It’s believed that ancient Romans could put women to death for not only drinking wine, but also by simply serving it. It’s ironic, since studies show that women consistently outperform men when it comes to their ability to taste and smell. They’re more likely to be supertasters, and that’s key whether you’re developing a Pinot Noir or an aromatic gin. No wonder women are finally getting the recognition they deserve in the realm of alcoholic beverages.
The Food Network and social media’s hunger for food, wine and cocktail culture have also put this world on everyone’s radar as worthy of exploration – and not just for men. “It helped make cooking and chefs cool,” says Stephanie Guth, secretary at the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers Ontario. Today, there are more and more places for women to learn, like This is Wine School, which was recently launched by a trio of female oenophile experts in Vancouver, or Niagara College in Ontario, where female enrollment has jumped to 39 percent from 12 percent in the artisan distilling program alone in just three years, according to associate dean, Maija Saari. More corporate and grassroots level support is also happening, which translates to more diversity, more scholarships and more opportunities. “Those initiatives can take time,” she says, “but it is all momentum in the right direction.” Just ask these inspiring and ambitious women from across Canada, who are fuelling this movement as winemakers and distillers.
Severine Pinte, executive winemaker/viticulturist, managing partner at Le Vieux Pin Winery and LaStella Winery, South Okanagan, B.C.
Mudslides, forest fires, a pandemic: Mother Nature has thrown some wild things at winemakers such as French-born and trained Severine Pinte while working in the South Okanagan. That’s in addition to a host of other issues faced by this award-winning viticulturist, who manages 10 vineyards in B.C. Pinte likens herself to a painter working with a palette of grapes to create unique pieces of art.
Asked about challenges in the male-dominated world of wine, Pinte recounts an early career experience in France. “I was in the vineyards telling farmers to take certain steps that would cut their yield but create better wine, which, of course, would also mean less income.” As a result, she had to have a male viticulture consultant with her for protection – and for her clients to take her seriously. Pinte says this old-world mindset is changing, and that Canada is more progressive, receptive and dynamic. The experience has allowed her to blossom as a winemaker. She uses the metaphor of a dried flower you’d use for tea. “You pour hot water on it, and slowly the flower blooms,” she says. “This is what I feel about myself. I had the potential, but it was all tied up, tucked together. Being in Canada allowed me to flourish.”
levieuxpin.ca
Gina Haverstock, head winemaker at Jost Vineyards, Mercator Vineyards and Gaspereau Vineyards, Wolfville, N.S.
A funny thing happened to Gina Haverstock on the way to becoming a doctor. She took a summer job at a vineyard, and the rest is history. As head winemaker for Nova Scotia’s Jost, Mercator and Gaspereau vineyards, Haverstock has been wowing critics since her first vintage, a 2006 Riesling, which earned comparisons to the prestigious style of Germany’s Mosel wines. She is one of the most-talked-about names in Canadian wine.
As a student, the 46-year-old explains how she’d planted herself at her family cottage, studying for her Medical College Admission Test at night, while working a day job at nearby Jost Vineyard. For orientation, new employees got to taste. “I was blown away. Wines could taste like anything but grapes,” Haverstock remem- bers thinking. While working a harvest after graduating, the science student was hooked. She refocused her career aspirations, swapping medicine for viticulture and oenology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont. She then headed to Germany, and subsequently Austria, New Zealand and France, to learn all about cool-climate winemaking before returning home to Nova Scotia to apply her learnings.
What does Haverstock love about winemaking? “I love that it’s so varied,” she says. “I could be out in the vineyard assessing crops or clomping around in steel-toed boots and cleaning tanks one minute and then putting on high heels and hosting a wine-pairing dinner the next.”
devoniancoast.ca
Susan Echlin, co-owner of Living Sky Winery, Perdue, Sask.
Apple, cherry, currant, rhubarb: The fruit-wine business of Living Sky Winery in Saskatchewan is small-batch to its charming core. There’s that ingredient list, which would blend seamlessly into the pages of a Little House on the Prairie storyline. Then the history of the winery itself, which Susan Echlin and her husband planted themselves.
Seems the rest of the world has caught up with the pair’s local and craft mindset. Living Sky might not have been the first to the shelf with its Mingle cooler, but its partnership with neighbouring Black Fox Farm and Distillery (co-owned by Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote) to make it, did represent a new way of doing business. The collab saw the creation of a truly local, ready-to-drink cocktail using fruit from Living Sky, along with gin from grain grown at Black Fox. That clean approach – no extra flavours or additives – was a hit.
