The Australian Women’s Weekly New Zealand Edition — May 2017

MAY 2017 135

1.Funky fun

2015 VILLA MARIA R&D

MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON

BLANC ‘ON SKINS’$25

Winemaker Helen Morrison

has created a quirky “hands off/

natural wine” that is textural

and spicy, a touch familiar with

a dash of the wild.

2.Pinot power

2014 MOUNT EDWARD CENTRAL

OTAGO PINOT NOIR$45

The winemaking partnership

of Duncan Forsyth and Anna

Riederer is a lot like their wines,

with plenty of intelligence,

character and charm. Try this

concentrated, well-structured,

silky and fresh wine with an

Asian-spicedduck salad.

3.Good gris

2016 JULES TAYLOR

MARLBOROUGH PINOT GRIS$20

Talented Blenheim-native

Jules Taylor has been crafting

intensely flavoured wines

since 2001. Her pinot gris is a

bright, succulent style bursting

with red apple and stonefruit

and a touch of baking spices.

4.Super syrah

2015 CYPRESS WINES HAWKE’S

BAY SYRAH$26

Mel and Gus Lawson farm a

small hillside vineyard, making,

amongst other wines, two

elegant syrahs.This is the entry-

level wine; nicely concentrated

with red berryfruit, dark plums,

lavender and spice notes and

fine tannins. Great with lamb.

5.Chardonnay charm

2015 ATA RANGI ‘PETRIE’

MARTINBOROUGH CHARDONNAY

$28

Made by Helen Masters, this is a

seriously delicious, beautifully

balanced wine with fine citrus

and white peach supported by

nut, oatmeal and mineral notes.

Great now, and will definitely

reward patience.

History

abounds

with

influential

women

in wine.

”

I

t seems fitting in a month that celebrates

mothers to consider women in wine. Of

course, not all are mothers, but the

process of tending vines and making

wine is a nurturing sort of role – one in

which there are increasing numbers of

women involved.

Women have a complicated history within

wine, being both revered and regarded with

suspicion. As the gatherers of berries, women

are thought to have been the planet’s very first

winemakers some 8000 years ago, and the

earliest of wine deities were women. However, by

Greek and Roman times their gods of wine,

Dionysus and Bacchus (who also looked after

fertility, and madness – read into that what you

will!), were male and the separation of women

from wine had begun. French winemakers thought

having women in cellars would “curdle” wine, so

for a long while women and wine were seen as

being incompatible. Restricting women from

partaking in wine was also a convenient way to

keep them from many social and political

meetings. Some things take a while to change...

Despite all this, history abounds with influential

women in wine. Champagne, in particular, had a

number of notable widows who went on to

establish some of its most famous names – Veuve

Clicquot, Pommery and Bollinger among them –

and a number of key production techniques/

styles. Mary Penfold took the reins after her

husband’s death, helping to create a company

that became one of Australia’s most renowned

producers, and New Zealand’s wine industry

fairly bursts with female talent.

It’s not just in production either. Jancis

Robinson, MW OBE, is arguably the world’s

most influential wine communicator, and

globally there are few major wine companies

without women in senior positions. At New

Zealand’s recent flagship pinot noir

conference, it was notable how many key

speakers were women, a fact – along with the

many female winemakers in attendance – much

commented on by overseas delegates. Women

now buy around 80 per cent of wine consumed at

home, which makes it all the more depressing to

see restaurant wine lists still automatically

handed to the man – my husband has become

very adept at handing them swiftly across to me!

While women are now much less likely to enter

the industry via widowhood or inheritance,

instead following their own talents and passions,

there is still plenty of work to be done before true

parity of opportunity and recognition is achieved.

So this month, raise a glass to the fantastically

clever and able women in wine – see below for a

few great choices from local winemakers.

[ From the vineyard]

In an industry traditionally dominated by men, female winemakers are

making major changes, saysMaster of WineEmma Jenkins.

Wine notes

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