Category: Women in Wine

Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance announce appointment of Robyn Sebastiani as Executive Director

Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance (SVVGA) Board President Tom Rouse announced on Friday the appointment of Robyn Sebastiani as SVVGA Executive Director.

“Robyn’s experience, passion, and deep understanding of our mission made her stand out as the perfect choice to guide SVVGA into a new era of growth and success. We firmly believe that with her dynamic leadership style and collaborative approach, she will build an even stronger commitment to serving our members and the greater wine community of Sonoma Valley,” Rouse states.

Diageo appoints Debra Crew as its first female CEO

British multinational premium drinks giant Diageo has just appointed Debra Crew as CEO, one of few women to lead a FTSE 100 company.

Diageo announced that Sir Ivan Menezes would step down on June 30th after 10 years as chief executive and is promoting its current chief operating officer Debra Crew to chief executive officer effective 1 July 2023.

The company employs 28,000 people globally and sells over 200 brands in more than 180 markets. It is also the largest company, by net sales value, in scotch and Canadian whisky, vodka, gin, rum, liquors and tequila.

Only eight of the UK’s top 100 listed companies have a female chief executive, which include: Dame Alison Rose at NatWest, Amanda Blanc at Aviva, Dame Emma Walmsley at GSK, Jette Nygaard-Andersen at Entain, Liv Garfield at Severn Trent, Jennie Daly at Taylor Wimpey, Margherita Della Valle at Vodafone – who is interim chief executive – and Milena Mondini de Focatiis at Admiral.

Before being appointed chief operating officer in October 2022, Crew ran Diageo’s business in North America, its largest market. She joined the company in 2019 and previously headed the tobacco firm Reynolds American until it was acquired by BAT. Before that, she spent five years at PepsiCo and worked at Kraft Foods, Nestlé and Mars.

 

Charles Heidsieck appoints Elise Losfelt as Cellar Master

Champagne house Charles Heidsieck has named Elise Losfelt as its new cellar master, taking over from Cyril Brun. The announcement was made today, on International Women’s Day as the collective wine community celebrates women in the industry.

An agricultural engineer from AgroParisTech with a master’s in Wine and Vine along with a national diploma in Oenology, 36-year-old Losfelt has worked in Champagne for the last ten years in various roles at Moët & Chandon. She began her journey in a wine communication role, and subsequently, as head of winemaking for Moët & Chandon, she worked with cellar masters from Moët & Chandon, Mercier, Ruinart and Dom Pérignon.  Losfelt developed her winemaking experience initially by participating in harvests in Majorca (Domaine Mortitx), Saint-Julien (Château Beychevelle) and Australia (Domaine Dominique Portet).

Reflecting on her appointment, Losfelt said: “I have enormous respect for the creativity and rigour of my predecessors and I hope to make a coherent contribution to the continuity of the house style. It is with humility and enthusiasm that I join with these passionate men and women to work together in forging the fate of this iconic House.”

Her predecessor, Cyril Brun, joined Charles Heidsieck in 2015 and recently masterminded the new Champagne Charlie, an iconic House cuvée that enjoyed a renaissance in 2022.

Stephen Leroux, CEO of the House of Charles Heidsieck added: “Throughout his career here Cyril has been much liked by our teams and distributors as well as by our clients and journalist friends throughout the world. He has written a chapter in the long Charles Heidsieck history book, and we thank him for his contribution to the house, his commitment, and his contagious cheerfulness. We wish him every success in his future endeavours.”

 

 

 

Thrilled to have been quoted in today’s Financial Post – In a Madame Clicquot feature! 🥂 

In this special Madame Clicquot feature, I state: “Madame Clicquot’s success was exceptional, given the early 19th century’s oppressive, Napoleonic expectations of women in which they were expected to stay home, have children, and keep quiet”“They did not have the right to vote, could not attend university, nor open a bank account in their own name. None of that for La Grande Dame Barbe-Nicole.”

Madame Clicquot was married at 21 and widowed at 27 in 1805. Against considerable opposition, she wanted to take over her husband’s business and approached her father-in-law with a proposal and convinced him to let her manage it. Philippe agreed, with one condition, that she must go through an apprenticeship, which proved to be a success. Success – Madame Clicquot become the first woman to take over a champagne house and was the first “female” champagne producer.

Veuve Clicquot continues to thrive today, and it became a force in the industry due to Madame Clicquot being an extraordinary and cleaver businesswoman.

The Strength and Friendship of Women in Champagne 🍾 

While doing research for this piece, I found a Harvard Business Review Study from 2017, entitled “A Study of the Champagne Industry Shows That Women Have Stronger Networks, and Profit from Them”  – this is an interesting read.

I have also witnessed this firsthand when I visited the region multiple times  6 years ago.  I was conducting research for my book “The Ultimate Guide To Champagne” and was interviewing female CEOs running champagne houses.  During my many meetings, lunches, and dinners with these female leaders I found that have bonded together and do meet every few months over dinner to discuss their friendship, business and the industry as a whole.

Honoured and thrilled to be Inducted into the Champagne fraternity The Order of the Coteaux (Paris) in 2021, as a Knight. Over the past few years, I’m happy to see more and more women inducted into this fraternité, and in addition more women added to the Chapter Council.   I’m looking forward to attending in June the Chapter de La Fleur de Vigne, Versailles, Paris and catching up with some female members.

Click here for the article ➡️ https://canadianfamilyoffices.com/family-business/this-valentines-day-raise-a-glass-to-the-widow

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Women for WineSense Host “Connect Symposium”

This Thursday, February 9, 2023 between 4:00 – 6:00 p.m, the Napa/Sonoma chapter of Women for WineSense will host a “Connect Symposium” at Charles Krug Winery [with online members-only additional livestream.]

The event will include attendees from wineries, vineyards, and other industry members.  The reception will be followed by a presentation featuring proprietary consumer research insights and commentary from the Wine Market Council (WMC) President, Dale Stratton, about “Understanding the Ever-Evolving Wine Consumer.”

The proliferation of choice across the Beverage Alcohol category and the changing demographics of the American consumer has created new challenges for the wine industry. The conversation will focus on how the industry can collectively adapt to better communicate with future high-value consumers with added insight to the local luxury wine tiers.

“I’m honored to present to WWS Napa/Sonoma chapter members. Research clearly shows that the demographics of our country are changing, and it’s important for the wine industry to understand and adjust to those changes,” said Mr. Stratton.

This event is open to active WWS members and non-members that are pre-registered by 5 p.m., February 8, 2023 at www.womenforwinesense.org

 

#womenforwinesense #womeninwine #womeninwinebusiness #wineevent #onlinewineevent #WineMarketCouncil #americanconsumer #winemarketing #wine #winelovers #napawine #sonomawine #wineindustry