for educational opportunities—from
formal programs to experience, such
as working a harvest overseas.
The goal is “to create resources to get
people onto these paths and help them
pay for it,” Habibi says. Those who work
as sommeliers need to taste a wide
range of wines, at all price points, for
instance. “That’s a huge barrier for
people, particularly people who are not
brought up with wine,” she says.
The Roots Fund works with Habibi’s
three-year-old Hue Society, which is
establishing city chapters to offer
monthly tastings of high-quality wines
facilitated by experienced wine experts
and mentors. Anyone can join, Habibi
says. “You take what you need from it.”
Opening access is critical for bring-
ing more people of color into a
white-dominated industry, but real
change won’t happen until certifying
bodies, trade fairs, and prestigious
event organizers go beyond declarations
to diversify to actually include Black
and brown professionals at all levels.
“Until some institution continues to
push the same way that we have been,
this is an uphill battle,” says Miguel de
Leon, general manager and wine direc-
tor at Pinch Chinese in New York.
De Leon, who was born in the Philip-
pines and came to the U.S. when he was
about 10, has written forcefully about
the discrimination he continues to face
because of his ethnicity. Like Levy, he
finds customers at his restaurant
searching for a white face to explain the
wine list.
In the wake of protests that erupted
worldwide after the death of George
Floyd in Minneapolis, de Leon worked
with other BIPOC wine peers to create
an action plan for changing the wine
community that appeared in such
online Medium articles as, “How to
Dismantle White Supremacy in Wine.”
The stories say “here are the step-by-
step solutions, here’s a timeline for you,
and here are the resources,” de Leon says.
To start, there has to be “visible
representational equity”—including
BIPOC individuals within the hierarchy
of institutions, such as the Court of
Master Sommeliers, but also in promi-
nent positions throughout the industry,
from distributors, to winemaking,
wineries, restaurants, and retail.
With several other wine professionals,
de Leon (who also works with Hue Soci-
ety) is starting the nonprofit Open Wine
Forum, which will offer free education
that seeks to “decolonize” wine, that is,
make learning about it less eurocentric
in everything from taste to the focus on
French wine regions. Anyone who’s
had a chance to explore de Leon’s
wide-ranging list of Merlots at Pinch
knows he’s on to something.
These fledgling efforts to create com-
munities for Black and brown people to
learn about wine, and to get financial
access to education and resources, take
away excuses for institutions that
pledge diversity but don’t act on it, both
de Leon and Habibi say.
That outreach is critical, even for a
seasoned professional such as Levy.
Earlier this year, Levy was asked by a
Master of Wine educator if she’d con-
sider getting her “MW,” so with Habibi’s
encouragement, Levy applied for and
received a Roots Fund scholarship to
pay for the required courses.
As Habibi told her, “There are no
Black Masters of Wine—imagine what
it will do if somebody sees you doing it
and they say, ‘maybe I can do it.’”
Left: Marquita
Levy has been
a sommelier for
22 years. Above:
Tahiirah Habibi
describes her
job as “freedom
fighter.”