A few months ago, Sandra de Pury from Yeringberg flagged to us women winemakers that there was an Australian Women in Wine Awards in London in September 2017 and would we be interested in going over and maybe doing a co-promotion of the Yarra.   This set the fire in our collective bellies and we decided to group together as the Yarra Valley Wine Women.  According to our recent media release:

…..The Yarra Valley is one of Australia’s truly world-class wine regions and its winemakers are some of the most talented. As one of the nation’s most recognised and visited wine regions, located on Melbourne’s doorstep, it has more than 150 wine brands, 85 cellar-doors and 65 wine production facilities. Within this pool is a group of women winemakers challenging the statistics of the industry average. This group manage 12% of those 150 wine brands and have a collective 200 years experience within the industry.

It is estimated that women hold less than ten percent of the senior or leading production and management roles in the Australian Wine Industry.  In the Yarra Valley, female winemakers are ‘punching well above their weight’, with a highly talented list of stars making the wines and driving some of the most awarded and renowned wine brands in the country……

And we thought we should celebrate.  We have organized a few local events starting with a Soiree Sunday 20 August 2017 at My Son Joy in South Melbourne.  Most of the group will also be presenting a selection of their wines at the Prince Wine Store, Bank Street, South Melbourne on Saturday 26 August 2017 from 12-2pm so come down and join us.

Founding members of the group are:

Meg Brodtmann MW, Helen & Joey Estate
Sarah Crowe, Yarra Yering
Sandra de Pury, Yeringberg
Maryann Egan, Wantirna Estate
Nicole Esdaile, NE Wine Services
Sarah Fagan, De Bortoli Wines
Clare Halloran, Tarrawarra
Kate Goodman, Goodman Wines
Caroline Mooney, Bird on a Wire
Cathy Phelan, Sutherland Estate

Some will question why we are promoting only female winemakers.  The answer is simple –  we are a group of people who are passionate about the Yarra Valley and want to spread the word about what a great region we are fortunate to work in.  We are also proud of the fact that we are women working in a traditionally male dominated industry.  We also just like hanging out together (some say this is the main reason for the group!).  Watch this space for more events.

Related Tag: Yarra Valley Pinot Noir