True, thatвЂ™s only a microscopic 3% and 0.01%, respectively, of the wine produced in those countries, but still, who knew? IвЂ™m ashamed to admit that I didnвЂ™t.Is There a Safe Way to Use Crystal To avoid high levels of lead, wine or liquor in a crystal decanter should be consumed in a matter of 2 hours and should never be left to sit. T here are, apparently, 67 black-owned wine brands in South Africa and a similar number in the US. The same issue applies to screw caps, which may become deformed if the frozen liquid reaches the rim. Still, there are still things that can go wrong to ruin a batch of wine, the majority of which are sanitation issues.Because air is corrosive to wine, it's important to drink the bottle sooner rather than later. The wine-making process creates an environment inhospitable to bacteria that could cause sickness. Making homemade wine isnt dangerous in the life-or-death sense, unlike making moonshine, where a mistake can cause blindness.

Most wines are NOT meant to age.Yet had I taken the trouble to look at whatвЂ™s going on, thereвЂ™s a whole raft of Instagram accounts and organisations representing young black wine professionals and wine lovers, including The Black Cellar Club and SA POC at the Table in South Africa and The Hue Society, Black Girls Wine and Black Wine Professionals, launched just this week and fronted by wine writer Julia Coney, in the US. Only certain wines were meant to age. A separate question is will you ENJOY drinking the wine. You are generally safe in drinking it. The alcohol keeps bacteria and other nasty things from growing in it.

But the industry can help by recruiting, hiring, retaining and promoting black people when the opportunity presents itself.вЂќItвЂ™s hard to find wine made by black winemakers that come within the price range that I normally recommend: that said, NyamudokaвЂ™s Kumusha wines, along with Ntsiki Biyela of AslinaвЂ™s, are available through African Wines in the Hague, should you want to seek them out.I hope, if I write a similar piece in 12 monthsвЂ™ time, that the situation will have changed. You do not just start at the top, because there is a lack of representation there. вЂњIf a black person wants to get into senior winemaking or viticulture roles, they need to be prepared to work for it. вЂњWhen she started out, she was one of the only women winemakers here, so by the time I came along, she had already faced many of the challenges that I now face as a result of being one of the only women, and women of colour, in my part of the business.вЂќDespite her senior role, Royal still gets mistaken for the secretary in meetings: вЂњIвЂ™ve come to terms with the fact that someone will be ignorant or think itвЂ™s funny to question my title or authority,вЂќ she tells me.

ItвЂ™s made in Provence, but the company is owned by a black entrepreneur, Donae Burston, a former brand ambassador for MoГ«t et Chandon. As I finished this piece, there was news that the Court of Master Sommeliers had finally abandoned the humiliating use of the term вЂњmasterвЂќ when addressing its members, and that one of the the more high-profile, black-owned brands in the US, La FГЄte du RosГ©, will shortly become available in London, via Deliveroo. The gatekeepers need to open the gates.And, sometimes, things can move surprisingly fast. The wine world needs an equivalent of the Nearest & Jack advancement initiative that the whiskey brands Jack Daniels and Nearest Green have come up with to improve access for African Americans to the distilling industry. ItвЂ™s not just up to producers, but to importers and retailers, too, to recognise the growing demand and desire for representation from black consumers.

Is Wine Safe