Women of Wine: The Rise of Women in the Global Wine Industry

About this book

This inspiring engagingly written book with its personal approach and global scope is the first to explore womens increasingly influential role in the wine industry traditionally a very male-dominated domain. Women of Wine draws on interviews with dozens of leading women winemakers estate owners professors sommeliers wine writers and others in the United States the United Kingdom France Italy Australia New Zealand and elsewhere to create a fascinating mosaic of the women currently shaping the wine world that also offers a revealing insiders look at the wine industry. To set the stage Ann B. Matasar chronicles the historical barriers to womens participation in the industry reviews post-World War II changes that created new opportunities for them and pays tribute to a few extraordinary nineteenth-century women who left their mark on wine despite the odds against them. She then turns to her primary topic: an accessible discussion of women associated with some of the most prestigious wineries and institutions in both the Old and New Worlds that emphasizes their individual and collective contributions. Matasar also considers issues of importance to women throughout the business world including mentors networking marriage family education self-employment versus the corporate life and risk taking.