'I wanted to support Black': Cincinnati's Black Wine Festival sells out in its 1st year

Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
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Natasha Williams is the founder of Cincinnati's inaugural Black Wine Festival, the region's first ever wine festival featuring all Black-owned wines.
Natasha Williams is the founder of Cincinnati's inaugural Black Wine Festival, the region's first ever wine festival featuring all Black-owned wines.

A local business owner is bridging the racial gap in Cincinnati's wine industry.

Natasha Williams, a West Chester resident and University of Cincinnati graduate, is the founder of the inaugural Cincinnati Black Wine Festival, the region's first wine event featuring all Black-owned wines. The inspiration for it came from Williams recognizing a lack of diversity at other regional wine events. She then used her experience representing Black-owned businesses through her brokerage firm, My Lush Life Brands LLC, to launch the unique affair.

"We talk about inclusivity and we talk about diversity, but there's none on the shelves," Williams said to The Enquirer. "I felt it was time to not only expose the consumer to the winemaker, but the winemaker to the wonderful city."

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The festival will be held Feb. 18, National Drink Wine Day, in the heart of Black History Month. Williams said it simply made sense to highlight Black-owned wine brands during a time when Black history and achievements are celebrated. She plans to bring the event back next February as well.

"I really wanted to keep all of our vendors Black-owned ... I wanted to support Black," she said.

The organizers of Cincinnati’s inaugural Black Wine Festival: Chadrian Mullins-Hall (back left), Candice Crowley (back middle), Alexandra White (back right), Antonia Davis (front left), Natasha Williams (front middle), Kea Frazier (front middle) and Katrina Brown. Black Wine Festival will be held at Sugar Lofts Event Center, a Black-owned event space in Liberty Township, Feb. 18.

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And so does the community, as the inaugural festival is already sold out.

"I'm so thankful that I've been given the opportunity to create such an experience that Cincinnati really is excited to participate in. ... I feel like I get to host over 500 of my closest friends to a great cocktail hour and I'm excited to do that," Williams said of selling out the event.

Black Wine Festival will be held at Sugar Lofts Event Center, a Black-owned event space in Liberty Township. The event will include an afternoon session from 1-4 p.m. and an evening session from 6-9 p.m. It will also feature over 23 brands and 80 varieties of wine, including Cincinnati-based Markell-Bani, Revel OTR Urban Winery and King Pierre Alexander Wine.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/lushlifebrands.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Cincinnati's Black Wine Festival is bridging a racial gap