The 32-year-old man who currently lives in Toronto said that they have worked intermittently in the hotel industry for half their lives.

“And, yes, you will see a lot of people who look like me in the kitchen. You may even see many of us in supporting roles in front of the house. But managers, sommeliers, and owners will more often than say It’s white, it’s better to say it’s white.”

Dayle is now taking many of the wine education courses they need to enter the industry, thanks in part to a scholarship initiated by a wine boutique in downtown Toronto called Grape Witches, which hopes to support black, Aboriginal and aspiring wine professionals. People of color. The store’s team believes that making the industry more inclusive will not only help eliminate discrimination, but it can also increase its relevance by broadening taste.

Nicole Campbell and Krysta Oben, co-owners of Grape Witches, have been creating a safe space for women in the male-dominated wine industry for many years. They think they are doing well until they realize how white the space is.

“It’s mostly white women, which is not a reflection of Toronto. That’s not good,” Campbell said.

The duo, who transformed their nickname “The Grape Witch” into a storefront selling natural and decolonized wine, not only posted a solidarity meme on social media, but also initiated a scholarship worth $5,000 to help Women of color get expensive higher education wine education.

Dell was the first recipient.

‘I can not afford it’

As with many other Canadian college and university courses, the cost of education to become a sommelier can be prohibitive, especially considering the amount and type of wine students are expected to purchase.

“I can’t afford it. It’s that simple,” Dell said. “Unless I am willing to lie, cheat and steal in wine education, there is no way to solve it. It will be very difficult.”

They said that when studying for certain levels of certification, students are expected to spend about $200 a month on wine alone-this cost is not included in the course.

Another obstacle, Dayle said, is that they often feel unwelcome in wine tasting predominantly white.

“Someone comes to me and they will ask me to bring them some water because they look at me and don’t expect me to taste it there,” Dell said. “They look at me and hope I will wait for them here.”

Lorein Codiamat, manager of Grape Witches, said that she has also experienced these minor aggressions and prejudices during her long career in the food and wine industry as a waiter, on-site wine expert and manager.

Codiamat said that as a woman of color, clients question her expertise.

“People immediately distrust whether you know what you are talking about,” she said.

She said that even the way that most people are taught to talk and experience wine through established educational programs may be culturally loaded and European-centric.

My sense of taste is very different from that of white people. -Lorein Codiamat, Manager of the Grape Witch

“I don’t know what the smell and taste of sandalwood are. I know it now, but I haven’t known it for a long time. But I know what this is equivalent to in my life experience,” Codiamat said.

“Just because you don’t know the taste of gooseberry…you can still talk about wine critically. You will only have a different sensory experience.”

Watch | Dayle tells the story of wine in different ways:

Jaby Dayle describes how flavor characteristics affect winemaking practices. 0:59

At Grape Witches, Codiamat tries to provide a safe space for customers who have not received a classic wine education or who have difficulty telling the name on the bottle.

“It’s not just the wealthy white people who want to drink wine. Everyone likes wine. That’s why wine has existed for thousands of years,” Cordiamat said.

Codiamat said the problem is that the wine industry only values ??the tastes and interests of white people.

“My taste is very different from that of white people. The wine I want to drink is also very different.”

Decolonization wine

Doris Miculan-Bradley teaches budding sommeliers at George Brown College in Toronto. She said that despite the huge economic obstacles, the student body of the project is becoming more and more diverse, which will force changes in the established wine world.

“If our industry hasn’t changed, if we think we don’t matter now, then be prepared, because the next generation won’t tolerate it,” Mikuran-Bradley said.

At Grape Witches, the change starts with what they put on the shelf. The boutique tried to bring in wine from countries that were not part of the early colonial trade routes that made French, Italian, and Spanish wines popular.

“Of course, we believe that the best grapes are determined by the political and social factors of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries,” Campbell said.

Patience does not equal complacency -Jaby Dayle, wine student

She said that decolonization of wine is not meant to belittle the traditionally expensive wines from places like Burgundy, Bordeaux or Barolo.

“This is… questioning whether wines from western Slovakia, Greece or all other regions with a rich and long history should be able to reach the same price,” she said.

For Dayle, decolonization of wine also means more consideration of who works in the vineyard, rather than who is the spokesperson of the wine when it is sold.

“In the castle or the tasting room, the grapes are white. But if you walk into the vineyard, you will see black and brown people who are actually picking grapes. They actually know these places very well.”

ask questions

The Grape Witch is preparing to award their second scholarship to black applicants.

Dayle said that if people want to support changes in the industry, they can first ask questions about where the wine they buy comes from and whether the people who work in the vineyard receive fair wages. For example, the Seven Sisters in South Africa are black-owned and run by women of color. They have also established foundations for abused women.

In Ontario, CAPS initiated a survey to understand the province’s diversity figures. Another group of wine industry professionals, wineThose with the mission of supporting diversity have also begun to provide scholarships and professional development opportunities.

Dayle is optimistic that the industry can change.

“I hope it will change more, not just brown people picking fruits and white people making money.”

Dayle is already part of this change. In May, they launched a new business to distribute wine in small packages so that people who cannot afford a full bottle can still experience expensive wine.

“Wine taught me a little patience,” Dell said, “but this kind of patience does not mean complacency, so there is still a lot of work to be done.”