This effort to bring more diversity to the wine industry has been named the One Barrel Challenge and for this inaugural event seven Oregon wineries have joined forces. This year’s money will be given to a local Portland nonprofit, the Maurice Lucas Foundation, that assists marginalized children.
Created to honor the legacy community hero and late Trail Blazer Maurice Lucas’ in the Portland metro-area, the foundation provides educational opportunities.
Jacob Gray, a partner in Chosen Family Wines and the L’Angolo Estate Winery general manager, explained:
“Overall, we’re trying to highlight and bring to life more opportunities and the barrier of entry for people of color into the wine industry.”
According to Gray, throughout the world of wine, people of color with their own brands are relatively rare. At some point in the future, the group will add educational opportunities and perhaps scholarships in the hope of changing this.
The wine industry offers more ways to participate than winery ownership and winemaking. Oregon’s wine industry needs those who design bottle labels, video makers for wineries and distributors. Graphic design plays a key part in creating unique wine bottle labels.
Wineries participating in the One Barrel Challenge can begin purchasing the selected wines on May 1.