What Is the Black Food & Wine Experience? Inside Chef Mimi’s 9-Year Journey to a Sold-Out Napa Valley Takeover

It was 2016, and Aminah Robinson-Briscoe, a proud Oakland native, a classically trained chef, and the daughter who fed Black Panther party members, developed a culinary competition concept she believed in. The show would do what culinary television rarely bothered to do: put Black chefs at the center, in all their range and sophistication. But the network wasn’t interested, so she built it herself.

She rented a space in Oakland and called chefs she believed in. By gathering about 100 people in that room, filled with electric emotion and a little grit, the Black Food & Wine Experience (BFWE) was born.

Nine years later, BFWE is the newest sold-out ticket in Napa Valley with more than 3,500 guests. Chefs, winemakers, tastemakers, travelers, collectors, and first-timers are making the trip from Atlanta to New York City to descend on wine country June 18–21, 2026 for Juneteenth weekend. The event sold out in February. Months in advance. 

“That rejection became a redirection,” Chef Mimi says now. “And honestly, I’m grateful for it. Because what we built independently has roots that a network deal never could have given us.”

“The event is the stage, but the people are the story. When I stand next to a chef who is being seen at the highest level for the first time, something in me settles. That’s the work. That’s the whole point.”

Chef Mimi

Who Is Chef Mimi? The Oakland Roots Behind BFWE

Born Aminah Robinson-Briscoe, Chef Mimi grew up in Berkeley in a Black vegetarian household where the food was global long before that word became a marketing term. Her father took her to a Moroccan restaurant in San Francisco where they washed your hands in rose water and served tofu in flaky phyllo. Her neighbors were Indian. Her family’s pantry ran on African and Indian spices. She ate avocado sandwiches and sautéed eggplant while her classmates told her that wasn’t what Black people ate.

Her early lesson that Blackness contains multitudes and that those multitudes are constantly being flattened by others’ assumptions. It followed her to culinary school, where she was one of two Black chefs in her program at the San Francisco Culinary Arts Academy. It followed her through the food industry, through catering and menu design and management consulting, through years of watching the wine and hospitality worlds treat Black culture as an afterthought at best, an obstacle at worst.

“Going into culinary school and often being one of the only Black chefs in the room, I realized how invisible so many of our stories were in food and wine spaces,” she says. “BFWE was born from that tension. It was never just about events. It was about creating the kind of room I wished existed earlier in my life — a room where Black culture could show up fully, beautifully, luxuriously, intelligently, and without explanation.”

Both her parents were members of the Black Panther Party, which ran the Free Breakfast for School Children program in Oakland in the late 1960s. Feeding the community wasn’t an abstraction in Chef Mimi’s household. It was a political act. A moral one that she inherited and is visible in everything BFWE has become.

How Did the Black Food & Wine Experience Grow From Oakland to Napa Valley?

BFWE was founded in Oakland in 2016 and has moved through the Bay Area and San Francisco before expanding to Detroit in 2024. It was the first time Chef Mimi took the event outside California. Each city brought a different community, a different culinary landscape, a different room to fill. But the mission stayed constant: bridge food, beverage, education, health, and Black culture in a space where all of it could coexist without compromise.

What has changed, she says, is the confidence in the room. “Early on, we were proving we belonged,” Chef Mimi reflects. “Now we are curating experiences at a global luxury level while still centering culture and community.”

The recognitions followed: Wine Enthusiast Top 40 Tastemakers (2022). Forbes Next 1000 (2021). Comcast Black Joy Icon Award (2023). The accolades matter less to Chef Mimi than the backstage moments — the chef who cried because someone finally celebrated their food the way it deserved to be celebrated. “Those moments are why I do this,” she says. “The event is the stage, but the people are the story.”

What keeps the event cohesive across nine years and expanding scale is a single test she applies to every activation: Does this deepen connection, culture, or experience? “If it doesn’t,” she says simply, “it doesn’t belong.”

“Coming from Oakland, carrying the weight of every ‘no,’ building this independently — showing up in Napa on Juneteenth feels like a direct line from that history to this moment. It’s personal. It’s political. And it’s a celebration.”

Chef Mimi

Why Did BFWE Choose Napa Valley for Juneteenth 2026?