This year, it’s all about the rhubarb, says Echlin. Traditionally, Living Sky’s Rhubarb wine has accounted for 80 percent of company sales, having won the People’s Choice Awards at Winefest in both Calgary and Edmonton. “It’s the perfect sipper, chilled, for a hot summer evening,” says the winemaker.
instagram.com/livingskywines
Sarah Bancroft, co-founder of Birch Block Vineyard, Kaleden, B.C.
Soy-based scented candles and bath salts are among the offerings from Birch Block Vineyard in Kaleden, B.C. The terroir-inspired products, a collab with Vancouver Island self-care brand Forest Etiquette, reveals Sarah Bancroft’s wine-as-lifestyle thinking and hints at her background as a marketing-minded magazine editor.
But in speaking with Bancroft, who operates the small, sustainably focused vineyard with her husband, Murray, it seems all paths were leading here. Just ask her about her early 20s, when the couple rode through Belgium and France, literally sleeping in vineyards when they ran out of money. A winemaking dream was always present, and when Murray ID’d a five- acre patch of land on Google Earth in South Okanagan, that fantasy became reality. Turns out it was a foreclosed llama farm. They bought it via blind auction and planted Pinot Noir vines. Birch Block’s first vintage was released in 2019, and every bottle was scooped up by the premium resto, Cactus Club.
Production has been doubling each year, and the winemaker sees the future as bright. “What’s exciting to me is what’s happening in education,” she says, mentioning the league of award-winning female sommeliers working and serving in the city and country’s best restaurants. “This is definitely not a boys’ club anymore.”
birchblockvineyard.com
Jessica Chester and Reagan Soucie, co-owners of Laneway Distillers, Toronto, Ont.
The brilliance of two women partnering to create a top-tier liquor brand is not unlike crafting a truly great cocktail: There’s magic when the chemistry is just right, and you land on the perfect mix of exceptional spirits, quality ingredients and a dash of the unexpected.
Reagan Soucie – a designer in food and beverage branding and packaging – and Jessica Chester – a fashion and textile designer – bonded as laneway neighbours over G&Ts. They launched Laneway Distillers in 2020 in the middle of the pan- demic, with a goal to create the best gin and vodka in Canada. Since then, they have taken the industry by storm, capturing gold at many premier international competitions. Laneway’s Ever Gin, a liqueur inspired by the Canadian wilderness, with dark maple syrup, and pine and juniper botanicals, has also won praise and typifies the brand’s local-meets-luxury approach. “When we started, we were so passionate about what we wanted to achieve,” says Chester. “We wanted to make sure we were using the right botanicals from the right suppliers. We tasted juniper from every part of Canada.”
Next up? Watch for launches in new markets and new inno- vations. Beyond the trophies, early success and press, Soucie mentions spying Laneway on the bar in Star Trek: Discovery. “I’m a lifelong fan of science fiction, so that was pretty thrilling,” she says. “And it was also nice to see Laneway still going strong in the 32nd century.”
lanewaygin.com
Geena Luckett, co-owner of Luckett Vineyards, Gaspereau Valley, N.S.
It might come as a surprise to hear that Geena Luckett, co-owner of Luckett Vineyards in Nova Scotia, might be found at the end of a long day catching an episode of Parks and Recreation with a double IPA in hand. “I love wine and you’ll never not find a bottle of our Unoaked Chard chilling in the fridge, but there is just something to be said about cracking a cold beer at the end of the day.” That down-to-earth nature seems to have been inherited by what Luckett calls her mother’s “get-shit-done” attitude. Coupled with her dad’s “big-dreaming, never-stop-growing, bigger-is-better” mindset, we get a sense why Luckett has thrived in Canada’s wine world.
It was 1999 when Luckett’s family purchased a rundown farm in the Annapolis Valley region. Today, their operation encompasses a 90-plus acre vineyard, a 20-plus acre off-site vineyard and a 20,000-square-foot winery and warehouse, as well as a tasting bar and restaurant. It’s a destination that sees 150–200 daily visitors during peak season, and Luckett is vocal about the company’s ambition to create quality wines expressive of the region’s Maritime terroir. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the notion of a glamorous winery lifestyle that initially piqued my interest,” says Luckett, who has worked on the farm since before she was a teenager. “I quickly learned that 95 percent of the time, it is anything but glamorous. What I ultimately fell in love with was the passion of the industry and how unique this business is in the sense that we are farmers, salespeople, artisans and so much more.”
luckettvineyards.com
Kelly Mason, owner and winemaker of Mason Vineyard and head winemaker of Domaine Queylus and Honsberger Estate Winery, Niagara, Ont.
Winemaker Kelly Mason makes 55 different wines, some for her own Niagara winery, Mason Vineyard, and others for two leading wineries in the region, Domaine Queylus and Honsberger Estate, where she is also head winemaker. Who would have imagined this when a 20-something Mason was climbing the corporate ladder in the automotive industry at Magna International with a shiny, new Schulich MBA degree?
