For a long time, women were the exception when it came to winemaking. In the days when a Barbe-Nicole Cliquot-Ponsardin had to take over her husband's business in Champagne at the age of 27 - as did a Louise Pommery - women were not even legally competent. This was true not only in Champagne, but also in Germany until the 1970s.
Women running or even founding a winery was therefore not that common. A Lalou Bize-Leroy in Burgundy or a Bettina Bürklin-von Guradze in the Palatinate were important pioneers who had to fight against a lot of prejudice.
Wines from female winemakers
In the 1990s, the proportion of young women who decided to train or study cellar management and viticulture at Geisenheim University was less than 10%, whereas today it is over 30%. In the subjects of International Wine Business and Wine Marketing, they are now even in the majority.
Many of today's female winegrowers are particularly forward-looking. They are focussing on organic or regenerative viticulture and are interested in future grape varieties that support sustainable cultivation. They are also well networked. Around 600 of them are involved in the "Vinissima Frauen & Wein e.V." association, which not only includes female winegrowers, but all professional groups involved in wine.
Do women make different wines? This question is not easy to answer, but we have rarely tasted dense, concentrated and extracted blockbuster wines produced by women. Just as rarely have we met women who would have preferred such wines to slender and delicate, fine wines. Even though women tend to favour fresh sparkling wines and white wines, many female producers are of course also based in wine regions where red wines are very popular. But even there, they tend to produce mainly fine, elegant styles.
To mark International Women's Day, we have put together a selection of wines from female winegrowers and winery owners.
Interview with
Dorothee Zilliken on International Women's Day
As the owner of the Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken winery, Dorothee Zilliken represents the eleventh generation of the family, which began 270 years ago in Saarburg. The estate only produces Riesling - some of the best in the country.