Mark Rhodes, 66, and his wife Val transformed their York basement full of wine into Mark & Val Wines after COVID-19 hit in 2020. What started as friends stopping by for tastings became a licensed operation with tasting rooms in York and Columbia, Lancaster County.

“Before I knew it, I had a basement full of wine,” Rhodes said. “We were sitting here looking at each other one day saying, ‘we gotta get rid of this, but I don’t want to do it illegally.’”

The couple secured a limited winery license and set up shop at Penn Market in York, where they still offer free Saturday tastings from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Their first market appearance moved 10 cases. At their grand opening, they sold more than 20 cases.

Rhodes moved from Brooklyn to the York area as a young man and worked at Harley Davidson for 33 years before starting a training and diversity consulting company. After retiring, he served as chairman of the Confronting Racism Coalition and vice chair of York’s Human Relations Commission. Val worked 36 years at M&T Bank.

The winery produces between a dozen and two dozen varieties, focusing on what customers want. “You got to produce what the people like,” Rhodes said. “If they like sweet wine, I’m going to make it.”

Rhodes operates one of just three Black-owned wineries in Pennsylvania, part of a national industry where minority ownership remains sparse. According to Wine Enthusiast, less than 1% of America’s 11,600 wineries are Black-owned, despite African Americans being among the largest wine consumers.

The disparity drives Rhodes to mentor emerging Black winemakers, sharing equipment and expertise with vintners who have been making wine for three or four years compared to his 11 years of experience.

“They look to me for a lot of help and advice,” he said. “I give them equipment, help out where I can with expertise. Instead of me throwing out like this or that, I’m like, ‘Here, take this. What else am I going to do with it? I’d rather give them to you and give you an opportunity to grow your business than to throw it out.’”

Rhodes believes cultural assumptions keep potential minority winemakers from entering the business. “I think the biggest thing in Black culture and Hispanic culture is that we think we can’t because we have a set standard of what we think the wine business is,” he said. “You got to have a vineyard. You got to have this. So rather than trying to find out and learn more about it, we just stop right there.”

Mark & Val Wines recently expanded to wine festivals, including a late January appearance at a chocolate, wine and whiskey festival at the Philly Expo Center. Rhodes plans to bring live entertainment to the Columbia location once or twice monthly beginning in March.

The winery sits on the boards of the York County History Centers and Ophelia’s Making Agency, maintaining Rhodes’ community involvement that began during his corporate career.