Sommelier / Winemaker André Mack (pictured here in his Brooklyn studio) gives us his takes on both the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the struggle for racial equity in the wine business and beyond.
It’s been some four years since I last spent some time with Sommelier/Winemaker/Entrepreneur André Hueston Mack of Maison/Mouton Noir fame, and it honestly feels as if the world has gone completely topsy-turvy in the intervening period (Trump/Brexit/COVID-19 etc.)
With this in mind, it was terrific to chat over the course of an extended Zoom interview about the incredibly positive manner in which André has been handling the pandemic, choosing to actually expand his businesses in NYC in these troubled times.
Unlike me, André chose to cut down on his wine consumption over the course of the lockdown, which no doubt improved his already admirable productivity; I should most probably take some life lessons in such matters from this fellow!
We then go on to discuss the troubling lack of diversity within our industry, case in point that I have, over the course of Good Food Revolution’s 10 year history, only ever been invited to interview one Black Winemaker… and that would be him, four years back.
I have to work on fixing that ASAP.
If you are having trouble viewing this video please click here.
Maison Noir Wines are represented in Ontario by Noble Estates.
Noble Estates are a Good Food Fighter.
Please support the businesses and organizations that support Good Food Revolution.
Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And he thinks that André’s positivity is seriously infectious!
