Ikenga Wines’ motto is “achieve new heights” representing our drive for excellence; challenging notions of quality, authenticity and defining the future of food.
We are the boundary pushers, the innovators, the ones that deviate from the status quo to manifest the future. Our products and aesthetic are refined and elegantly designed, focusing on the tropical world and diaspora that has been long overlooked or fetishized.
Growing up in Sonoma County, CA I was surrounded by grape wine. Over the years got to understand the inner workings of how it is made, particularly as wine quality became more and more technical. I’ve had the Pinot Noirs, Blanc de blancs, and Zinfandels, but what about other types of wine? Why is it that the European traditions are the only ones to be recognized and celebrated? Exploring my own cultural heritage as a Nigerian-American, I wondered what was stopping something so culturally central as palm wine from being enjoyed in the US. Not only that, but in the age of food movements towards niche regional cuisines, artisan purveyors and refined coffee roasters, why haven’t tropical wines been paid any attention? One easy answer is the difficulty in producing these wines is so much higher.
Palm wine is known around the world and celebrated where ever it is found (don’t worry there will be future post about this). However, not only does it traditionally spoil quickly but it often requires cutting down trees. At small scale, traditional practices and local consumption are fine; enjoying the sweet product of a few locally fallen trees. The industrial agriculture scale, is a different case, becoming a serious environmental issue.
We believe food is a powerful medium of connection, that we should learn from the traditional but progressively mix with the modern, and that quality is not as simple as “Made in____”
Food & Technology
Over the years, I have been working to develop the next generation of sustainable solutions such as capturing natural gas, photovoltaics and energy saving coatings. So, when it comes to wine, sustainability is certainly on my mind! With Ikenga Wines I want to use science to not only make a wine that is sustainable, but one that is even better than the conventional version. Better, meaning shaping with intentionality to create new experiences, and unique tropical flavors that can be enjoyed around the world, while also utilizing resources more effectively. At essence- elegant design!
First Palm Winemaker
I approach food from a flavor-forward perspective and I often consider how processes influence quality; simply, food as technology. Like many technologies, it is always changing and improving. There are countless palm tappers around the world. These tappers artfully scale tall trees to collect the spontaneous and delectable wine that naturally occurs. However, there are no palm winemakers. A winemaker, like a chef, is someone who leverages mastery of process to express an intention, to shape and balance the experience that you have. With the freedom of being the first palm winemaker, I want to redefine the beverage and explore the nuanced essence of place. Our first vintage will be an homage to the palm wine of West Africa- with its notes of local fruits like udara (African star-apple), guava and sour-sop.
Join us in exploration
Through Ikenga Wines, my goal is to create the best tasting products possible, that can transport you across the world with one-sip. We hope to explore cultural intersections and promote a ongoing conversation. I look forward to you joining me on this journey to explore new flavors, aesthetics and new ways of making.
Onye Ahanotu: Ikenga Wines Founder and Winemaker. Artist, scientist and global food enthusiast. Seeks to architect the future through conceptually redefine how we design and make.