Interesting Facts About the Female Wine Connoisseur!

Like many other markets that have been slow to consider women, the wine industry was no exception. They have, to a large degree, failed to see the importance of the female wine consumer or just didn’t know how to address them. With women dominating the wine drinking market it’s surprising to me that the wine industry has been so reluctant to take us seriously and has taken this long to consider our palate and opinion. All you have to do is pick up the book Women of Wine: The Rise of Women in the Global Wine Industry written in 2006 by Ann B. Matasar to see that the wine industry has to a large degree been male dominated. Every female oenophile should consider this book and be inspired by the women who broke the barrier and paved the way despite the prejudice towards their gender and sex.

A 2005 study by the New York Times reported that women purchased 77% and consumed 60% of wine in the United States and last year the Wine Market Council reported that Women account for 64% of wine consumers in the United States. Additionally, WineSpectator.com published their 2009 survey results and discovered some interesting things:

• Women drink 60 percent of the wine consumed in the U.S.
• 93 percent of respondents drink wine at least once a week. (Given that the survey was of Wine Spectator readers, this is not an accurate reflection of the public at large.)
• 80 percent drink most of their wine with meals.
• 79 percent prefer red over white, rosé or bubbles.
• 66 percent spend an average of $11 to $20 per bottle.

Some other interesting facts:

• A 2006 Merrill Research study reveals that women drink more red wine than white (39 vs. 35 percent) or blush (26 percent).
• Women are more likely than men to order wine (72 vs. 70 percent) in a casual dining restaurant, says the same study.
• Out of 78 Master Sommeliers in the United States, 13 are women, reports Kathleen Lewis, executive director of the Court of Master Sommeliers.
• The first National Women’s Wine Competition was held this year.
• Wine groups geared to women are burgeoning. A few of the more active: Divas Uncorked, Vino Vixens, Women for WineSense, Wine Chicks and Women’s Wine and Dine.

Pretty interesting isn’t it! So join the rest of us gals and grab some of your pals and take up wine for a hobby because it is a great way to pass your time!

This was originally written and posted for Women On Top Magazine.

A Weekend Retweat

All Social Media Mavens in our own right, five gals from Columbus, OH have packed up their collective networks for a road trip. Forging ahead as Weekend Retweat, Michele Savoldi, Cheryl Harrison, Kelly Gingery, Rose Landon and Tiffany Eckhardt have one mission: to help promote great retreats and resorts using their social media networks in exchange for a complimentary night stay.

Our first Weekend ReTweat began with a journey close to home at the Hopkins House B&B in Mechanicsburg, OH. There we were warmly welcomed by the Cooper family who offered top-notch hospitality.

The Hopkins House B&B is a lovely historic home that graces the front of the 200 acre Darbyland Farms. The Hopkins family built the home in 1902 on an existing foundation. The original home built in 1870 was destroyed by a house fire. Harold Hopkins designed the rebuilt home at a mere 10 years old. This becomes apparent, as it seems designed by a young Harry Potter. The unusually sized windows, built-ins, upstairs den with 20-foot cathedral ceiling, sleeping porches, nooks and crannies are just a few of the unique features that creates a sense of stepping back in time.

After checking in and taking our tour of the historic bed and breakfast, we headed out for dinner. As part of our retweat we arranged to also promote an Urbana, OH eatery, Verde Cafe. Verde Cafe, located in the historic downtown, treated us to an amazing complimentary dinner. We were thrilled to try samples of their fresh, organic menu. We started with fresh hummus served with hot peta bread, sampled the Turkey Ruebun panni, Greek salad, quiche trout with aspagrus, crab cakes with thousand island dressing and capers, celery root soup, apple grannysmith parmessan onion salad and a “to die for” chocolate mousse. To top it off, there was a wine tasting that evening as well. Verde is just another little gem to be discovered!

After dinner we headed back to The Hopkins House and kicked back and relaxed. Like most girls nights out, we stayed up late chatting about movies, social media, plans for the future and whatnot…. Updating our social networks the entire time. The next morning brought a couple revelations. Tiffany beat Cheryl to the Foursquare mayor ship of the Hopkins House, by five minutes. And as the sun rose that morning to a fresh farmhouse breakfast, Cheryl was inspired with our name, Weekend Retweat. With that image in mind, Michele used her talent for good to come up with our logo and a new venture was borne.

