Female Winemakers

The ‘Widow Cliquot’

In a patriarchal world, it’s no surprise that the wine industry, like many other industries, has always been male-dominated. This androcentricity is perfectly illustrated by the name of the first Champagne House to be run by a woman when her husband died in 1805, ‘Veuve Cliquot’ or ‘Widow Cliquot’, defining Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin by her relationship to her dead husband.

If we had attempted this tasting twenty or thirty years ago, I would certainly have had more of a job sourcing the wines. As it is, in 2020 there are plenty of great female winemakers whose wines I could have chosen and whittling it down to my final line-up was quite difficult. That’s not to say any sort of parity has been reached in the world of winemaking but rather that there are many more female winemakers than there used to be and that they are producing some great wines.

2018 saw a new bar open in London’s Covent Garden, called Lady of the Grapes, which showcases wines made predominately by female winemakers. Prior to that, Daphne’s, a restaurant in Chelsea, created a 40-strong wine list of wines made by women.

Statistics on the global percentage of female winemakers are hard to find, but statistics from America seem to suggest that about 10% of Californian wineries are headed by female winemakers and less than 10% in other states. I looked at the portfolios of a few of my suppliers and found that out of all of the producers listed, again roughly 10% had female winemakers. So, I guess a global estimate of about 10% shouldn’t be too far off.

This figure of one in ten is bigger than it used to be and I’m sure it will continue to rise. After all, don’t a woman’s superior sensory abilities make her better equipped for the job of winemaker? Many may refute this, but there is a certain amount of scientific research to support the idea that women (particularly of child-bearing age) have a more receptive and accurate sense of smell and taste.

Linda Bartoshuk PhD of Yale University was one of the first to carry out research in this field, dividing the population into non-tasters, tasters and supertasters and finding that 35% of women were supertasters compared to only 15% of men.

Other research has found that women have on average nearly 50% more cells in their brains’ olfactory bulbs than men, suggesting a clear biological advantage when it comes to smelling and tasting.

There is also linguistics research that suggests that women’s descriptive vocabulary is more specific and precise than men’s, enabling them to more precisely identify and describe the smells and tastes that they encounter.

Whether or not biological and gender differences can be said to give women an advantage over men in terms of tasting, assessing and describing wines, women certainly have had to work as hard as men, if not harder, to get to the top in this male dominated world. Interviews with ten international female winemakers for a Wine Enthusiast article entitled, ‘Meet 10 Trailblazing Women Leading the Wine Industry Forward’, elicited many anecdotes and examples of challenges and difficulties they have faced in terms of being viewed as the equals of their male counterparts.

Nyetimber’s Cherie Spriggs - IWC Sparkling Winemaker of the Year, 2018

But such outdated attitudes cannot last in a wine industry that now has so many women producing great wine and winning awards. Nyetimber’s Cherie Spriggs, for example, won IWC Sparkling Winemaker of the Year in 2018. She and many others are paving the way for more and more talented women in the world of wine.

So, we should hopefully see the number of women winemakers continue to grow. But is the wine of a female winemaker different to that of a male winemaker?

In the same Wine Enthusiast article mentioned above, some of the 10 female winemakers were asked whether women make wine differently, or indeed make different wine to men. The responses were varied, but some general themes pointed to women’s attention to detail, awareness of subtleties and ability to ‘see the bigger picture’ and therefore take a more holistic approach to winemaking. Claims to be more ‘intuitive’ and ‘nurturing’ also featured. One female winemaker, whose wine we will sample at the tasting, said ‘I am sure that women make wines of different styles than men. I think we make less extracted wines. Rather than big blockbuster styles, we look for more finesse. Personally, I make wines with more minerality, freshness, vibrancy and identity rather than big structured wines.’

For this tasting, I’ve gone for 6 very different wines from 6 different women in 6 different countries. Will we see any commonality between these wines? Will we notice anything that sets these wines apart?  I look forward to tasting them with you and finding out!