Woman's international day also occurs in Wine

With the upcoming Woman's international day (March, 8th) the articles and posts about women have flourished this past week. However, I had trouble running into an article about the role and position of women in the Wine industry.

Let me introduce you to 5 women who had a huge impact and shaped the Wine industry:

1) Hannah Weinberger, first female winemaker in Napa Valley
Given our proximity to Napa, let's start with Hannah. She became the California's first female winemaker during the 1880s. Her husband was murdered in 1882, making her assume control of the winery. In 1889, she was the only Californian vintner woman to win a silver medal in the wine competitions, which took her to the World's Fair in Paris. Today, her vineyard is part of William Cole Vineyards as the Prohibition forced the closure in 1920.


2) Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, first woman to run a Champagne House 
In the beginning of the 19th century, men controlled the wine business. However, Barbe's husband died when she was 27 and she took the leadership of the family wine business, transforming Veuve Clicquot into one of the world's greatest Champagne houses. Barbe known as the "Grande Dame of Champagne", created the modern form of pink champagne through the addition of red wine and developed the riddling rack process for mass production.


3) Madeline Triffon, first Merican female Master Sommelier

In 1987, she became the first American woman to pass the Master Sommelier exam.
She was born in Connecticut and worked in the food industry and was introduced to wine service at Westin's La Fontaine, a Frenc restaurant in Detroit. She educated herself through tastings and readings. Then she became a wine buyer in Westin and attended the Best Sopexa French Sommelier competition and passed successfully the Master Sommelier exam. “It gives you platinum validation, but you can never rest on your laurels,” she says. 

4) Sarah Morphew Stephen, first female Master of Wine

Today, women represent half the candidates for the Master of Wine. The program was funded in 1953, but it wasn't until 1970 that a woman graduated.
Sarah's interest in wine started when she was a young girl. At 17, she tried to become a trainee in the Symington Port's wine business receiving a tough answer: ‘In our opinion, there is no place for a woman in the wine trade,’ ” she says.
She studied oenology in Bordeaux University and worked in different French vineyards (Médoc, Saint-Émilion). She then returned to England and applied to Master of Wine. 


5) Mary Ewing-Mulligan, the prominent American wine educator 
Mary was the first American woman to earn a diploma from the prestigious Institute of the Masters of Wine. She contributes to the wine culture through her International Wine Center, a leading school for wine professionals. Additionally, she has co-authored "Wine for Dummies" and seven other books about wine. She also wrote for the NY Daily News for 10 years about wine and served as a wine columnist for other publications.