Despite Crumbling DEI Initiatives, These Wine Pros Aren’t Backing Down

By WineBottleMag
February 18, 2025
Arent Backing Crumbling DEI Initiatives Pros Wine
With 0 comments

Over the past few years, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have faced growing resistance, with many industries—including wine and spirits—rolling back progress made in the wake of 2020’s racial reckoning.

Following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, DEI took a major hit. He signed executive orders essentially terminating programs aimed at diversity and accessibility across the government in January and a mass elimination of DEI agendas in the private sector followed. Major corporations like Google, Walmart, Target, Amazon and McDonalds, among others, scaled back their programs or cut funding or altogether.

As money dries up and these programs are quietly dismantled, wine professionals find themselves at a crossroads, forced to navigate an industry that has long struggled with representation. Despite the setbacks, some are boldly forging ahead.

“Inclusion is a choice for some people, but I refuse to change what we do,” says Alicia Towns Franken, executive director of Wine Unify, a group that provides educational funding, resources and mentorship for aspiring wine professionals. “We believe in diversity, we believe in equity, we believe in inclusion.”

However, as support for these programs dwindles, the question remains: What happens to the progress that was just beginning to take root?

Anti-DEI Pushback and the Beverage Industry

The anti-DEI movement started taking shape over the last few years, with right-wing activists like former music video director Robby Starbuck and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman lambasting companies for establishing DEI programming on social media. Diversity programs became even more at risk when the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in 2023.

In the beverage industry, companies like Brown-Forman Corporation and Molson Coors Beverage Company rolled back several DEI initiatives that year, including participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion scoring system. Meanwhile, some brands started to backpedal pledges to provide funding to support organizations grounded in diversity. “Sponsors are no longer willing to sponsor,” says Towns Franken, noting that there’s an overall chilling effect happening.

To Christopher Renfro, co-founder of the Two Eighty Project, an organization that focuses on increasing accessibility and representation for Black and other marginalized communities in the wine industry, this pendulum swing isn’t surprising.

“For the beverage space specifically, I believe we’re starting to see the true colors of who people truly are,” Renfro says.

Why DEI Initiatives Still Matter

The dismantling of DEI threatens to limit career opportunities, make education less accessible and reduce the variety of perspectives in the industry. However, the biggest potential impact diminishing diversity and inclusion programs is the loss of community within the industry, which can have consequences on the bottom line.

As the wine industry struggles to cope with slumping sales, it needs all the support it can get. Putting wine in a vacuum prevents interesting ideas from flourishing and capturing the attention of new drinkers.

“When you have more community, you have more economic support for restaurants, wine shops, beer stores, beer gardens and bars,” says Alexandra Schrecengost, founder of Culture With Us, a consultancy that focuses on fostering inclusive workplace cultures through virtual and in-person food and wine tastings. “That is really the whole purpose of DEI, to drive community.”

Community is particularly important since the wine industry is failing to attract Gen Z drinkers, who are more racially and ethnically diverse than previous generations. Remaining silent or outwardly pulling back on DEI programming could be the nail in the coffin.

“The younger generation drinks their values and if you step away from DEI programs, they’re not going to drink your wine,” says Towns Franken.

A rise in sober-curious lifestyles and growing use of cannabis instead of wine is yet another industry pressure that DEI could help address, according to Schrecengost, who notes that If the wine industry continues to pour all its resources into catering to a specific older, less inclusive demographic, “they’re going to lose because no matter what, because the landscape is changing.”

let adType_67b506e11ff78 = “leaderboard”;
// Create the element
let script_67b506e11ff78 = document.createElement(“script”);

script_67b506e11ff78.innerHTML = `
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};
googletag.cmd.push(function() {

var mapping;
// Size mapping for leaderboard ads
var lbmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[970, 250], [970, 90], [1, 1], [728, 90]])
.addSize([728, 0], [[728, 90], [1, 1]])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 50], [300, 100], [320, 50], [320, 100]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [320, 50]])
.build();
// Size mapping for med rectengle ads
var medrecmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[300, 600],[300, 250]])
.addSize([728, 0], [300, 250])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1],[300, 250]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 250]])
.build()
//var lbSlots = [[[320, 100], [728, 90], [300, 100], [1, 1], [300, 50], [970, 250], [320, 50], [970, 90]]];
//var medrecSlots = [[300, 600], [1, 1], [300, 250]];

mapping = adType_67b506e11ff78 == ‘leaderboard’ ? lbmapping : medrecmapping;
googletag.defineSlot(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’, [],
‘div-gpt-ad-67b506e11ff78’).addService(googletag.pubads()).defineSizeMapping(mapping);
googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest();
googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); //maybe optional
googletag.pubads().refresh(); //maybe optional
googletag.enableServices();

});
`;

//checking to see if script is inserted in the header successfully
if (document.head.appendChild(script_67b506e11ff78)) {
//variable holding the rendering body
document.getElementById(“gptBodySection-67b506e11ff78”).innerHTML = `

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-67b506e11ff78); });

`;
}

The Gains DEI Initiatives Made

The DEI programs that emerged in the wake of 2020 were more than symbolic gestures; they led to real, measurable change.

