"Women Are Like Fine Wine..."

At the gym tonight, I decided to sample a wine podcast to balance out the pain of exercise. A quick Google search yielded The Wine Enthusiast podcast, and in celebration of National Women's History Month, the latest episode - titled "Goddesses of the Grape" - was an ode to a few female trailblazers in the wine industry.

That episode opened my eyes to the male-dominated nature of the wine industry, specifically when it comes to winemakers. Because so many of our guest speakers in this class (and our professor and TA) are strong women dominating various aspects of the wine business, I didn't realize at first the extent of gender inequality in the vineyard. At a high level, a 2015 Santa Clara University survey revealed that just 10% of lead winemakers at California’s 3,400+ wineries are women. On an individual level, I read a blog post from a female vintner who described her experience of going wine-tasting with her husband, meeting the winemaker and asking him questions, only to have the winemaker ignore her and only talk with her husband.

However, thanks to exposure of these issues and an increased overall focus on gender parity, the winds of change are blowing. UC Davis's 2015 oenology and viticulture graduating class was ~50% female, up from ~33% in 1999. Furthermore, high profile individuals are taking up the mantle of promoting women winemakers. 

Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, co-owners of San Francisco's famous Tartine Bakery, started a new restaurant project called the Manufactory. In addition to being a chic bakery and cafe, it is also a wine bar with dinner service. At this wine bar, at least 50% of the ~30 choices on the wine list "will be made by, or come from wineries co-owned by, women. But it won’t be mentioned anywhere, which is precisely the point." 

Prueitt and Robertson want to show that these wines can stand on their own regardless of any potential "gender agenda." They came up with the idea while discussing the Manufactory wine list and realizing that they themselves had a blind spot when it came to female producers. Now, they want to promote "'normalization" in the wine industry: because most winemakers are male, sommeliers, even female ones, still select wines mostly made by men. "We see these kinds of gender shortfalls when it comes to industries like art and music, and most definitely Hollywood; wine is no exception." 

Personally, I am excited to visit the Manufactory in the spring quarter. While I am certain the dinner, dessert and corresponding wine pairings would've been divine regardless, that sip of gender parity will make the meal that much more delicious.

Source 1 (podcast)

Source 2 (article)

Source 3 (blog post)

Source 4 (article)