Meet The Powerhouse Women Transforming The Global Wine Industry With Afro Wine Week, South Africa
Scheduled to take place from September 5 - 13, 2025, the first ever Afro Wine Week, South Africa, is set to be a game-changing moment for the global wine industry. Positioned as a gateway to investment, empowerment, and community-building, this 7 day experience is being marketed as a premier opportunity to not just support Black-owned wine brands but shape the future of a thriving, untapped market. As co-founder Tuanni Price puts it, it’s a chance to “shift the landscape - redefining who has access, who gets funded, and who benefits from the global wine economy.”
Hosted in Cape Town, the week will kick off with a two-day cultural experience, followed by a lineup of panel discussions, think tanks and networking events. It will feature an international lineup of speakers, industry experts and emerging leaders. Attendees of Afro Wine Week will also receive access to the 2025 CapeWine program, South Africa’s flagship international wine trade show.
By bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, industry veterans and emerging talent, Afro Wine Week aims to bridge the gap between wine professionals and high-impact investment opportunities. It is a strategically curated platform offering Black-owned wine brands not just visibility but meaningful access to capital and new markets.
Behind the event are two powerhouse women - Tuanni Price and Carol Burns. Price, a Los Angeles native, is an international sommelier and award-winning wine educator. Through her company Zuri Wine Tasting, she curates wine experiences from Cape Town to California. Since relocating to South Africa in 2018, her mission has been to transform the wine industry for Black entrepreneurs.
In 2024 she hosted around 700 African Americans in Cape Town for one of her Sips With Soul tours, which is dedicated to showcasing Black-owned wine brands across the Western Cape. During one of these tours she met Carol Burns, a global event strategist and cultural connector originally from Chicago.
Burns, who has been featured in Forbes and FashionWeekOnline, partners with brands to create immersive, large-scale experiences. Together, they recognized the abundance of talented Black winemakers and entrepreneurs that exist in South Africa with limited resources and access to capital because of the country’s history. Afro Wine Week was born from their shared vision to connect American investors with Black wine entrepreneurs, and introduce them to the market in South Africa.
Beyond connecting investors and Black-owned wine businesses, Afro Wine Week is on a mission to increase representation in an industry that has historically been exclusive, and open doors to people of color across the entire wine value chain. The initiative challenges the status quo, empowering Black professionals to step into management and ownership roles, while also working to increase the presence of Black consumers in the global wine market. At its core, Afro Wine Week is about access, community, and culture. It is an invitation to reimagine the global wine industry, and redefine who gets to thrive within it.