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Women make up over half of this planet's population. They have also played a rather significant role in the existence of that almost other half. One would think the majority player of the human species would have made their mark in every field by now, right?
The fact is women have only begun to strut their business stuff. The reasons are many: women are better educated today, more ambitious, and less tolerant of insecure males. Men have also evolved in their thinking and realize two minds are better than one-sometimes much better.
A mere thirty years ago in a relatively unknown place called Napa Valley, the only jobs women occupied in the wine business were answering phones, cooking in the kitchen, and selling wine in the winery's retail room when the guys were on break.
Wine was as male dominated an industry as there was back then. There were, however, tremors of great things to come if one were paying attention.
In 1970, one such someone who was paying attention was wine guru Robert Mondavi, and the person he was paying attention to was one Zelma Long. Mondavi hired Long as a laboratory assistant and a brilliant career was launched.
Zelma Long left Mondavi to become head winemaker at Simi winery in 1979. Ten years later she was named as Simi's president and became CEO in 1990. In 1996, she became executive president of California Wineries for the Moet Hennessy group, which also included California's most recognized quality sparkling wine producer, Domaine Chandon. In 1977, she established Long Vineyards with her late husband Bob Long.
Having ended her association with Simi and Domaine Chandon in 1998, Zelma has focused her attention on two wine growing ventures in South Africa and Germany called Zelphi.
Ms. Long paved a thoughtful path for many of California's finest winemakers today. At this level I hesitate to say female winemakers anymore; it is more accurate to simply say finest winemakers. Names such as Helen Turley, Mia Klein, Cathy Corison, and Heidi Barrett Peterson are commanding the industry's top salaries for their services. If those names don't sound familiar, I suggest you find yourself a current wine auction catalogue and look up the wineries that these ladies have represented. Wineries like Marcassin, Martinelli, Corison, Dalle Valle, Jones Family Vineyard, and Screaming Eagle.
Domaine Drouhin, also known as D.D.O., has been producing some of Oregon's, actually America's finest Pinot Noirs for over a decade. Once again at the helm of a world-class winery we find a female winemaker, a talented and insightful winemaker named Veronique Drouhin.
Convincing Frenchmen that Frenchwomen were capable of handling the reins of the fine wine business was not an easy obstacle to overcome. However the abilities of brilliant women such as Lalou Bize Leroy of Burgundy great wine estate Domaine Leroy, and Corinne Mentzelopoulos of Bordeaux's world class Chateau Margaux became hard to ignore.
If there is any remaining doubt as to the contribution and involvement of women to the wine industry, I strongly recommend a visit to a cutting edge restaurant in New York City called Annisa. The reasons to visit Annisa are many. A comfortable atmosphere, good service, Chef Anita Lo's dedication to quality and imagination in the kitchen, and a very well selected wine list.
This medium sized wine list offers an assortment of fine wines from around the world. My test for a quality wine list is when I find many wines I feel like drinking, not just one or two. So after viewing the wine list at Annisa, I quite comfortably can say there are many wines I feel like drinking. If you like the wines at Annisa, and you should, every single one of them has either been made by or is exclusively owned by, you guessed it, a woman.
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