Napa Valley has long been one of the most beautiful and one of the most exclusionary destinations in American food and wine culture. The prestige is real. So is the history of who that prestige was built for and who it quietly, persistently kept at arm’s length. That context is not lost on Chef Mimi. It’s the context she chose, deliberately, for BFWE’s ninth year.

“Bringing BFWE to Napa Valley was deeply intentional,” she says. “Napa is one of the most iconic wine destinations in the world, but historically many people — especially Black guests — have not always felt reflected there. I felt there was an opportunity not just to enter the space, but to expand it.”

The timing matters too. The broader landscape of Black cultural programming in Napa has been shifting. Some events that drew crowds to the valley in recent summers have moved on or stepped back. What remains is what was built with the community, organizations rooted in Napa, and relationships forged over the years.

BFWE arrives not as a replacement for anything, but as exactly what it has always been: a platform built from the ground up, independent and community-owned, that has earned its place over nine years of showing up and delivering.

“Personally, planting a 3,500-person Black luxury food and wine experience in Napa during Juneteenth weekend is one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done,” Chef Mimi says. “Juneteenth is about freedom — full, realized, undelayed freedom. And for me, BFWE in Napa is an expression of exactly that. It’s about showing up in spaces that weren’t designed for us and not just fitting in, but setting the tone.”

This, she says, is what she means when she talks about expanding Napa Valley and changing whose story it is. “I want guests to arrive and immediately feel a sense of belonging. I want them to see Black chefs paired with legendary wineries, hear music that feels familiar, experience fashion and art alongside wine education, and realize they do not have to separate culture from luxury.”

The word luxury isn’t incidental here. For Chef Mimi, it’s a filter she applies to every partnership BFWE accepts: does this meet the guest at the level of excellence they deserve, without asking them to compromise who they are to access it?

The numbers back up what she’s describing. Black consumers now account for an estimated 20% of U.S. luxury spending, one of the highest shares on record relative to their population share. Research from Mintel shows 75% of Black shoppers say luxury goods help them express their identity, a rate well above the general population. Black consumer spending overall is projected to reach $2.1 trillion by 2026. BFWE selling out months in advance, with thousands more on the waitlist, isn’t an anomaly. It’s a preview of where luxury hospitality is already headed.

Increasing the expectation to be met at the highest level, on its own cultural terms, is the case Chef Mimi has been building, one carefully chosen partnership at a time.

What Events Are Part of BFWE 2026 in Napa Valley?

What Chef Mimi has built for Napa isn’t a festival in the traditional sense. It is a curated sequence of experiences, each with its own emotional register, its own aesthetic, its own reason to exist. Across four days and multiple iconic Napa Valley locations, the weekend moves through celebration, ceremony, education, restoration, and joy — in that order, and with purpose.

Vino & Vibe — Sterling Vineyards

The weekend opens with an ascent — literally. Guests ride Sterling Vineyards’ aerial gondola up into a kickoff celebration featuring curated tastings, interactive chef stations, and a live DJ. The elevation is both physical and symbolic. Led by Chef Darryl Bell, known for his elevated comfort cuisine, the evening sets the tone: this is luxury, but it’s alive.

A Seat at the Table: Juneteenth Dinner — Louis M. Martini Winery

The emotional core of the weekend. Guests dressed in all black gather for a ceremonial vineyard dinner against sweeping Napa views — an evening that honors history, unity, and cultural expression as explicitly as any event in the valley has ever done. Led by Chef Lamont Perriman and Chef Streete, whose Jamaican-rooted, diaspora-inspired cuisine brings complexity and storytelling to each course. This is the meal people will be talking about for years.

The Grand Tasting — Culinary Institute of America at Copia

BFWE’s signature event. A fashion-forward, multi-producer tasting experience that brings together top Napa Valley wines, diverse culinary talent, live music, and immersive cultural programming under the “Dripped in Gold” aesthetic. The CIA at Copia is serious infrastructure — one of the most respected culinary institutions in the country — and its presence as a partner signals that this isn’t a pop-up. It’s a statement. Uncorked & Cultured is proud to host the New Wine Collector’s Circle education talk as part of the Grand Tasting programming as an immersive, intimate conversation about luxury wine culture, collecting, and where this community is headed.