Mason had always had the retire-and-buy-a-vineyard-at-60 plan, but during a work term in Italy, she fell fully and completely in love. She dropped everything and moved to Napa for a $14-per-hour job to learn the business from the ground up. In the wine cellar, she was in heaven and stayed two years. By November 2012, Mason had scraped together her life savings, bought a vineyard on the Niagara Bench and set out to “make the best wine in Niagara.”
Fast-forward to 2024, and you can count yourself lucky if you’re able to nab one of Mason’s cool-climate Pinot Noirs or Cab Francs, as they sell out in a flash. What’s next? “I want my property to be really beautiful,” she says. “I see a small bridge. I see rows of lavender over a creek. And I’ll have my own space to make wine, as well.” Also part of her grand vision? Creating some sort of school or incubator, where she can share with the next generation.
masonvineyard.com
Caitlin Quinn, master distiller at Eau Claire Distillery, Turner Valley, Alta.
“We just binged the whole season,” says Caitlin Quinn, master distiller at Eau Claire Distillery, when asked about the Netflix series Drink Masters. “It was really interesting to see the science behind the cocktails.” It’s that same sense of fascination with the blend of science and art that Quinn brings to her work at the Alberta distillery everyday.
Although a Winnipegger by birth, Quinn grew up just outside of Glasgow and returned to take on the role of distiller at the company in 2015. In fact, she recounts walking into the last exam for her master’s degree in brewing and distilling at Scotland’s prestigious Heriot-Watt University when she got the call telling her she’d landed the job. She now oversees the production of more than 20 whiskies, white spirits, tonics and premixed cocktails. What’s next? An absinthe that has been at least five years in the making. The third annual Yours Truly Whisky has also just landed on shelves. It’s a single-malt release, produced by a team of all-women at the distillery, with a percentage of sales earmarked for local women in need. Says Quinn: “Our goal with this whisky is to celebrate the achievements of women in distilling and to encourage future generations of women to continue to make moves and break the glass ceiling.”
eauclairedistillery.ca
Aislin Henrickson, head distiller at Cottage Springs Beverage Co., Toronto, Ont.
If you want to get a sense of Aislin Henrickson’s passion for spirits, ask her about Irish whisky or a Sazerac cocktail. On the latter, she jumps in: “It’s punchy. It’s balanced. It’s sweet. It hits every single one of your flavour profiles in a unique way,” she says. “It just balances out to this magical elixir that you can sip in the summer or winter. It warms you up. It cools you down. It’s the perfect cocktatil for porch sitting or a fancy cocktail bar.”
That appreciation for a beautifully balanced cocktail continues to inspire. The 34-year-old joined Toronto-based Cottage Springs Beverage Co. as head distiller last year after posts at Wolfhead Distillery and Beattie’s Distillers, where she’d worked on everything from flavoured whiskies, vodkas and gins to a line of bitters and a coffee-infused, low-sugar liqueur. At Cottage Springs, she’s workshopping new flavoured vodkas, new vodka-soda ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails and tequila-sodas. What’s next? “I really want to highlight botanicals that are uniquely Canadian,” she says, “and elevate the flavours by adding in part of my heritage, using things like volcanic rock for filtration.”
cottagesprings.ca
Jenna Diubaldo, head distiller and co-owner, Sons of Vancouver Distillery, Vancouver, B.C.
With just two years under her belt as head distiller at Sons of Vancouver Distillery, Jenna Diubaldo and her team nabbed last year’s coveted Canadian Whisky of the Year award for their Palm Trees and a Tropical Breeze Whisky. The three-year-old rye, finished in rum casks from the Virgin Islands, aimed to make “you feel like you were drinking whisky in a tropical paradise,” explains Diubaldo. Clearly, the whisky’s big banana nose, hints of baking spices and pineapple, dark sugar and vanilla notes transported the judges to a magical beachside bar. And Diubaldo is just getting started. “Our goal is to change the face of Canadian whisky. It’s a lofty goal,” she admits, “but we think craft distilleries are going to be the ones to watch in the next decade, and that will hopefully spur change in the whisky industry across the board.”
A love of brewing originally piqued Diubaldo’s interest in spirits-making and although she aspired to open a distillery in her hometown of Winnipeg, she switched gears after attending the distillery school at Sons of Vancouver in 2017. She joined the production team in 2021 and is now a co-owner. Despite the company’s name, the 35-year-old is personally exploring various ways to make the world of dis- tilling open to all woman-identifying people, ways like a subsidized distillery school, as well as a women’s whisky club.
