I grew up in the Virgin Islands, spending my childhood between St. Thomas and St. John, so when I think about the islands, I don’t see them through the eyes of someone coming for a week and then going home.
I think about the people who live there. I think about the businesses that open their doors every morning. I think about the restaurants, hotels, villas, taxis, boats and countless people who make it possible for someone to visit the Virgin Islands and have an experience they will remember for the rest of their life.
I also think about what we are building for ourselves.
That’s one of the reasons Island Hope Wines interests me.
Based in St. John, Island Hope Wines is bringing thoughtfully selected wines from around the world to the U.S. Virgin Islands while building relationships with the restaurants, hotels, villas, yachts, retailers and people who make our islands special.
The tagline is simple:
Good Wine. Brighter Days.
But there’s another phrase that gets even closer to what I believe the larger story is:
Drink Global. Support Local.
Because this isn’t only a story about wine. It’s a story about what happens when something from somewhere else in the world arrives in the Virgin Islands and becomes part of an experience that could only happen there.
We Have Always Been Connected to the World
One of the misconceptions about growing up on a small island is that somehow you’re disconnected from the rest of the world.
That wasn’t my experience at all.
Growing up in St. Thomas and St. John exposed me to people from everywhere. Visitors arrived from the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and beyond. They brought their accents, food, music, clothing, traditions and perspectives with them.
At the same time, we introduced them to ours.
That’s the exchange that has always fascinated me about culture. Something can originate thousands of miles away and take on new meaning when it reaches another community.
Wine works the same way.
A bottle may begin its journey at a vineyard in California, France, Italy or another wine-producing region, but eventually that bottle might find itself being opened at a table in St. John.
Now the story changes.
It’s being paired with a meal. Someone is explaining where it came from. Friends are sitting around a table. A couple is celebrating an anniversary. A family is on vacation together. Someone is watching the sun disappear over the water.
The wine came from somewhere else.
The memory was created in the Virgin Islands.
That’s hospitality, but I also believe that’s culture.
More Than Putting Bottles on Tables
Look at the photographs from Island Hope Wines events and you’ll understand what I mean.
People are gathered around tables. Wine is being poured. Conversations are happening. Someone is learning about a bottle they may have never tried before. Restaurants are creating dining experiences around food and wine.
That’s different from simply moving inventory.
Island Hope Wines has an opportunity to become part of the hospitality ecosystem by helping restaurants think about their wine programs, educating staff about what they’re serving, provisioning villas and boats, introducing customers to new producers and creating tastings and private experiences.
Education is particularly important.
There is a big difference between someone placing a bottle on a table and someone being able to tell you why that particular bottle was selected, where it came from, what you’re tasting and why it works with the food you’re about to eat.
That knowledge adds value.
It also creates another opportunity for people working in hospitality in the Virgin Islands to develop skills that travel with them throughout their careers.
What Does It Really Mean to Support Local?
“Support local” is one of those phrases we see everywhere now.
But I think we should push the idea further.
Supporting local isn’t only about where a product was made. In a place like the Virgin Islands, where so much of what we consume has to be brought in, that definition would be extremely limiting.
Supporting local can also mean asking what happens economically after a product gets here.
Who distributes it?
Who sells it?
Which restaurant serves it?
Who gets hired?
Who learns a new skill?
Which businesses work together?
Where does the money circulate?
What relationships are being created?
And what opportunities might come from those relationships?
That’s what makes Drink Global. Support Local. such an interesting idea.
There’s nothing wrong with bringing the best products we can find from around the world into the Virgin Islands. We should.
But whenever possible, we should also think about how those products can help create economic activity, knowledge and opportunity within our own community.
Building Is Also Part of Protecting Culture
The hurricanes of 2017 forced everyone connected to the Virgin Islands to think about rebuilding.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria didn’t simply damage buildings. They disrupted families, businesses, jobs and communities. For some people, rebuilding meant repairing a roof or reopening a business. For others, it meant deciding whether they could remain in the islands at all.
Nearly a decade later, I think there’s another part of that rebuilding conversation that deserves attention.
What are we creating next?
Protecting culture cannot only be about preserving what previous generations created.
Preservation matters. History matters. Traditions matter. We have to document our stories and make sure the next generation knows who came before them.
But culture has never survived by standing still.
Every generation has also had to create something.
Businesses.
Music.
Food.
Art.
Organizations.
Events.
Traditions that weren’t traditions yet.
That’s why entrepreneurship belongs in the conversation about culture.
When someone builds a sustainable business in St. John, St. Thomas or St. Croix, they’re doing more than creating something for themselves. That business has the potential to employ someone, teach someone, purchase from another local business, sponsor an event, support a nonprofit and become part of the economic infrastructure of the community.
Not every business will do all of those things.
But the opportunity exists.
The Experience Is the Product
I’ve spent a large part of my career working around sneakers, sports, Hip Hop, education and culture, and one lesson continues to show up regardless of the industry:
People remember how something made them feel.
That’s why the experience surrounding a product can become just as important as the product itself.
A sneaker isn’t only leather, rubber and foam once someone attaches a memory to it.
A song isn’t simply an audio file once it becomes the soundtrack to a particular moment in someone’s life.
And wine isn’t simply what’s inside the bottle once it becomes part of a dinner, celebration, vacation or conversation that someone remembers years later.
The photographs accompanying this story capture that beautifully.
You see the bottles, but more importantly, you see the people.
You see people sitting together.
You see wine being poured.
You see conversation.
You see hospitality.
You see an experience taking place.
And somewhere inside all of that, someone may be creating a memory of the Virgin Islands.
Good Wine. Brighter Days.
There’s still a lot of story left to be written for Island Hope Wines.
That’s part of what makes watching a young Virgin Islands business develop interesting.
The opportunity isn’t simply to sell more bottles. It’s to build relationships with restaurants, hotels, villas, yachts and retailers throughout St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. It’s to introduce people to wines they may never have experienced before. It’s to educate. It’s to create events. It’s to become part of the hospitality community.
And hopefully, it’s also to demonstrate something bigger.
We don’t have to choose between being connected to the world and supporting our own community.
We can do both.
We can bring ideas, products and experiences from around the world into the Virgin Islands and still be intentional about creating value at home.
Drink Global. Support Local.
That’s a wine message.
But it’s also a pretty good philosophy for building the future of the Virgin Islands.
Good Wine. Brighter Days.
Learn more about Island Hope Wines.
