CEE Women Winemakers & Caroline Gilby MW

Female winemakers from the heart of Europe will present their wines at a trade and press tasting in London. Is female wine a thing? Can a certain ‘female character’ be detected? You can ponder about this thesis with the help of more than 100 wines made by female winemakers from Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Moldova. The event is organized by Wines of Hungary UK and Caroline Gilby MW.

Date and time: 14 March 2023, 12.00–16.00
Venue: 67 Pall Mall, St James’s Room, St James’s, London SW1Y 5ES
Prior registration is needed here
Exhibitors from Hungary: Krisztina Machán-Csetvei (Csetvei Cellar, Mór), Kata Zsirai (Zsirai Winery, Tokaj, with her sister, Petra in the above picture), Zita Kovács (Sol Montis, Mátra) and Anikó Kada (TR Tokaj, Tokaj)

Where did the idea come from?

Caroline Gilby explained it in a recent interview on TheBuyer: “The idea rather came about when I started taking pictures of winemakers in Bulgaria while at a wine fair in Sofia for an article, and realising just how many women winemakers and owners there are. I then started digging further to find out that around 50% of Bulgaria’s winemakers are women, which makes the country, I believe, a world leader.
I also knew that Tokaj was a hotspot for female winemakers, but almost everywhere else across Central and Eastern Europe, women are often still stuck below a glass ceiling and macho attitudes. Along with Zsuzsa Toronyi of Wine Communication, we planned an event to celebrate and support these winemakers and owners before Covid, though sadly it was cancelled, so this is our chance to try again.”

Read the whole The Buyer article

Gilby’s tasting for Central & East European female winemakers

And some more about the ladies

A recent article about Zsirai Winery on Decanter

Zsirai Winery

A not so recent, but interesting article about Krisztina Machán-Csetve on The Canopy

https://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/Canopy-Articles/how-i-used-social-media-to-build-a-fan-base.html

An article about Zita Kovács and Sol Montis on Glug magazine

https://www.beer52.com/glug/article/1179/sol-montis