Scholarships and mentorship initiatives provided aspiring wine professionals of color with access to prestigious certifications, industry connections and career opportunities that had long been out of reach.

Organizations like The Roots Fund raised over $1 million to support people of color in the wine industry and provided more than 200 scholarships to fund education and certifications in wine.

Batonnage Forum provided mentorship opportunities to more than 300 women for areas of wine production, marketing and sales that led to nearly 50% of mentees securing jobs in wine after completing the program.

Members of the Association of African American Vintners saw increased partnerships with major retailers like Total Wine, which helped Black-owned brands land more shelf space, and partnerships with Wine Spectator and Napa Valley Vintners that provided scholarships and business grants to vintners of color.

And Refro’s Two Eighty Project launched a fellowship program that offered individuals from marginalized and underrepresented communities a six-month paid program, in partnership with winemaker Steve Matthiasson and UC Davis.

Some companies even revised hiring practices to foster more inclusive workplaces, like at E. & J. Gallo, which launched its Diversity and Inclusion Council in the summer of 2020 to ensure the company is meeting inclusionary goals throughout various sectors of the company.

To help develop talent and encourage more participation of people of color in the wine industry, Jackson Family Wines partnered with Urban Grape for a three-month internship program that provides hands-on winery experience. Interns receive a $5,000 stipend for travel and lodging while working in Sonoma, California.

“We’ve gotten funding and grants and opportunities through these DEI programs just like so many others,” says Schrecengost, who wonders where many businesses owned and operated by people of color would be without the work of DEI. “It’s really, really hard, not just in the wine industry but from a larger scale of professional services and hospitality in general, to raise money or be able to get into the room.”

Continuing to Do the Work

Instead of sulking over the current state of DEI, advocates are using this moment to stand firm on their values.

Renfro emphasizes that now is a crucial moment for people of color in the wine industry to unite, lean on existing networks, and pool resources.

“I want people to tap in with me to figure out how we build,” says Renfro. “How do we get the money we need to grow? How do we actually help each other instead of being siloed?”

For some, like Wine Unify, whose sponsors have doubled down on their partnerships and funding pledges since anti-DEI rhetoric began, the mission to foster change will only continue.

Wine Unify awards provides recipients with funding and access to Wine and Spirits Education Trust courses and the wines and tools necessary to help in their studies. Award winners also get to connect with some of the top voices in the industry through the organization’s mentorship program. Many students who have benefited from Wine Unify’s resources have gone on to continue or complete their WSET studies and land jobs in the wine industry.

“We want to be that bright light for people to know that we are still here and we are going to continue to fight,” says Towns Franken. “Year to date, we’ve given up over 200 awards, and we are supporting our people as much as possible.”

let adType_67b506e120c1d = “leaderboard”;
// Create the element
let script_67b506e120c1d = document.createElement(“script”);

script_67b506e120c1d.innerHTML = `
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};
googletag.cmd.push(function() {

mapping = adType_67b506e120c1d == ‘leaderboard’ ? lbmapping : medrecmapping;
googletag.defineSlot(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’, [],
‘div-gpt-ad-67b506e120c1d’).addService(googletag.pubads()).defineSizeMapping(mapping);
googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest();
googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); //maybe optional
googletag.pubads().refresh(); //maybe optional
googletag.enableServices();

});
`;

//checking to see if script is inserted in the header successfully
if (document.head.appendChild(script_67b506e120c1d)) {
//variable holding the rendering body
document.getElementById(“gptBodySection-67b506e120c1d”).innerHTML = `

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-67b506e120c1d); });

`;
}

Some organizations are banding together to help amplify their work. There’s strength in numbers.

For example, the Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum is collaborating with other likeminded groups—like Black Wine Professionals, Co-Fermented and Hispanics in Wine—to create a dialogue and discuss actionable measures for positive change that can lead to more equity for people of color in the wine space, advanced career opportunities and leadership roles, more scholarship funding and pathways of entry into the industry.

More work needs to happen, most notably appealing to the heads of major companies that have real power to change, create and offer better and more opportunities to people of color. But in the absence of this support, advocates who are committed to DEI show that corporate pledges aren’t essential in the fight for more equity.

“Eventually, your community always does show up,” says Schrecengost. “This is not going to break us. There may be some hardship for a little while, but if you continue going, you’ll eventually get to the light.”

More DEI Coverage

The wine industry pledged to improve diversity, equity and inclusivity. Has anything changed?
Social sustainability and inclusivity can secure the future of wine.
What it’s really like to be a Black wine professional.
Get to know the most influential Black-owned wineries in the U.S.
10 organizations that support Black drinks professionals.