Wine, women and COVID-19

Lilla O’Connor, who works behind the scenes at JancisRobinson.com, decided to organise an online discussion last Wednesday night between some prominent women in wine to discuss the issues of the day, particularly International Womens Day. See also Where have women got to in wine?

Lilla writes What do we women in wine want? Have we decided and communicated it clearly and loudly enough?

Some of you, like me, are facing lockdown with children, or you may be spending the pandemic on your own. But a couple of things that all women on this panel share is the love of wine and respect for each other. They are:

Tahiirah Habibi – founder, Hue Society

Sonya Hookmanaging editor, Drinks Retailing magazine

Françoise Mathis - Wanderlust Wines

Rebecca Palmer – buyer and associate director, Corney & Barrow

Hannah Tovey – director, London Wine Fair

Emma Wellings – founder, Emma Wellings PR

In this engaging and in-depth discussion you can hear us talking about personal challenges during the pandemic, industry views, home-schooling stories, the panel’s thoughts about the statistics revealed in Where have women got to in wine? and the special attributes women bring to wine. The panellists’ children were asked to draw a picture of their mother at work, with some revealing results.