Kyle Burke
An educator of 20 years in Baltimore, Maryland, Kyle Burke is an artist at heart; however, teaching Career Exploration to high school students led her closer to her passion as a wine connoisseur, and soon, winemaker. In 2015, Kyle launched ‘Yoshisart’, an art and wine based business, leading small groups through painting experiences paired with introductory wine tastings. As business grew, so did her love for understanding and sharing the world of wine; so in 2018, Kyle began pursuing the dream of producing her own wine label by fermenting, blending, and bottling varietals in her home cellar. It was during this period Kyle began aggressively pursuing avenues and resources to help her growing business.
In 2019, she was awarded her first scholarship, “She Can” from The McBride Sisters and Women of the Vine & Spirits. Winning this scholarship affords her the opportunity to meet and network with established industry professionals while building her confidence in this new industry. It was also this time, when COVID came and brought everyone in the world to a screeching holt. This however, fueled her desire to continue researching and experimenting with her home batches.
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In 2020, Kyle discovered The Roots Fund Organization. Their mission was quite simple, create opportunities for the BIPOC community within the wine industry in areas of education, careers, and mentorship. Originally applying for her WSET 2 certification, Kyle was also nominated to compete with other newly established winemakers for the Nakedwines Emerging Vintner Mentorship Program. Through multiple interviews and conversations, Kyle was announced as the first awardee to this prestigious program. Kyle would have the chance to learn how to make bulk wine (44 tons of Chardonnay grapes) from the vine to the bottle for 1 year, and produce her own label underneath Nakedwines.com.
During 2021, Kyle received an incredible amount of mentoring, through both The Roots Fund and Nakedwines, traveling multiple times coast to coast during the entire growing and harvest of her first vintage. On July 9th, 2022, Kyle Burke Chardonnay was finally released for sale on Nakedwines.com. In September, 2022, her second version of an Oaked Chardonnay was also be released. In total, this vintage will produce 17,000 bottles (approx 2,800 cases) of two styles of Chardonnay.
This has been an amazing journey and process, and she is happy to announce that she will continue working with Nakedwines next year for Vintage22. As a newly established winemaker, Kyle is excited to be a student of nature and continue growing in this vast industry, but as an educator, she understands and embraces her duty to empower our youth by creating a space for future winemakers and enthusiasts. She is an artist at heart, creating beautiful pieces art, a teacher, showing the next generation their pathway, and a new winemaker, creating art in a glass