The world of wine would not exist without the masterful touch of countless women. That is a statement of the obvious, but what exactly can a woman bring to the wine table that a man cannot? The answer may surprise you! But first some history. One of my favorite women who shaped the world of wine was Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. It is forgivable if that name doesn’t ring a bell, unless you are a massive wine geek or a huge fan of Port Wine, or both, as I am. If you are a fan of Port then you owe her A LOT of what you enjoy today. Dona Antónia was born in Portugal, in the Douro, into a family of wine producers and Port traders in 1811. She was married “off” to a young man who squandered most of what they had. The turn occurred when she became a widow at age 33. At that point, she took over the family business and through “her vision, courage, independence of spirit, and entrepreneurship, successfully managed the business, becoming the most prominent landowner in the Douro Valley, and boasted one of the largest fortunes in Portugal at that time.” Not only was she a major driving force for increasing the quality standards of Port wine but she also had a vision that the Douro Valley could produce even more amazing wine. Dona Antónia wanted to broaden the wine-producing area of the Douro Valley, expanding it to the east towards Spain, subsequently opening up the DOC region of the Douro that we know today as the Douro Superior. To this day you can visit her family’s original winery, Quinta do Vesúvio, and also her amazing winery built during the expansion, Quinto do Vale Meão. I was there this past summer. Their wine, both the Port and their red wines, are AMAZING! I highly encourage the journey to this beautiful area, all thanks to Dona Antónia.
Well, history is great but not everyone loves to geek out as I do. So, what can some women bring to the wine table that most men cannot? We turn to science for this answer; it isn’t a woman’s masterful touch that puts women ahead of men in the world of wine, but her palate. In Wine Folly, The Master Guide Magnum Edition it has been shown that “Women are over two times more likely to be hypersensitive tasters than men.” This isn’t to say that all women are better tasters than men, just that there should be twice as many female hypersensitive tasters than males. Additionally, a study conducted in The Science of Wine; From Vine to Glass, by Jamie Goode, cited that during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanning, which measures activation of areas in the brain associated with neural activity, “the responses to both real and imaginary odours were about twice as high in women as in men.” Deep science I know, but those are two very big statements! Does this make women better suited than men in the World of Wine? Maybe. If so, why do we not have more women in the world of wine than men? I know a lot more men in the wine industry than women. Perhaps it should be the other way around. Perhaps we have only enjoyed half of the wine palate spectrum because there are not enough women involved.
Well, leave it to our amazing local wine culture to even things up. We have some amazing women in our local wine scene! Three of our local wine shops are owned by women, Aragon, Anna’s, and the Curious Wine Shop. The President of our local chapter of the American Wine Society is a woman. Green Thumb Wines and The Establishment are managed by great women who know a TON about wine! We are also blessed with several very good female distributors, who are excellent tasters. To me, these are just more reasons to get out to some of our local wine tastings. In fact, just recently I was at one of Aragon’s wine tastings where the theme was “Women in Wine.” All of the wines were either produced or owned by women, and all of them were good! So, if you are a “regular” guy these are some good reasons to invite a lady out to a wine tasting, maybe she can tell you what you “should” be tasting. And, well, if you are a hypersensitive lady taster, I guess it would be okay to invite a guy to a wine tasting, it’s nice to have some company sometimes.
