CHÂTEAU DE POMMARD, POMMARD FRANCE, FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH
Forget about all-male clubs. Over the past decades, women’s interest in wine never stopped growing. After centuries being left out of the loop, they finally reached key positions in the wine industry – with 49% of female employees, Château de Pommard is a perfect example of this shift. The media started covering news about women winemakers, not only because of their gender but of the quality of their wine. Classes were created to educate these new consumers and teach them some tips and history that most men still don’t know about. With their thirst for knowledge, women managed to carve out a place for themselves in a resolutely male universe, where old habits die hard. Yet, being a woman in the wine industry can still be challenging in 2019, and our ambassadors won’t deny it. One of them is French; the other one, American. Both personify our definition of commitment, and believe that empowering women can make the world a better place. They agreed to share their story with us on this International Women’s Day.
Once an art expert, Margot Ducancel somehow became a wine passionate by accident. Now an established blogger, she launched a wine club entirely dedicated to women held in Paris once every six weeks, where she shares her knowledge and encourages a group of – often shy- wine lovers to express their thoughts and feelings about wine.
“With no family ties or connection to the wine industry, I always felt like an outsider in a codified universe. My career in wine became at Artcurial, a world-famous auction company. There was no room in the culture department anymore, my first passion, so I became in charge of wine authentication. The first time I came across a Grand Cru from Bordeaux, I didn’t even know how to spell it! As a young and inexperienced woman in a male environment, it took me a while to feel legitimate and stop sweating anytime I would have to taste alongside a winemaker. It takes some courage to face them! Enrolling into a Wine Marketing and Management program and taking the WSET levels 2 and 3 helped me get more confident. As I fed myself with articles and blog posts to expand my knowledge, I realized that none of the websites I visited were designed for women. At the same time, it stroke me that most of my girlfriends loved wine, but they didn’t have the tools to know it. There came my concept: Du Rouge aux Lèvres is a platform dedicated to women, where I explain the basics of wine with a light and quirky tone. The wine club is the natural continuation of the blog. I love the idea of a women-only circle: behind closed doors, they don’t think twice before asking a question or challenging themselves. Whether they are wine lovers or socialites, they get more confident in their abilities to taste and express their feeling about a wine. Overall, wine knowledge is part of a more global quest of wellbeing and well-eating, resulting in enjoyment.”
3,625 miles away, American entrepreneur Kristie Petrullo Campbell knows how lonely you can feel as a woman in the wine industry. Between 2010 and 2012, she was the Chef Sommelier at Jean Georges in New York City. Back then, she was the only female to hold this title at a three-Michelin starred restaurant in the US, Italy, Germany and France. Now the founder of Petrullo Wine Company, a consulting firm focused on the wine needs of industry professionals, connoisseurs, and enthusiasts created in 2012, she realizes that empowering women and granting them access to wine knowledge may be a huge progress, it’s not an end in itself.
"Things are changing. With more and more women in the wine industry and even a new generation of male sommeliers, the norm is shifting. "
