Cyndi Campbell and her father, Wayne Narcisso, pause outside the Cheverly Community Market on Sept. 7. Campbell credits her father for the family’s winemaking passion. Photo by Robert Stewart/Capital News Service
By ROBERT STEWART
LANDOVER — Cyndi Campbell and her sister, Dalia Chambers, are working hard these days. Winemaking is laborious, weather dependent and replete with regulations, and it costs a pretty penny to start up.
But the two winery owners have got some help – other Black women owners who are also making headway in a tough industry. It’s an informal network where the women encourage and serve as a resource for each other.
“I always joke that we’re a rounding error,” said Campbell, citing the fractional percentage of black-owned, women-owned wineries.
There are about 100 wineries and vineyards in the state of Maryland, fewer than 10 of them Black-owned, according to Kimberly T. Johnson, a winery owner and current president of the Maryland Wineries Association. Nationally, more like 1% of the vineyards and wineries have Black owners, according to the Association of African American Vintners .