Wine making is a field where some women are making a successful name for themselves in what traditionally may be seen as a man’s world. To celebrate these remarkable women, Taylor wines hosted the Women in Wine lunch at Longroom…
When you think of a man’s world, what do you think of?
Old school ties, business lunches, the glass ceiling, the corporate ladder. Maybe the banking and finance industry? Or perhaps construction or farming? I wouldn’t ever think of viticulture, but wine making is a field where some women are making a successful name for themselves in what traditionally may be seen as a man’s world.
To celebrate these remarkable women, Taylor wines hosted the Women in Wine long lunch at Longroom in Ponsonby Road on Wednesday 29 June.
Guests enjoyed entertaining anecdotes and personal stories on what it’s like to be a woman in wine from industry leaders including Lara Hoye, NZ Market Manager for Taylors Wines, Sara Scott Viticulturalist at Allan Scott Wines, and Helen McCarthy, Senior Winemaker, Taylors Wines.
Guests at the Longroom.
A delicious 3 course lunch was wine matched with Allan Scott and Taylor wines. Below, my first course, lobster bisque was accompanied by Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc. Thread’s favourite was the Allan Scott Late Harvest Riesling served with the dessert of sticky date pudding. Amazing.
The second course of oven roasted hapuka with Taylors Estate Pinot Noir which "isn’t light and cherry in nature like Martinborough Pinots, or masculine as a Central Otago red; it has more balls than Malborough Pinots" Helen says.
Below: Helen McCarthy, Senior Winemaker, Taylors Wines.
Helen McCarthy entertained with tales of hard hat-hair and sexy high-vis jumpers. She said you can be feminine and a woman in the man’s world of wine-making. She enrolled on her 18th birthday and has never regretted it, as it has been the job of a lifetime.
Helen says she loves making wine, "I don’t apologise for my passion in wine. The wines are my babies." She says you only get one shot per year of doing something, so she likes getting honest feedback from people on the wines.
Surprisingly, she advocates popping red wine in the fridge for a few inutes so it’s not too warm – especially in Queensland when it’s 35 degrees with 90% humidity! We probably don’t need to here in NZ!
Below: Sara Scott, Viticulturalist at Allan Scott Wines with Mel Ruddle of Mediaworks, wearing Kagi jewellery.
Both Taylors and Allan Scott wines are very family-oriented companies. Taylors employs 200 employeers and produces 650,000 cases p.a. making it a large category 1 vineyard (like Montana) whereas Allan Scott wines produces 100,000 cases p.a. and is category 2.
Story and photos Megan Robinson 29 June 2011
Photo below by Mary-Louise Dare.
Leave a Reply