I’ll toast to that: New England Noir returns to Southampton with wine, music, and networking

The Black wine festival New England Noir will return to Glendale Ridge Vineyard in Southampton this weekend with a “Pilates & Pinot Soundbath” on Friday, Oct. 11; the main festival day on Saturday, Oct. 12; and a brunch and networking event on Sunday, Oct. 12. The festival features live music, food trucks, networking, and, of course, plenty of wine.

Founder Angela Mack got the idea for a wine festival a few years ago on “a very, very bad day,” she said. She decided to visit a local vineyard, and Glendale Ridge came up in a Google search. When she visited, she was thoroughly impressed: the scenery was breathtaking, and the owners, Ed and Mary Hamel, provided her with excellent customer service.

“I wished that everybody that was having a bad day could have this experience, could have just one day when they had a great time, and then immediately, I thought to myself, ‘I’m gonna have a wine festival,’” Mack said.

New England Noir started in 2021 with about 250 attendees. Since then, it’s grown to about 600 attendees, Mack said. For her, it was crucial to help Black people, especially Black women, benefit economically, especially within an industry that is overwhelmingly white. (Phil Long, president of the African American Association of Vintners, estimated in 2020 that less than 1% of winemakers and winery owners in the U.S. are Black.) 

To that end, New England Noir also features “Business Over Brunch” on Sunday morning, an opportunity for attendees to network, enjoy music from a live DJ, and drink mimosas. This year’s guest is activist and author Tamika Mallory, co-founder of the nonprofit Until Freedom.

“For me, that’s as important as the music component when we’re partying on Saturday – that, on Sunday, we gather and we talk about the business of it all,” Mack said.

DJ Mars (real name Marshall Thomas), who has been part of the festival since its inception, pointed out that the festival likewise fills a void in the wine market: “Businesses don’t realize it hurts their bottom line because there’s a group of people they’re just not talking to.” (New England Noir isn’t the only Black wine festival – in fact, Mack drew inspiration from the Autumn Reggae Wine & Music Festival in Maryland and a festival called The Black Radio Experience in Napa, California – but it is the only one in the region; the next closest is in Philadelphia.)

Thomas and Mack have known each other for decades; the two were childhood neighbors in Springfield. When Mack approached him about being part of a new wine festival, “It was an extremely easy yes,” he said. “I saw the vision from the jump, and the vision was clear.”

Thomas has played much larger stages than this one – he’s DJed for Usher, Ciara, and Keri Hilson, among other names – but a festival like this has a special meaning to him, especially as a Massachusetts native. Glendale Ridge, he said, is “close enough to get to, but far enough that you feel like you are away, and, aesthetically, it’s just magical.”

When he first saw the venue in person, “Standing there, looking over the mountains and seeing how beautiful Massachusetts is, I felt even more proud – this is where I’m from, and look how amazing it looks, and look how many people are here to share that thing that we all grew up with,” he said.

Thomas also said that wine (rather than, say, beer) was the right choice for a festival because “it has a certain connotation, and that connotation is relative to elevation.” Beer, on the other hand, “sounds like a football game. It sounds like guys in a living room on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.”

Mack, likewise, chose to celebrate wine not only because of the scenic views at Glendale Ridge but also because she enjoys wine when “fellowshipping with my friends.” In fact, a guest at a previous New England Noir told Mack she invited her estranged family members to reunite at the festival, “and they’ve been tight ever since,” Mack said. “It was a healing experience.”

All told, Mack’s favorite part of New England Noir is “the love.”

“It is unexplainable,” she said. “The vibe is really, really all about love, and that’s my favorite part. You feel it as soon as you enter the grounds – you feel the vibe, you feel the love, the music is just top-notch, and folks are sharing food with each other, they’re taking pictures with each other, celebrating, toasting, and it’s really, really unmatched.”

As of this writing, the festival itself and the Pilates & Pinot Soundbath Healing Experience are sold out, but tickets to Business over Brunch are still available for $108.55 via eventbrite. For more information about New England Noir, visit thenewenglandnoir.com.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.