Women Who Are Changing the Way We Drink Wine
From Russian River Valley Pinot to 150-year-old Madeira houses — these are the women worth knowing.
Wine has a long history of crediting the estate, the region, the vintage. The person behind the bottle often comes second. That's been changing, and the women making some of the most serious wine in the world right now are a big reason why.
This isn't a list of wines to drink because they were made by women. It's a list of wines to drink because they're exceptional — and the women behind them have a story worth knowing before you open the bottle.
United States
Merry Edwards — Russian River Valley, California
Merry Edwards was one of the first women to earn a winemaking degree from UC Davis, at a time when the industry barely acknowledged women belonged in the cellar. She spent decades proving otherwise. Her Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs became benchmarks — earthy, silky, dark fruit and forest floor, built to age.
The winery that bears her name was sold in 2019, and she has since retired. But her influence runs through a generation of California winemakers who came up watching her work. When you open a bottle of Merry Edwards, you're drinking one of the wines that changed what American Pinot Noir could be.
What to pair it with: Duck breast, mushroom risotto, salmon with a pinot-friendly preparation. The earthiness in her Pinot wants something that meets it halfway.
Lynn Penner-Ash — Willamette Valley, Oregon
Lynn Penner-Ash spent years as head winemaker at Rex Hill before founding Penner-Ash Wine Cellars in 1998. She is the winemaker, the creative force, and the name on every bottle. Her Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs lean deeply earthy — cocoa, spice, a brooding complexity that rewards patience in the glass.
The winery remains independently owned and she remains at the helm. In Oregon wine, that kind of continuity means something.
What to pair it with: Lamb, braised short rib, anything with earthy depth. This is a wine that wants food with substance.
Pat Campbell — Elk Cove Vineyards, Oregon
Pat Campbell and her husband Joe founded Elk Cove in 1974, making it one of the earliest estates in the Willamette Valley. She helped build the foundation of what Oregon wine became — before it was fashionable, before it was an industry. The winery farms organically and has been doing the slow, unglamorous work of sustainable viticulture for decades.
Elk Cove is now in its second generation. The legacy Pat Campbell built is what the next generation is working from.
What to pair it with: Pinot Noir-friendly pairings — salmon, roasted duck, earthy mushroom dishes. Oregon Pinot is forgiving; these wines reward exploration.
International
Donatella Cinelli Colombini — Brunello di Montalcino, Italy
In 1998, Donatella Cinelli Colombini did something almost unheard of in traditional Italian wine: she created a Brunello estate managed entirely by women. From the vineyard crew to the sales team. Casato Prime Donne — House of Prime Women — was a statement as much as a winery, and the wines have backed it up ever since.
Her Brunellos are earthy, structured, built for the long game — dark chocolate, leather, the kind of tannin that asks for time. She also helped found Cantine Aperte, Italy's national open winery day, which has brought hundreds of thousands of people to wine regions they'd never visited. The wine is extraordinary. The footprint is larger than the bottle.
What to pair it with: Bistecca alla Fiorentina. Aged hard cheese. Slow-braised wild boar if you can find it. Brunello wants food that can stand up to it.
Elena Walch and Daughters — Alto Adige, Italy
Elena Walch took over her husband's family winery in Alto Adige and rebuilt it into one of the region's most respected estates. Her single-vineyard wines — Castel Ringberg, Kastelaz — became benchmarks for what Alto Adige could produce at its best. Elegant, mineral, with an Alpine precision that sets them apart from wines made further south.
She has since handed the reins to her daughters, Julia and Karoline, who now run the estate. Three generations of female leadership, in one of Italy's most demanding wine regions.
What to pair it with: The whites — Gewürztraminer, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay — pair beautifully with spiced dishes, aged cheeses, and anything from the Northern Italian table. The reds work with lighter game and mushroom-forward preparations.
Helena and Isabel Borges — H.M. Borges, Madeira, Portugal
H.M. Borges was founded in 1877. It is one of the last independent, family-owned Madeira houses — most of the others were absorbed by larger companies long ago. The fourth generation running it today is sisters Helena and Isabel Borges, who manage a house that has been producing serious Madeira for nearly 150 years.
Madeira is one of wine's great misunderstood categories — a fortified wine from a volcanic island off the coast of Portugal, capable of aging for decades (sometimes centuries), with a complexity that has no real equivalent. H.M. Borges makes Madeira the traditional way, with the patience the wine demands.
If you haven't tried serious Madeira, this is the house to start with.
What to pair it with: Sercial and Verdelho styles work beautifully as aperitifs or with soup. Bual pairs with blue cheese, foie gras, or rich desserts. Malmsey — the sweetest — works with chocolate and dark pastry. And all of them pair well with time.
Why This Matters for What You Drink
None of these women made it onto this list because of who they are. They made it because of what's in the bottle. But knowing the story behind a wine changes how you drink it — you pay more attention, you taste more carefully, you remember it longer.
The next time you're looking at a wine list or standing in a shop, ask who made it. The answer is more interesting than the vintage, more useful than the score, and usually more honest than anything on the label.
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