This experience proved to be beneficial to the proprietors of The Hopkins House and to us mavens. The Hopkins House has seen a drastic increase in fans on their Facebook fan page, as well as followers on Twitter. Also, a video of the bed and breakfast created that weekend by Tiffany that weekend was featured on a local community web site. The Cooper family is delighted with the outcome. Our mission was a success!

Our bags are always packed for our next destination. There are so many gems to discover and promote! We are excited about the upcoming destinations that are on the books, and welcome any invitation to use our social networks to promote great retreats and resorts. If you would like the mavens of Weekend ReTweat to help promote your establishment, contact us at eckhardt.tiffany@gmail.com. You can also become a Weekend Retweat Facebook Fan or follow Weekend ReTweat on Twitter.

About us:
The mavens of Weekend Retweat met serving as bloggers on www.greatestcityofall.com and www.tastecasting.com. We have all developed our own platforms in our areas of expertise. Michele Savoldi, owner of columbus imPRessions specializes in marketing, and branding and social media for non-profits and small businesses. Cheryl Harrison currently works for QFM96 in Columbus, OH, but is also personally branded as a “Good Idea” with over 5000 followers. Kelly Gingery is the MixFlickChick for 107.9 FM and owns FlickChick TV. Rose Landon and her husband Robb manage Tastecasters Columbus and Eat2Meet Meetup group. Tiffany Eckhardt writes about her passion for life and travel in her own blog, www.doinglifebeingtiff.com and contributes to several other blog sites. She also manages social media for a local manufacture in Urbana, OH.

Women break through at World’s Best Sommelier competition

We’ve come along way ladies! What a fantastic development in the wine world!

April 14, 2010
Fiona Beckett in Santiago, Chile
Four female sommeliers have broken through to the last twelve for the first time at the World’s Best Sommelier competition, held in Santiago, Chile this week.

Two Canadians, Elyse Lambert and Véronique Rivest, one Norwegian, Merete Bø, and one Romanian, Julia Gosea – also the first Eastern European candidate to get this far in the competition – will compete in the semi-finals later today.

Amid scenes more typical of a rock concert than a sommelier competition, spectators stood on the tables to get a shot of the women who whooped, hugged and cried with relief at getting through.

Also through to the last dozen are the UK, represented by Gerard Basset (a Decanter World Wine Awards regional chair, and French, though a long-term UK resident), France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Japan and Australia, which is also fielding a Frenchman in the person of Franck Moreau.

The 12 have come through a gruelling series of tests, including a timed written paper which has to be completed in another language than their own. It touches on all aspects of sommeliers’ work including beer, spirits, tea, coffee cigars and water as well as wine.

The prestigious competition, held every three years, is more challenging than the Master of Wine exams, according to Basset, competing this year for the sixth time.

‘The MW is a marathon, the World Championship is more of a 100 metre sprint. If you make a mistake you have very little chance to recover.’
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The sommeliers are judged by their peers who this year include current title holder Andreas Larsson of PM & Vânner in Stockholm and Serge Dubs of L’Auberge de L’ill who won the title in 1989.

‘It’s a question of having the right mentality,’ Larsson told decanter.com.

‘I was asked “What if you don’t win?” but I refused to think about it. There are so many other good guys but you have to forget them. You have to focus on yourself. You can’t let your nerves take control.’

The competition, which is sponsored by Moet et Chandon, opens the doors to lucrative commercial opportunities. Former title holder Enrico Bernardo, the winner in 2004, has two Michelin-starred restaurants under his name in Paris and Courcheval.

He’s also among a number of former winners to have designed a corkscrew for Laguiole – on sale for £150. -From Decanter.com

Gerald Basset wins World’s Best Sommelier Competition.

Wine Tip #10 – How Many Types Of Wine Are There?

In 2006, there were approximately 45,000  different types of wine being produced in the world. Recently that number was increased to 75,000. Wow! That’s a lot of wine to try in one persons drinking life, even for a wino like me. If you’re new to wine you might be wondering how many types of wine there are. Basically, wine can be broken down into four categories: table wine, sparkling wine, fortified wine and sweet wine. Let’s quickly go through each one so you have an idea of their differences.

