Strong, Bad Ass Women Of Wine

I recently just finished reading the book Women Of Wine by Ann B. Matasar. While it was a wonderful, informative and enlightening read, I have to say that the book itself proves that if you want something bad enough, nothing will stop you from achieving your goals. The entire book, in my humble opinion, was how the wine industry, much like many other industries, treat women as second class citizens and the difficulties that women face in a male dominated industry. In my opinion, the very thing she argues is supported by the countless, amazing stories of women who did make it regardless of all odds being against them.

Without getting into the male vs. female argument, I would rather focus on the fact that all the women featured in this book were trail blazers. In spite of their fears, the ridicule and skepticism they faced by not only men, but women too, didn’t stand in their way. These women saw opportunity where most saw defeat. They didn’t let challenges or obstacles cripple them, but climbed over, around, under or through them. Many times they had no support from their families, relatives or community. In days of old, it was believed that women were for reproduction, cooking, cleaning, and caretakers and her place was in the home. Education wasn’t even an option.That being said, some of the most popular Old World wines of today are made by women or were started by women. Most of them received their vineyards by accident because there was no male offspring to inherit the estate or they didn’t want it. Many of these women were self-taught and proceeded regardless of their lack of education or  lack of cooperation and ridicule of their all male staff.  The one thing they did have, confidence in themselves and their ability to produce some damn fine wines. What was even more inspiring was the fact that many of these women inherited failing winery’s only to turn them around to profitable, successful, world known brands.

From the women of early times, to modern women of today, most had a vision and instead of getting caught up in the politics they just stayed focused and committed and it paid off because in the end they broke through all the barriers that tried to restrain them. What I found most interesting is that none of these women would identify themselves as feminist or allow their sex to interfere with their passion or their job. While they admit it is difficult to have a career and have a family, especially when their partner is stuck in an oppressive mentality, they made concessions and learned how to balance their passion and their family. The thought of staying at home full-time and not pursuing their passion was just an insane idea to them and they were will to accept the extra load they would have to carry because of this choice.

I’m not saying it was easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I look at my life and nothing has come easy for me. I look at my friends and people in general and generally speaking the people I know have put in their time, male and female, to be where they are today. I never saw my father as a child because he was trying to put food on the table for nine kids and then some. He wanted to make sure we had the life that he didn’t have. All his time was spent working and when we spent time with him, we often visited job sites and would get stuck in the car for hours. While I resented it when I was little, as I got older and had my own son, I grew to admire, adore and respect my father, understanding what he was trying to do. Few have had time to sit around and look at how hard things have been, they just got up and did what they thought was their duty to get what they wanted.

Like most of these women, I don’t have time to get caught up in debates over sexism or discrimination, although I’m constantly told that it exists, it isn’t something I’ve experienced and if I have, I’ve managed to work around it instead of being held down because of it. As long as people exist on the earth their will be conflict, the trick is not to get caught up in other people’s bull shit and go about your life as best as you can and follow your vision.

This book inspired me in a different way than I think the author intended. I am inspired by this vast number of women who have achieved so many things in spite of the handicaps that others imposed on them. They over came and conquered traditional beliefs, oppressive conditioning, and oppressive social thinking by those around them. These women from all over the world were fearless and left a mark in the wine world… forever altering it and paving the way for women of today. This was a very inspiring book about how anyone can achieve their vision if they don’t buy into other people’s beliefs, self-imposing limitations and crazy notions and think that will be their experience too.

One thing is for sure these ladies didn’t sit around bemoaning over how unfair life is and feeling sorry for themselves because they were born with a vagina instead of a penis. They played with the hand they were dealt, they grew balls,  and they played well.

Women of Wine: The Rise of Women in the Global Wine Industry

Women of Wine: The Rise of Women in the Global Wine Industry is a must have book for every female wine oenophile!

Written in 2006 by Ann B. Matasar, this book is packed full of history and an eye opening perspective on how women have not only impacted wine making but the consumption of wine too. Is it any wonder that in the U.S. women make 77% of the wine purchases and consume 64% of it.

Wet your whistle with chapter 1: Women Need Not Apply

Persistent superstition compounded the problem. In some French wineries to this day, women are not allowed near fermenting wine because of the belief that if they are menstruating the wine might turn to vinegar or referment monthly. One French woman winemaker vividly remembers this biased treatment: “When I started, there wasn’t a field more sexist than vine-growing and enology! At that time, it was said that a woman shouldn’t get into a wine cellar, because if she did, her ‘petticoat’ would make the wine turn sour.”

Ironically, there is at least one physical distinction that should have worked to the benefit of women: the sense of taste, including the sense of smell. In two olfactory sensitivity studies, one conducted at the Clinical Smell and Taste Research Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the other at the Social Issues Research Centre of the University of Cardiff in Wales, women consistently outperformed men in odor identification and sensitivity on the Smell Identification Test, regardless of age, ethnicity, or cultural background.27 Additional research on taste perceptions conducted by Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, professor of neuroscience in the ear, nose, and throat section of the Yale School of Medicine’s Surgery Department, established three categories of tasters: nontasters (a projected 25 percent of the population), medium tasters (50 percent), and supertasters (25 percent). The group of supertasters, who had the most taste buds and the greatest sensitivity to taste differences, was made up predominantly of women.