Jamila Conley, WeRise Wine Bar

WeRise Wine Bar has opened in downtown Seattle. It’s the city’s first bar and restaurant dedicated to bringing access and awareness to diversity in wine.

“I’ve always been a lover of wine, and I’m deeply passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says owner and founder Jamila Conley.

Conley worked for over a quarter of a century in the tech industry. She had an epiphany at a wine dinner celebrating Black women in the wine industry. Of the wineries represented, Conley only knew two of them.

“It got me wanting to learn about, what does diversity look like in wine?” Conley says.

She subsequently went on a fact finding mission, asking winemakers questions. They centered around the barriers to selling and distributing wine, as well as gaining broader awareness.

Where Conley ended up was launching WeRise, a mission-driven business to help raise awareness for underrepresented communities within the wine industry. WeRise showcases women, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and other minority owned wineries and winemakers, both locally and worldwide. The company also aims to provide access to communities less familiar with wine.

At present, WeRise focuses largely on wineries in Washington, Oregon, and a selection from California. However, the business has other domestic wines as well as international offerings. In all cases, there is an emphasis on stories, personal relationships, and brand alignment.

“I want to make sure that we’re able to really capture the story and that we’re thoughtful in all the bottles that we put out,” Conley says. “I would say about 80 to 90% of our wines that we have in our bar, I have personally met with, talked with, made sure we know their story and how it aligns with our mission.”

The goal at WeRise is not just to promote the wines but to also to amplify the wineries’ messages. WeRise features wineries each month in a blog post and in its newsletter. Wineries represented on the list are also encouraged to use WeRise’s event space, which can accommodate up to 25 people, to help promote their brand.

“This is really more of a partnership with each of the wineries that we work with,” Conley says.

Conley tried to create the WeRise space very intentionally. Wine can often be intimidating. Conley’s hope is to make WeRise the exact opposite.

“Something that’s just been making my heart sing is that when people come in, they’re like, “Oh my gosh, this place is so cozy. It’s not pretentious,’” Conley says.

WeRise has an in-house chef with a menu that focuses on “upscale comfort food.” This includes everything from red wine-braised meatballs over polenta to chicken wings in a West African peanut sauce.

In addition to the wine bar, WeRise also has a bottle shop to help serve people in nearby hotels and the tens of millions of tourists who come to the region each year. The company also has a wine club.

“The wines, they each come with a little story,” Conley says.

In addition to helping promote diversity within the wine industry, WeRise has another primary goal: helping revitalize Seattle’s downtown. The area has yet to bounce back from pandemic-related closures and people working from home.

“I wanted to be able to serve that community,” Conley says. “I wanted to give people a place to go.”

WeRise had its ribbon cutting December 18th.

Image courtesy of WeRise Wine Bar.

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