Women don’t make better wine, or more feminine wines, they just have a different approach.  As I wrote last year, consortiums of women winemakers like Wine Entre Femme were “borne out of the desire to reach out to other women and do what we do so well – help each other.”
In France, there is an organization called Femmes de Vin (Women of Wine) which consists of regional groups of over 90 women winemakers from Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhone, Provence and Languedoc, among others.  They forged a unified front at the recent …

Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery is located on the original homestead of German immigrant George Schonewald who settled there in 1882 and built the Victorian home that Mary Novak, current owner of the estate winery, calls home today. When she and her physician husband Jack Novak arrived in 1972 to start a new life in the Napa Valley with their five young children, daughter and current President Beth Novak Milliken recalls that her dad just wanted to drive a tractor and mom wanted to be a gardener. They acquired the …

After 20 years of working as consulting winemaker for several Napa Valley wineries, Celia Welch decided to make her own wines beginning with the 2004 vintage. She took on the name of Corra, the celtic goddess of prophecy, because for the first time, she would be able to communicate directly to her consumers about her wines. The goddess Corra took the form of a crane, representing Celia’s slow but certain and graceful path to the present. Celia herself is a goddess of sorts, having either consulted or made wine for over …

The inaugural Wine Entre Femme trade tasting of over 50 international wines by female winemakers/owners will take place on February 2nd  at the Metropolitan Club, 640 Sutter Street, San Francisco from 1 – 4 pm.  Founder Sharon Harris calls the trade tasting “the most beautiful wine tasting in the world” tongue-in-cheek, but there is no question that it is the most beautiful if measured by quality.  The trade seems to recognize this as the rsvps are already more than three times larger than expected.  According to Carissa Chappellet, only winemakers and/or …

Wine Entre Femme, a consortium of quality-minded female winemakers and winery owners from around the world will be meeting next week in the Napa Valley to share best practices and learn the latest in viticulture, winemaking and marketing techniques.
Wine Entre Femme has grown organically from its inception in 2007, with the first official meeting between Napa Valley and Bordeaux winemakers in January 2008.  The group was organized by founder Sharon Harris, owner with her husband of Amici Cellars in Napa Valley.  Having a second home in Bordeaux and knowing many …