A fellow’s forum with wine writer Sydney Love, from May 23, 2024.
About the Presentation
At Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and elsewhere, Black winemakers have fallen to the margins of American history, but their traditions carried on through the grapevine. As part of an effort to collect origin stories of Black American winemaking, this project will reassess the age-old wine story set at Monticello and be retold from the lens of the enslaved Black Americans tasked with growing, producing, and serving wine and other beverages here, all while expanding the definition of American wine and those who make it. The project will also consider Jefferson’s interest in American native grapes and the possibility of Black wine traditions outside his gaze.
About Sydney Love
Sydney Love is a wine writer from Southern California. After studying English literature and creative writing in Atlanta, Georgia, she landed in the tasting department at Wine & Spirits Magazine. In 2020, George Floyd’s death led her to explore wine’s intersections with race, gender, environmentalism, and social justice. Her work has appeared in Wine & Spirits, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Alta Journal, among other publications. She’s currently researching the origin stories of Black American winemaking.