Table Wine -For the sake of simplicity, essentially all wines are considered table wines which include white, red and rosé wines. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, for example, in many European countries a table wine is considered to be of a lesser status then their quality wines. Take Italy for instance, a wine is considered a table wine when the vintner doesn’t produce their wine according to local regulations. These winemakers purposefully forgo the denominations of DOCG and DOC because they believe those regulations restrict their ability to make top notch wines. Which means, just because a wine in Italy displays those denominations on their labels and is considered higher quality wine because they follow the local regulations doesn’t guarantee the wine is of high quality. Many Italian wines that are considered table wines are some of the highest quality wines Italy produces. Tuscany is a great example of this.

So when you see the word “table wine” on a wine label don’t confuse it with cheap or read to much into it. Depending on where the wine comes from it could mean a few different things. Knowing what you know now you won’t judge the wine by it’s label and if it sounds good for heaven sake give it a try!

Sparkling Wine – Is exactly what it sounds like, wine that contains bubbles. Actually it is the carbon dioxide that makes the wine fizzy. The carbon dioxide is either infused or happens through natural fermentation. Most of us are familiar with white and rosé sparkling wines but make no mistake there are several yummy red sparkling wines available.  A sparkling wine can’t boast the name Champagne unless it was made in Champagne, France. Sparkling wine can be really dry or really sweet. Sparkling wine comes from a variety of different countries like Cava from Spain or Mousseux or Crémant refer to sparkling wine that was produced outside of Champagne, France.

Fortified Wine – also known as liqueur wine is wine that has a distilled beverage added to it, such as brandy. Fortified wines can be dry or sweet and are generally served in small amounts as digestifs.  Port, Vermouth and Sherry are all fortified wines you might love or have tried.

Sweet Wine or Dessert Wines - Ice wine is one of my favorite dessert wines. There are many techniques used to produce sweet wines. Generally they are served as an digestif.

So, while there are over 75,000 different wines being made across the world they can be broken down into four different types of wines.  Now you know for yourself so you can hold a conversation with a wine snob if need be and worst case scenario, just nod your head and agree, drink more and find a diversion!

Women vs. Men & Wine

Did you know that in 2005 the New York Times reported that women purchased 77 percent and consumed 60%  of wine in the United States and last year the Wine Market Council reported that Women account for 64 percent of wine consumers in the United States.

Where are all the men? Why has everything from wine to television come to us vs. them?

As I was researching wine and wine consumption I came across this article Marketing Wines to Women and Understanding How Male and Female Consumers Differ written by Marti Barletta and while I have no vendetta against her personally, I was offended by this article as a female wine consumer, I question her research.

Why does wine need to be “feminized”? Hell, why does anything besides tampons and commonsense things need to be “feminized”?

Geese, since when do women need everything made “women” centric? I like, love, many things that men love regardless of how it is packaged. I’m certainly not going to buy a car that is made just for women, remember Dodge tried that and it didn’t work.

In my humble opinion, are we taking female empowerment way to far? Me and my ‘empowered’ girlfriends seem to think so and I just wonder how many other females think as we do.

What I would like to know is who, what women, is this article referring to or is it just an attempt to sell marketing books?

Just so you know, you won’t see a wine label with a bunch of women sitting around chatting like they are having coffee in my wine portfolio…I actually prefer the first and second label she uses, as her bad marketing example, with all the art! While I do like people on labels, I like them for entirely different reasons then the reasons she gives. I think we are going way to far on this one. For example, Matsu has done an phenomenal job in branding their high expression wines by using real people from the vineyard to represent three generations that have devoted their lives to the vine. This type of marketing is making a statement. So while I sit and drink this lovely wine, by myself of with company, I get to wonder about those different men and what their lives are like. Intelligent marketing that tells a story and is very artistic. I don’t need a bunch of women on my bottle of wine to feel warm and fuzzy about my wine. In fact that will be the exact reason why I don’t purchase that wine.

Even the tone of the article has a bit of a male bashing ring to it, “men base their wine purchases on points and hoard their wine for their next pissing contest.” Isn’t it okay for men to evaluate, purchase and drink and store their wine in any manner they choose without being condemned for it. Is there a right way and a wrong way to buy wine? I have many guy friends who love wine and buy and store it as a hobby. If you were to sit down and talk with them they have very intelligent reasons on why they do what they do and they get all excited sharing why it matters to them. Is this a crime?

I’m just not convinced of this evidence and why there needs to be special brand wines exclusively for women. All my girlfriends, including myself, tend to pick more “manly” wines with all the body, structure, and alcohol content they come with. Maybe we are the exception to the rule but I am venturing to think there are a lot more like us, everyone is just a little nervous to speak up about it.