First Generation of Women in Wine Talk About Their Challenges, Experiences

Last week’s annual Women in Wine event put on by the Women for Winesense Napa/Sonoma chapter was held on Thursday evening, March 5th at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center. The event included a raffle and silent auction through which $1600 toward the scholarship fund was raised. The highlight of the evening, however, was an informative and lively panel discussion featuring eight women wine professionals.

The first hour and a half was devoted to wine tastings including the wines of the featured winemaker panel guests. Cynthia Cosco of Passaggio Wines was pouring her unoaked Chardonnay, a pure, fresh expression of fruit with enough balance to round off the finish. Jillian Johnson DeLeon of Onesta Wines offered a Cinsault rosé made from grapes from 130 year old vines. The wine had tart cranberry and strawberry aromas with a sloe gin finish. Penny Gadd-Coster of Rack and Riddle was pouring a North Coast sparkling wine that had tropical fruit aromas, fine bubbles and a smooth finish. Two other winemakers, also on the panel, Sara Fowler of Peju and Rebecca Jenkins of Clarbec Wines were available during the social hour as were Karen MacNeil, wine writer and author of The Wine Bible and Theresa Dorr, CMO of Active Consulting.

The panel discussion portion of the event was held in the auditorium. Moderated by Jeff Davis, host of ‘On the Wine Road,’ the panel touched on how the wine industry has changed in the past 30 years. “A lot has changed since we were all getting into the business,” stated Shelley Lindgren, owner and wine director of A16 and SPQR in San Francisco. Karen MacNeil described the wine world of the 1970’s as “owned by five men in New York. Everyone who produced wine in the world would come and do tastings for just these five men. There were no women in the wine business in New York City.” Sara Fowler said of becoming a winemaker in the 1980’s, “One of the challenges was being female and being taken seriously.” Though all on the panel agreed with Shelley Lindgren that, “The wine industry has changed so much. It’s constantly evolving just like wine evolves.” A big part of the change is the number of women professionals in the wine industry today.

The panelists talked about their personal wine journeys, both the hard work and the rewards. Karen MacNeil noted “It takes a really long time to learn how to write well. It takes a long time to learn to teach well, and , of course, as we all know, it takes a long time to learn wine at least moderately well.” When talking about her job, Cynthia Cosco said, “I don’t think people really realize how much work is involved in making wine. It really never stops.” But, when it comes to the people in the wine industry, Jillian Johnson DeLeon said, “You meet some amazing people along the way.” It is people who have guided and continue to guide these wine professionals. As Penny Gadd-Coster noted, “I keep learning from all my customers.”

When it came to giving advice to women who are just getting into the wine industry, the theme was courage. Karen MacNeil advised, “Don’t start out with a question. Start out with a declarative statement, ‘I can do this.’” Theresa Dorr advised, “Don’t be afraid to knock on doors. Don’t be afraid to ask.” Rebecca Jenkins, CEO of Clarbec Wines and CFO of Madrone Vineyard Management said, “You have to stand up for yourself.”

The panelists shared their experiences and advice generously. As their individual stories unfolded during the panel discussion, it became very clear that, as Cynthia Cosco noted, “Women in this industry are very gracious.”

Wine Writer Karen MacNeil

Karen MacNeil is the creator and Chairman of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley.  She is also President of Karen MacNeil and Company which plans corporate and consumer wine events.

She has worked as a wine correspondent for The Today Show and as host of the PBS television series , “Wine, Food and Friends with Karen MacNeil.”  But most of us know her as a fantastic wine writer with published articles in The New York Times, USA Today, and Food and Wine to name just a few.

The Moses of the wine world, Karen MacNeil brought wine knowledge down from the mountaintop in her book, “The Wine Bible,” a book that has become revered as law by all students of wine.  Her intimate writing style draws her readers in, and makes us feel as if she is sitting beside us explaining wine to us in her imaginative and enthusiastic language.

Her wildly creative descriptions are pin-point perfect in their precision.  In a recent live-tasting on twitter, Karen MacNeil described syrah as “a cowboy wearing a tuxedo.” Though she didn’t use any of these words, her description told us that syrah is ‘rugged’ and ‘strong’ while at the same time ‘elegant’ and ‘plush.’ She described the Bonny Doon syrah as “pure Sex in the City – sweaty, appealing and not ‘confected,’”  and the Chamisal Vineyard syrah was “dark and bacony, like Don Johnson with a 5 o’clock shadow.”  But her descriptions have more than spot-on popular culture references.

She also describes wines in terms of movement. “I love the choreography of the Foxen Winery syrah. It blossoms, dips, rises again, and leads to a long, fantastic finish.”  “The Relentless is restless and wild, and man, what power.” Her wine writing is dynamic and playful. Her descriptions give so much personality to the wines, the wines themselves become characters on the page beckoning us to them.

How fun would it be to actually be in the room with Karen MacNeil as she talks about wine?  Lucky for us, we can be! On March 5^th from 6 to 9 pm Women for Winesense is hosting a panel discussion event, Women in Wine, at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center.  Come hear what Karen MacNeil and our other panelists including wine writers, winemakers, wine consultants and wine directors, (who will each be introduced over the next week on this blog), have to say about the world of wine and women’s roles in that world. Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite. Proceeds from the event’s Silent Auction benefit the Women for Winesense Scholarship Fund.