I bought this wine in February during #BlackHistoryMonth. I had made a decision to try to support Black Vintners and purchased a slew of wines from Wine.com that they were promoting by Black-owned vintners. However, when I looked at the list of wines I bought, everyone was a celebrity, either a music or sports legend or entertainer.

Where were all the regular people? It seemed there were no regular folks without fame behind them. While this bothered me, I thought about it more and thought that many regular people probably had no access to financing to start a vineyard or even less access to winemaking.

I then decided to focus on what I thought of the wine rather than the owner. I bought the Intercept, a nod to Charles Woodson’s football career. Since I know nothing about football, it is really the wine that interested me and his chose of location, winemaker, and giving back.

He chose a young female winemaker which I found very interesting, went to source fruit in Paso Robles and Monterey Country, and has created a foundation that has created scholarships for young people who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) who are interested in pursuing a career in the wine industry. The Charles Woodson & O’Neill Family Wine Scholarships have already made a difference in the lives of a couple of recipients featured on his website.

The wine itself was made from Pinot Noir from Monterey County. It was a big Pinot Noir with loads of red and black fruit, mushrooms, forest floor, cedar, and alcohol on the nose and palate. It has a minty, herbal quality in a third wave of flavors. It spent 14 months in oak, French and Eastern European. This wine calls for a steak or grilled Salmon, something big with its 15.3% alcohol.