Right before beloved social media personality, actress, entrepreneur, and author Tabitha Brown took to the Food and Wine stage at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture over the weekend, I sat with the always charming influencer to get the inside scoop on some big news. Brown, whose partnership with Target has brought her many fans clothing, home decor, food, and stationary, is preparing to release her first wine exclusively with the brand.
And while the idea of Auntie Tab enjoying a good sip might come as a surprise to some (aka, me!), she’s actually been a wine lover for two decades and is quite informed when it comes to vino, as proven both by our conversation and her panel with Netflix’s High on the Hog host and sommelier Stephen Satterfield.
The wine is also delicious. I enjoyed an early sip, as did the Food and Wine guests present after her chat with Satterfield. The Moscato was pleasant—not too sweet while light and bubbly. It was the perfect refreshment after a day spent zipping from one stage to another across the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
So what can fans expect from this new collaboration with Target? We chatted with Brown to get the deets, including that it drops later this month at Target stores, and will include a few varietals and even some glassware with her signature “My business” phrase. Here’s everything you should know straight from the star herself.
ESSENCE: Congratulations on the wine collaboration with Target! How does it feel to continue your partnership with the brand in this way? I mean, y’all have been doing amazing things for the last few years.
Tabitha Brown: Right? Going on three years. I have been working with them for four years, actually, but the collaboration started in the last three years. It feels like family. I don’t ever have to worry about conforming. I can just be myself and to just grow in that way, in this venture of life, in business, I just feel blessed by that.
I love that. And the funniest thing, I think sometimes we look at you, and we’re like, that’s Auntie Tab! So when I heard that you were dropping a wine, I said, “Auntie Tab drinks?” [laughs]
[Laughs] Listen! What’s so funny is people have their own perception of me, but if they really go back and look at all my videos, I’ve always said, I’m going to drink a margarita, and I’m going to drink my wine. Because when I started going through perimenopause, I was like, “Lord, the wine is giving me hot flashes, but I got to have it.” I’m still going to have my glass of red wine. In the summertime I like a Moscato, a brisk D’asti Moscato in the daytime, but I always do a glass of red wine at night with a little bit of dark chocolate. It’s always been my kryptonite.
Article continues after video.
How did you get into wine? You sound like you’re a connoisseur.
You know what? I started drinking wine, crazy enough, 20 years ago. My mama was sick, and so I had a friend that was like, wine can kind of relax you a little bit. And I was like, really? But that’s really why I started. So I started drinking red wine. Merlot was my first, and I was like, oh, this is bitter. This is strong. It was cheap.
I’m not a sommelier or anything like that, but now I know, oh, I like a blend, or I like a cabernet. I’ll do a merlot if I have to, depending on if it’s South African or if it’s a French wine, different things like that. But I just had to find my taste for it. Then, over time, it’s like an acquired taste. My husband hates it. He likes moscato, but he hates red ones. But I like a bite on my wine. I like that. It became an acquired taste over time. It’s just like people don’t like dark chocolate. I love it.
I love dark chocolate! So what kind of options will people have with your wine at Target?
So we’ll have a moscato called “Love Y’all!”, and then we’ll have a red blend called “Hello There!” I have something else coming later, but I don’t think we can talk about it [laughs].
So, why was the ESSENCE Festival the perfect place to share this big news?
Girl, you know why! We here. It’s all of us, right? But this is how word travels. Ever since I started my collections with Target, I’ve announced them here, and it just flies off the shelf. Nobody represents and supports me the way my people support me. So this is where I always want to come make announcements.
Nice. I know you said you’re really into blends now and things like that. A wine with a little bit of bite. If you had to pick one wine and couldn’t have any other ones anymore, what would be your go-to?
A cabernet. You know, it pairs well with dark chocolate, but it also still gives me the nostalgia of the relaxing feelings that I had when my mom was still alive.
So you like to really pair your wine with chocolate.
Some people like to pair white wine with pasta. I also like to pair my red wine with pasta.
Okay, nice! And what do you think about people saying you’re the Black Martha Stewart?
I just say I am Tabitha Brown.
Okay! Stand in that truth.
[Laughs] I say it all the time. No disrespect to Martha Stewart. I think she’s amazing. But I think the thing about me is I’ve just done it my own way, and I didn’t have a blueprint for it. I just figured it out as I went.
Tabitha Brown’s new wine collection is slated to hit shelves at Target on July 21 and will be available for $7.99.
