Woman-Owned Wineries

We celebrate female wine entrepreneurs. Help us launch a wine club that empowers women in wine

Woman-Owned Wineries of Sonoma County Lifestyle
  • Description
  • Updates
  • FAQ
  • Backers

Project Description

My name is Amy Bess Cook, and I’m a veteran of the wine industry. I want to bring greater social and economic power to women in the wine business, in Sonoma County and beyond. I want to do this by filling your wine glass–but first, I’ll need your help.

Phase I:  $25K + Phase II: $25K = Total need: $50K 

We are taking this one step at a time. Are you with us?

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I love working in the wine business–the way it brings its me closer to the earth, to the seasons, and to my senses. I love the art of hospitality, how well-practiced kindness and generosity can be transformative. And I love the lessons of the winemaking itself–the way the unexpected always happens and proves that nothing is entirely within my control. Working in this business can mean long hours and extremely hard work, but never fails to bring beauty. However….

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Over the course of my twenty-year career (which also includes publishing, travel, and the arts) I  have witnessed great gender inequity and power abuse in professional settings. At some point,  I began asking myself: How would workplaces run differently if women were in charge? What problems could we avoid if women had more money and therefore more power? How can we make that happen?

One step toward an answer:  Support woman-owned businesses. Bastion women  in their careers and entrepreneurial endeavors. When women are stronger, all of society is stronger.

In this spirit, I offer  Woman-Owned Wineries .

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Woman-Owned Wineries celebrates and elevates female wine entrepreneurs in three main ways:

  • ADVOCACY: We began our project with a simple yet effective web-based directory inviting folks to buy directly from women wine entrepreneurs. The list currently focuses on Sonoma County–but with your donations, we can expand this list to include wineries nationwide.  (annual cost: approx. $10K. Includes personnel, web fees, and business fees.)
  • STORYTELLING: The power of storytelling can change lives. With this in mind, Woman-Owned Wineries  aims to share insights—including dreams and challenges, hopes and fears, and everything in between–from the lives of woman winery owners who might otherwise never fall onto your radar. (annual cost: approx. $10K. Includes personnel, web fees, transportation, and business fees.)
  • WINE CLUB: In the interest of making it as easy as possible for you to access the wine of these women, we also aim to deliver their wine to your table. (Cost: approx. $30K. Includes personnel, partner fees, legal fees, licensing.)

While many professional organizations exist to support women in wine, Woman-Owned Wineries  advocates for our industry’s women in a distinct way by actually selling their wine! This is meant to put money directly into the pockets of hardworking women. This is a simple but profound form of empowerment.

Raise a glass and join us!  Donate to support the project on this page, then join the club below.

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JOIN THE CLUB

Our standard club offering is a monthly shipment that features one woman-owned winery. You’ll choose from two or four bottles per month–or, go with our annual sampler. Quality standards will be high, as we seek wines that reflect ethical farming and production practices. As a way of supporting our local winegrowing community, we will initially focus on wineries from Sonoma County. Within the year, we will expand our partnerships to feature wines from across the nation.

Along the way, we’ll share exclusive stories about these wineries that you won’t read anywhere else. You’ll also get special offers from each participating winery. This club is for those of you who want to try something new, and to put your money where your values lie. 

All pricing includes shipping. By signing up below, you certify that you are 21+ years old.

  • 2 bottles/monthly | $59, 1 featured winery | Sign me up!
  • 4 bottles/monthly |$119, 1 featured winery | Sign me up!
  • 12 bottle/annually | $349, sampler from 12 wineries  | Sign me up!

Your signup will commit you to four months of shipments. Your signup authorizes us to charge your card for those upcoming  shipments. At that point, you can decide whether and how to continue. We hope to have you as part of our wine-loving family for a good, long time!

We have partnered with the good folks at Wine Country Connect, masters of wine shipping and logistics, to ensure a seamless customer experience. We cannot ship to the following states: AL, DE, MD, MS, OK, PA, SD, UT. Other shipping exemptions may apply according to the individual featured winery.

Questions? Just ask Amy Bess: wow at wowsonoma dot com.

We absolutely cannot wait to share these wines with you!

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MEDIA LUV

They’re talkin’ about us!

Updates

The Project FAQs

 Why support woman-owned wineries? Here are a few of our favorite reasons.

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Only 10% of California wineries have hired women as a lead winemakers.

That’s true, even thought the major enology and viticulture programs have been graduating men and women in equal numbers since the 90s. In fact, some programs are graduating more women than men.

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Of the wineries with lead winemakers as their owners, only 4% of women are also owners--versus 47% of men.

Women working in the wine business is no novelty. We’re in the vineyard, we’re in the cellar, we’re in the tasting room. Unfortunately, we're not as often in upper management of certain departments, and we’re rarely the business owners. Whatever the reason for lack of advancement or promotion, the cause of lack of ownership is plain—lack of funding.

Venture capital is hard to come by for women. Female CEO’s received 2.7% of venture capital in 2017 (a decrease from the previous year):

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This lack of access to capital for women is nothing new. If you look back, women couldn’t even get loans to start businesses without a male cosignor until 1988.

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So the history of American women as solo entrepreneurs is actually rather short. Our society’s support system, formal or informal, just isn’t in place to support women entrepreneurs.

I established Woman-Owned Wineries of Sonoma County to recognize and support female wine entrepreneurs. This reinforces their chances for success, and draws attention to the issues they face. Bonus: we all get to drink some incredible wine along the way!
*Thanks to Lucia and Jack Gilbert of Santa Clara University for some of this data.

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