March: A Month of Women & Wine

March is National Women’s History Month. This year''s theme is Women’s Art: Women’s Vision and it is intended to "honor the originality, beauty, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women’s lives." This theme also "provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women’s visual arts in a variety of forms and mediums that help expand our perceptions of ourselves and each other."

During March, in honor of National Women's History Month, I will discuss some of the contributions made by women in the wine world. One can look at wine production as an art so female wine makers would fall under this year's theme. Literary creations can also be considered an art form so they could also fall under the theme. And even those women involved in the wine world who would not fall under the theme should still be recognized this month for their beneficial contributions.

Women's involvement in the wine industry continues to grow. Even in Japan, where Sake production has long been a man's only profession, we are seeing more and more female brew masters. We see women in France controlling important Champagne houses. We see female wine makers in California making highly acclaimed wines.

In the world of wine writing, there are some very prominent women. Even in the world of wine blogging, there are many excellent female writers, with more blogging every day. One of my goals this month will be to try to create a fairly comprehensive list of all the female bloggers out there. I would like to post it near the end of the month, to provide a resource for the wine community. So, if you are a female blogger and would like to be added to the list, please send me a link to your blog. I certainly know many female bloggers but I am sure there are some out there that I don't.

I also hope that other wine bloggers, male and female, consider discussing the role of women in the wine world this month. If you have a favorite female wine maker, why not post about her. If a particular female wine writer appeals to you, tell us about her.

Let us honor those women who have made the wine community a better place.