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KQED's Forum

Mexican-American Winemakers Are Reshaping California’s Wine Industry

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6656 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mexican Americans make up the majority of the labor force sustaining California’s wine industry. And, yet, they only make up about 1 percent of the roughly 4,800 wine producers in the state. A handful of Mexican-American families, including the Robledos and Cejas of Sonoma County,established their labels decades ago. Now newer brands are popping up, such as Healdsburg’s Aldina Vineyards and Seis Soles in Lodi. We’ll talk with some of the Mexican Americans reshaping California’s wine industry and bringing an old tradition to a new crop of consumers. Guests: Gabriela Fernandez, host, The Big Sip podcast - She also curates lifestyle and educational event experiences for Duckhorn Vineyards. Lazaro Robledo, president of sales, Robledo Family Winery Monica Lopez, co-founder, Aldina Vineyards Christoper Rivera, owner and winemaker, Seis Soles Wine Co. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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From KQED.

0:58.7

From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.

1:04.3

Mexican Americans make up the majority of the labor force sustaining California's wine industry,

1:07.2

not to mention a big chunk of the state's overall population.

1:14.7

And yet, we only make up something like 1% of winery owners. That may be changing as a new generation of Mexican-American families have established themselves in the business. So we'll talk with

1:20.5

and about the Mexican-Americans reshaping California's wine industry, examine the challenges that new

1:26.3

winemakers face and look at how the market for wine is changing to satisfy the demands of the state's ever more diverse population.

1:34.2

That's all coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.

1:50.3

For decades, Mexican Americans have been the backbone of viticulture here in the state,

1:54.8

working the vines that produce some of the finest wines in the world.

1:58.7

But up the food chain, a vanishingly small number of Mexican

2:02.3

Americans have been able to become the people making the wine and running the wineries.

2:08.3

Yesterday, as I prep for this show, I dropped by a local wine shop in Oakland. I know this job

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