May this International Women's Day be an opportunity to shine a light on the talented women in wine. From winemaking to vineyards and trade, the number of women we are seeing working in the more men-driven wine industry is growing. Meet our women winemakers, strong pioneers in the natural winemaking industry. And not only this month, their achievements and passion are worth highlighting.
Here's some of our women winemakers
Domaine Yoyo
Seven distinct plots spread out in four hectares, Domaine Yoyo is located in the Banyuls area (Roussillon region in Southern France). Laurence Manya Krief - also nicknamed Yoyo - is a strong believer in organic viticulture, and followed biological viticulture since taking over the Domaine in 2005. Besides, the vineyards here cannot be mechanised. This makes this area even more unique. The soil work is therefore done by animal traction, horse or mule (named Uma) or by hand.
Tunia
Young winery born in 2008 with the purchase of 25 hectares of largely abandoned old vines, Tunia is a project of Francesca di Benedetto and Chiara Innocenti with her brother Andrea. The Domaine - in Val di Chiana area, Tuscany - extends over 25 hectares of vineyards planted back in 1970s with mainly local grapes and 3 of olive groves. All the winemaking process is carried out following natural and organic principles.
Tamuna Kortava
Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world. In 2013, UNESCO added the ancient traditional Georgian winemaking method - using the Qvevri clay jars - to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. Tamuna Kortava is located in one of the main wine areas, Kakheti. Born in 2013, it comprises 3 hectares of vines managed by Tamuna Bidzinashvilli. Kiss of kakhuri Mtsvane 2018 is made out of 2 different indigenous grapes (Kisi and Kakhuri Mtsvane) and spends 7 months with its skin in Qvevri. Only producing 800 bottles.
Cascina Tavijn
Nadia Verrua’s family has been making wines in the hills of Monferrato, Piedmont for over a century. Their ten hectares of land are farmed organically and split equally between vines bearing local grape varieties and hazelnut trees. In the cantina the wines are fermented with wild yeasts and raised in a mixture of big old botti, fibreglass and cement. The idea is not to add too much, not to take away, and the resulting wines are joyful and delicious, a pleasure to drink.
Domaine Gramenon
Since its creation in 1978 by Philippe and Michèle Aubéry-Laurent, the Domaine - located in the north part of the southern Côtes du Rhône area - has been taken care of in a natural and organic way, adopting biodynamics techniques with time. Following the tragic accident that took Philippe's life in 1999, Michèle Aubéry kept managing the Domaine, joined by her son, Maxime-François Laurent, in 2006. The family is also very involved in sustainability.
Marie Courtin
Dominique Moreau named her estate after her grandmother, Marie Courtin. Located in the Côte des Bars in the southern part of the Champagne region, this is an exciting estate whose name and reputation are skyrocketing. With the 2005 vintage, Dominique set out to produce a series of single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage, zero-dosage Champagnes from biodynamically-grown grapes that are farmed with meticulous care.
La Stoppa
Located in Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, the Estate was founded in the late 19th century and bought buy the Pantaleoni family later on. When Elena took over in 1991, she drastically changed the winemaking philosophy, following organic methods with a minimalist approach and respect for the living surrounding.
Located in Saint Marcel d’Ardèche on the western side of the Rhône river, set on a rocky plateau bathed in sunlight, the winery follows the model where the estate's viniculture is a self-sustaining environment, the wines reflect all the natural wealth and charm of this region. The Thibon family bought Libian back in 1970. Since then, the winery has been handed down, generation onto generation, seeing Helene at the management.