The fifth annual women-only international tasting competition finished last month – with a Greek Vin Doux taking the top prize.
Samos Anthemis: ‘Diamond Nova’ for the 2005
Femmes et Vins du Monde (Women and Wines of the World), which took place in Monte Carlo at the end of April, is a competition consisting solely of female wine professionals, with a female amateur on each panel.
The panels represented 24 nationalities, with oenologists, producers, wine educators and members of the wine trade and press. Some 300 wines were tasted.
The idea behind the event is to bring ‘women’s sensibilities’ to bear on the wine. The presence of an amateur on the panels ensures that the point of view of the ordinary consumer is taken into account.
‘I always thought that only men or monks could make wine,’ president and co-founder Regine Le Coz said. ‘When you ask people involved in the trade how they got there, they are usually male descendents of winemaking families, or they stumbled upon it by chance.
‘It wasn’t till later in life [when I studied oenology] that I realized that women play an important role and this unique competition serves to shed some light on the matter.’
This year’s only winner of the top award – the ‘Diamond Nova’ – was the Samos Anthemis Grand Cru 2005, a fortified sweet wine from Greece.
Wakefield Estate’s Jaraman Shiraz 2009 from Australia’s Clare Valley, and La Rosée de Ramage 2010 from Bordeaux’s Château Ramage la Batisse won the second prize, or ‘Gold Nova’.
Written by Lisa Senior
