Women in Wine

Celebrate International Women's Month with a toast

The 8th of March marks International Women's Day. Amidst the growing excitement here at CB Wine, we wanted to take some time to highlight those wines of ours which were either made by female winemakers, or come from Châteaux, Domaines, and Houses run by women. From working with female-led LCB since our inception, or featuring the likes of esteemed wine critic Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Véronique Sanders of Haut-Bailly, and Christina Turley of Turley Cellars on our podcast, our foundations and operations are steeped in the heritage of women.

 

The Grande Dames of Champagne

When we think of wine, we often think of Champagne; when we think of Champagne, we think of Brut; and when we think of Brut, we think of Louise Pommery — the inventor of Brut champagne.
 
As the story goes, in the 1874, after having taken over the running of the Pommery Champagne house from her late husband, Madame Pommery, desiring to take it not only into the stratosphere of established Champagne, but to be coequally innovative, she tailored towards the then-burgeoning English market whose palate lent towards a drier style, as opposed to the sweeter profile preferred in France at the time; they created Pommery Nature, the first widely marketed and consumed Brut Champagne, and today, 92% of Champagne consumed is of the dry style, making it safe to say that modern Champagne was founded by Louise Pommery. 
 
Even earlier, in 1805, we find steadfast foundations laid by Madame Barbe Nicole Cliquot Ponsardin, The Grande Dame of Champagne, who, upon the tragic death of her husband in 1805, took over the winery operations of Veuve Cliquot at the age of 27. From this unfortunate positions, however, she took it to never before seen heights — arguably defining what a modern Champagne House can, and should, be,  even bringing the 'table de remuage', or 'riddling table', into the fray; this ingenious device enables easier separation of the wine from the lees, thus helping generate a cleaner and more balanced profile in Champagne, another indispensable attribute for the contemporary palette. 

 

 

Gusbourne

 
First up is the premier English sparkling wine brand, where Head Winemaker Mary Bridges has spent serious craft, talent, and dedication to produce an excellent, complex set of English wines, winning numerous awards, and expediting the respect the global wine community now holds for what English wines can be. Starting out in a time when English wine was considered a fad or a second-rate wine, Mary Bridges has led the charge in overturning that now-ridiculous notion, winning the 'Best in Class' at Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships 2025, and their Blanc de Blanc 2018 winning 'Best in Show' at the Decanter awards; frankly, their list of accolades is too long to enumerate here.

 

 

Marcassin

 
Can we really mention California without Helen Turley? The wines she has produced over her long career as both winemaker and consultant is indomitable, and her influence on the wider scene is even more encompassing and inspiring. Her oenological hands have firmly grasped all the big names out of Sonoma County, and she helped pioneer the character and style we now so closely associate with the West Sonoma Coast in particular — the bold, fruit-driven, yet balanced and complex Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Starting out with an entry role at Mondavi and quickly progressing to winemaker, she subsequently went on to perfect the wines and techniques at Bryant Family, Pahlmeyer, Peter Michael Winery, Colgin Cellars, Kapcsandy, just to name a few; she continued to move across California's coastline, consulting and assisting virtually every great winery, all before starting her own boutique project: Marcassin. Marcassin put the now beloved West Sonoma Coast on the map, a terroir initially considered too cool to produce anything of real value. Today, Marcassin are perhaps the most desired wine from Sonoma, fetching hefty prices, and even heftier praise, being called the 'Grand Cru Burgundy' of California.



Planeta


Planeta are a long-standing partner of ours, their almost shockingly affordable organic Sicilian wines are a staple of our store, and frequently sell out on our site, and feature heavily at our CB Wrapped Events. Patricia Tóth, their head winemaker, has been there for 20 years, and crafted the character and style of the winery for a large portion of its foundation, helping them strengthen their ties to the land, as well as innovating their approach; and this is really what Planeta is about, being as much about the land and people of Sicily as they are about the world. It is largely her efforts in winemaking which have helped put Menfi on the map as an appellation, notably with their Menfi Chardonnay, which brings the Sicilian charm to this classic varietal. It is full of peaches, pears, honey, lemon zest and blossoms in the finish, making a great midpoint between the clean minerality of Burgundy and the punchier fruit-driven Californians.


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Take a look at the full collection below, and celebrate International Women's Month with a wine that exists only because of the impact of these women.