Toasting the Organic Floral Wines of Aaliyah Nitoto

In the latest episode of the R&B Show, Rieva, and Brian talk with entrepreneur Aaliyah Nitoto about how she makes award-winning wines from organic flowers.

Insights from Aaliyah Nitoto:

• There is a rich history of women making wine from flowers all over the world as far back as the Han dynasty in China.
• We control almost the entire process of our winemaking. We do the fermentation and aging. bottling and the labeling, and even local distribution. We wear a lot of hats.
• When COVID hit, we had to pivot our business and decided to concentrate on online sales, direct to consumers. The good news is we hardly missed a step in our business., and now all of our wines are sold out.
• COVID has allowed us to review our process and products. We are now looking to expand our line of products as well as a package redesign for a few of our wines to give them a fresh, more modern up to date look. We are also looking at retail partnerships and trying to get into more independent grocery stores. We are always working on some part of the business – tweaking it.
• On my bucket list I’d love to have a flower farm where I can invite people to sip our wine while standing in a field of flowers.
• As an African American woman in the wine business, I have seen and been part of discrimination on several levels. We have lost out on partnerships and collaborations because of who I am, but we don’t walk away. We find another path to success. And that’s my advice for other women and minorities in our industry. Don’t accept discrimination; don’t feed the beast.