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3 Indigenous Wine Recommendations from Owamni by The Sioux Chef

The Minneapolis restaurant has made headlines for its decolonized food menu, but its drinks program also honors Indigenous ingredients and producers.

Founded in 2021 by Chef Sean Sherman in Minneapolis, Owamni by the Sioux Chef has become known for its decolonized food menu, which doesn’t use any ingredients that were introduced by European settlers, such as dairy, wheat flour, and cane sugar. But what does a decolonized drinks program look like? 

“Sean is Lakota Sioux and the original bar manager was Kareen Teague, who’s an Anishinaabe or Ojibwe man, and those are the two prominent Indigenous groups from this region,” says front-of-house manager Chrissy Sierra. “So [the drinks menu] was born of having the food represented by Lakota folks and the Anishinaabe folks represented in the beverage menu with names and ingredients.”

For its non-alcoholic cocktail program, the restaurant sources ingredients that are indigenous to the region, like manoomin (wild rice) and sarsaparilla, and omits any that were introduced to the Americas by European settlers (with the exception of certain herbs like chamomile and lavender that are sustainably grown and  “beneficial to our health and well-being,” says Sierra). Since bartenders don’t use any cane sugar or citrus in cocktails, sweetness may come in the form of agave or maple sugar. For acidity, they might use dried-up sumac berries as a souring agent or play around with the pectins of fresh berries to add texture to a cocktail. “It’s been a fun challenge,” says Sierra.

On the other side of the menu, Owamni’s wine list is entirely BIPOC-sourced, and includes producers from winemaking regions like Mexico’s Bruma and South Africa’s Kumusha Wines. The beverage program particularly focuses on maintaining a selection of bottles from Indigenous producers around the world. “I like having a wine list that makes people think twice,” says Sierra. 

Here are three brands from Indigenous producers Owamni recommends to seek out.

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  Twisted Cedar

  

  Liquor.com / Sabrina Tan

  This wine brand is fully owned by the Cedar Band of Paiute Indians, one of five bands of the Paiute tribe of Utah. With vineyards in Lodi, California, the winery is Lodi-certified, meaning it maintains more than 150 sustainability practices. “They’re a leading sustainability producer, and they’ve actually influenced other wineries in that region to become Lodi-certified,” says Sierra. 

  “[These rules mean they’re] not just organic, they’re also treating workers a certain way, treating the land a certain way and not harmfully extracting grapes and resources from the lands,” she says. “That’s why I really appreciate Twisted Cedar’s products. My favorite of theirs is probably the pinot grigio but we also carry their petite syrah and we occasionally serve their moscato for special events.” 

  Twisted Cedar also produces a chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, and malbec.
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  te Pā Wines

  

  Liquor.com / Sabrina Tan

  Sierra says she likes to put an emphasis on Indigenous wines that aren’t only sourced from the Americas. “It’s a testament to me that Indigenous people are all over the world,” she says. Founded by Haysley MacDonald, a New Zealander who traces his Māori ancestry back to early settlers who landed on the country’s Wairau Bar 800 years ago, te Pā Wines produces wines in New Zealand’s famed Marlborough region. 

  MacDonald and his family began converting their existing dairy and crop farm into vineyards in 2003, and officially launched the brand in 2011 with vineyards in the Wairau Bar and Awatere Valley. Sierra particularly enjoys pairing the label’s wines with the seafood-forward dishes that executive chef and Pacific Northwest native Lee Garman created for the summer menu. “I thought it was really romantic to have both sides of the Pacific Ocean represented in the restaurant as well,” she says. 

  In addition to the pinot noir and sauvignon blanc that Owamni carries, te Pā produces chardonnay, pinot gris, and pinot noir rosé bottlings, among others. MacDonald also sells wines from the te Pā Reserve, Pā Road, Koha, and Montford Estate labels. 
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  Camins 2 Dreams

  

  Liquor.com / Sabrina Tan

  This minimal-intervention, LGBTQ-owned label was founded in 2017 by wives Mireiba Taribó and Tara Gomez with grapes grown from vineyards in Sta. Rita Hills, an appellation in California’s Santa Barbara County known for its relatively cool climate. It is bottled by their own Kalawashaq’ Wine Cellars. A descendant of the Chumash tribe with a degree in enology, Gomez previously produced wines under the Kitá label for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, making it the first brand owned by a Native American tribe, before parting ways in 2022. 

  Owamni has carried Camins 2 Dream’s grüner veltliner, which has aromas of pear, green apple, and white flowers. Camins 2 Dreams mainly focuses on cool climate grüner veltliner and syrah, and also produces an albariño and gamay, among other bottlings.