Wellness in the Vineyards — The McClelland House

Hosted at Napa Valley’s only Black-owned boutique hotel, this experience — led by actress and wellness advocate Danielle Monét Truitt — creates intentional space for mindfulness and restoration. The inclusion of a dedicated wellness event isn’t an afterthought. For Chef Mimi, who grew up understanding food as medicine, wellness has always been woven into the mission. This is the programming that distinguishes BFWE from every other food and wine event in the valley.

Legacy & Luxe Brunch

Sparkling wines from Domaine Carneros. A Sir Davis Whiskey lemonade stand — the brand co-created by Beyoncé. Handcrafted Palomas featuring Lobos 1707 Tequila, co-founded by LeBron James. A brunch social with Chef Mimi and artist Reyna Noriega. Cuisine by Chef Erica. This is the closing-morning experience that sends guests home with the feeling of having attended something historic.

Juke Joint After Dark — The McClelland House

Invitation-only. Inspired by the legacy of Southern juke joints — the spaces where Black joy flourished even when it had to be hidden — the evening features a soulful fish fry, cigars, curated spirits, live music, and a funk-driven atmosphere. The name alone tells you what this event understands about history. The programming delivers on it.

Which Napa Wineries Are Partnering With BFWE 2026?

BFWE 2026 carries weight not just because of its scale but because of what the partnerships represent. Chef Mimi has been deliberate: these are not sponsorship placements. They are collaborations between institutions that are opening their doors to a community that has not always felt welcomed at this level.

“Sterling Vineyards. Louis M. Martini Winery. The Culinary Institute of America at Copia. The Napa Valley Vintners Association. These are legendary names in wine country, and the fact that they are opening their doors to our community is powerful,” Chef Mimi says. “It signals something. It says you belong here. It says this valley is yours too.”

For Chef Mimi, the CIA at Copia partnership carries particular personal weight. “As someone who came up in culinary spaces where Black voices were often on the margins, having CIA Copia as a partner feels like a full circle moment. We are not a side event. We are part of the cultural conversation of this valley.”

The event also brings together community partners whose work on the ground makes the ecosystem real — including Uncorked & Cultured and Napa Valley Noire. “These women are doing the work,” Chef Mimi says. “When you combine forces with people who are already building something real, everything gets elevated.”

What Makes BFWE Different From Other Napa Valley Events?

Nine years is a long time in the events space. Longer still in a niche as competitive and resource-intensive as luxury food and wine programming. What keeps BFWE standing when others have stumbled or stepped back?

Chef Mimi’s answer is direct: “The difference between something that endures and something that fades is intention. Trends fade. Community lasts. BFWE was never built only around hype or aesthetics. It was built around people. Around relationships. Around creating real opportunities for businesses, chefs, wineries, artists, and guests to connect meaningfully.”

She has stayed committed, she says, to evolving while protecting the feeling. As BFWE has grown, she’s become more protective of what doesn’t scale: the sense of being cared for, of the culture remaining centered, of guests leaving not just satisfied but equipped — with knowledge, with connections, with a clearer sense of what’s possible.

“Joy is resistance,” she says. “Celebration is resistance. Gathering in beauty and abundance and culture together — that is its own kind of statement. BFWE 2026 is that statement, made loudly, in Napa, on Juneteenth.”

“People don’t just come to BFWE for food and wine. They come to feel seen, connected, inspired, and celebrated.”

Chef Mimi

The Invitation

That first night in Oakland, Chef Mimi didn’t know she was building a movement. She thought she was creating a platform. What she was actually doing was learning how to hold a room: how to make people feel seen in a space that celebrates the full range of who they are.

Nine years later, she’s holding a room with 3,500 people in it. With aerial gondolas and Jamaican-diaspora vineyard dinners and celebrity spirits and a wellness sanctuary in the only Black-owned boutique hotel in wine country.

By Chef Mimi’s own count, more than 7,000 additional people tried to get into this year’s BFWE and couldn’t (as reported by Forbes). That’s not just a sold-out event. That’s a waiting list bigger than the event itself — and a clear signal of where this is headed next.

The network said no in 2016. Napa Valley is saying yes in 2026.

“I want guests to leave Napa feeling like they experienced something bigger than an event,” Chef Mimi says. “Something rooted in legacy, beauty, connection, and possibility.”