On a surprisingly warm October evening in New York City, I hopped on the train and headed into Manhattan to visit the city’s most popular restaurant right now: Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi in Lincoln Center. I wasn’t really there to eat (though I was happy to!), but rather to sip. I was scheduled to have dinner with other Black women lifestyle journalists and Ayesha Curry and her sister-in-law Sydel Curry-Lee, owners of Domaine Curry wines. The purpose? To toast to Black women’s love of luxury wines and to taste the latest iterations of the brand’s 2022 Founders Blend and Cabernet Sauvignon.
“There’s so much community around wine,” Sydel shared, noting that the creation of Domaine Curry was born out of a desire to partner up with Ayesha on a business endeavor, but more so to honor the women in their family. So many memorable moments in their lives took place with those ladies with a bottle of wine present.
“We really wanted to amplify the legacy of women in our family. There are some really strong, amazing women that we are lucky to call our mothers, lucky to call aunties, grandmas, and so we wanted to celebrate them, but also leave a legacy for my daughter and my nieces.”
Both Ayesha and Sydel wanted to also amplify how much of an impact Black folks have in the wine industry. “Fun fact, Black women, Black people, are spending $1.6 trillion in revenue on wine. The market is there,” Ayesha said. “And we’re just happy to be a part of it and to lend our story to this beautiful market.”
The drinks were very pleasing to the palate, including a newly released 2023 Sauvignon Blanc. My favorite was the Founders Blend, which is a combination of merlot, malbec, petite sirah, petit verdot, and syrah. “This was a rebrand,” Sydel says of the smooth wine. “Our Founders Blend was a whole new makeup when we got acquired by Prisoner. We wanted something that really showed who we are. And we were not merlot lovers, but we were tricked into drinking some really good merlot by Chrissy and surprisingly loved it.”
As for the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon, it stays on the palate, as it’s a blend of that varietal, along with merlot and cabernet franc. Whittmann said that when she updated Domaine Curry’s blends, her aim was to bring “elegance and power” to them.
“I saw those two words through the varieties of cabernet franc, which is a lot of breadfruit, super powerful, great tannin,” she stated during the dinner. “We have merlot, which is nice and can be powerful; it can be what you want it to be. And also cabernet sauvignon, and in Napa Valley, cab is king.”
Both wines blended fantastic with the food, and are perfect for both sharing a glass with girlfriends (as we did in the middle of a private dining room in Tatiana), or winding down after a long day. They’re higher in price than what you may usually spend for a good red ($85 for the Founders Blend, $100 for the Cabernet Sauvignon), but certainly worth it.
All the ladies present agreed as they chatted with Ayesha and Sydel over a filling meal, creating the community that both ladies shared is behind the development of the Domaine Curry brand.
“We’re happy to partner with the Prisoner Wine Company and to have them really push our legacy forward and to go out there and represent Black women because we love luxury wine,” Sydel shared. “We are buying luxury wine, and it needs to be shown more and represented more in the industry.”
