In my Levi Jeans. . .
Wine, but make it fashion.
Wanna hear a wild take that connects the wine industry to the current conversation the country is having on immigration?
During the height of the gold rush on the west coast, there was not only a demand for workers in the mines, but also for clothing that would protect those workers as they searched for their literal “pot of gold”. The clothing item that was suitable for the job due to its durability & flexibility is what we’ve come to know originally as “negro cloth”, but then later as the infamous “blue jean”. This invention did not actually rise to popularity during the gold rush, rather, it came onto the scene much later as an affordable, protective work-wear option for freed and enslaved laborers across the industrial & agricultural industries .
A Latvian immigrant, Jacob W. Davis, had the idea to reinforce the stitching of cotton denim & cotton duck cloth with copper rivets would be perfect for those aforementioned laborers. Jacob asked for financing to mass produce this invention in the form of overalls & jeans from fellow immigrant & marketing genius, Levi Strauss. Fast forward a bit, this iconic fashion item, originally designed for the working class, transitioned into what is now considered a timeless piece in any wardrobe.
You’re probably scratching your head right now as to what point I’m trying to make by telling this tale, right? How does the tale of Levi Jeans correlate to wine or even one of the Wino’s wine-fashion parallels? This contribution to American history was NOT the result of a “natural born citizen” of this country. We are a country built on the backs of those who were either brought here unwillingly or those who came here of their own volition under the promise of the “American dream”. Immigrants have long been a crucial part of this great nation, and an indelible part of the American wine industry. If immigrants contributed something as significant as the blue jean, who’s to say the next great innovation in wine, fashion—whatever— isn’t coming from one of those immigrants being ripped from the homes they’ve built here & deported?
Whether it’s vineyards in California or right here in my backyard of North Carolina, immigrant workers have been essential to maintaining the success of the wine industry. They are the vineyard workers at harvest season. They are there during the bottling. Some of those immigrants are friends of mine who’ve even worked their way up to becoming winemakers at their respective wineries. I’ll be generous with your time and not delve into the impact of immigrants on another industry dear to my heart, the hospitality sector (hotels, restaurants, etc.), but I think you get the point. That little snippet of the tale of the blue jean serves to remind all of us that the most important element to industries such as wine has never been the final product.
It has always been the people.
- The Certified Wino -
