Women Are Disrupting the Global Wine Industry

Women entering the wine business are disrupting the global wine industry to make wines that are both more accessible and responsibly produced.

Oddly enough, women, however, have been traditionally excluded from the world of wine, making them more likely to create boundary-pushing wines that defy traditional categories.

Two women who fit this bill are Mika Bulmash (below left), CEO of Wine for the World and international development specialist, and Ntsiki Biyela (right), the first black South African female winemaker at Stellekaya, a boutique winery in
Stellenbosch. Bulmash has rethought how distribution should work, making it her mission to create sustainable economic development by importing responsible producers of exceptional wine in untraditional regions to the US market. Biyela’s superb, award-winning wines have made her a rising star in the industry.

Interesting note.  Once a year, Wine for the World releases a private collaborative wine label that partners a top US winemaker with standout talent in emerging markets to create limited-edition blends that push the status quo of their respective regions. The latest blend, releasing in fall of this year (2015), is a collaboration between renowned Napa winemaker Helen Keplinger and Ntsiki Biyela.

Screenshot of wine courtesy of:  Wine for the World