Gonzales Wine Company- Portland, Oregon
Cristina and her son Julián. Photo by Gilbert Terrazas.
Leading the way, her way
It happens. As a woman of color in a white dominated industry, microaggressions show up all over the place.
“Where are you actually from?”
“Do you miss living in (insert choice assumption)?”
“Is that your real name?”
“You speak good English!”
These comments, which are racial microaggressions, reveal assumptions on the behalf of the speaker that BIPOC & AAPINH (Asian-American, Pacific Islander, & Native Hawaiian) people are not in positions of management, authority, or knowledge to speak about wine. They happen more than anyone might think. It happens behind the counter, in the store, at the restaurant, in wine country, and in conversation. Glorification of white European history in wine literature, education, production, and sales is passed down through culture. But the culture is changing. It’s being led by voices that have been underrepresented for a long time. These voices have always been here.
“You f#%k my wine??”
Meet Cristina Gonzales. I first met Cristina when I was working part time at a local wine shop while I was going to college. She just joined our team and I was excited to chat with her about winemaking. Beyond winemaking, I was interested in knowing her experience as a woman of color in the wine industry. Cristina had recently moved back to Oregon from Chiapas, Mexico. Growing up not speaking Spanish, Cristina immersed herself in community to reclaim tradition and make it her own. She had her Son, Julián in Mexico. Inspired by the energy of Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, Crisitina was ready to lead the way– her way, in the wine industry. The first bottle I ever took home of hers was a rosé made from malbec, “Scarface”. Made in Calaveras County California, what was her story? I mean, who puts Tony Montana on a bottle of rosé? I had to find out and be best friends with her.
While backpacking through South America in 2001, Cristina fell into the heart of Argentina. Good food and good wine (malbec it was) set Cristina on path to become one of not many women of color winemakers in Oregon. Cristina’s ancestors were migrant farm workers from Texas (the border crossed them). They later moved to Wisconsin to pick cherries. She comes from a family where working with the energy of the land in your hands is just the way it is.
Cristina absorbed as much information and experience when she entered the wine industry. Educated by exposure, she worked harvests in California, Oregon, Tasmania and Australia. While working as a harvest intern in Oregon, she felt a pull toward the land and decided to leave Wisconsin and move to Portland. She landed a job at one of Oregon’s largest producers. After gaining skills in production, cellar hand, lab assistant, she decided to start her label in 2009. As a tribute to her love at first sip, she decided to make Malbec.
In Argentina
Julián doing punch downs
