Ok ok, so we’re a couple of days early but ahead of the big day we wanted to wish all of our members, colleagues and friends a very happy International Women’s Day.

Taking place on 8th March it’s a day that we celebrate the amazing, hardworking and inspiring women in our lives. To be honest, if you asked us we’d say one day isn’t enough to sing their praises, but we’ll take it.

Are you hosting an event for International Women’s Day? Please get in touch and let us now so we can spread the word on our social media channels.

On the 8th we’ll be sharing some of our favourite women in the trade and we encourage you to do the same and tag us in your posts.

On Monday 27th February we were delighted to host our first Wine Spirit Women event of the year.

We want to say a big thank you to everyone who came along. Thank you to The Wine Pair for being the perfect hosts, and providing us with delicious nibbles and drinks. Also a big shout out goes to Polish Wine Fest for providing some fabulous Pet Nats (check your emails, we sent our a discount code for tickets to their upcoming tasting), and to Cassidy Wines who sent us samples of their new non-alcoholic wine NOUGHTY – there was certainly no sore heads the following morning! NOUGHTY founder Amanda Thomson is our guest in this months Q&A, which you can find further on in this newsletter.

It was really fantastic to see such a good turn out, and we were thrilled to have Şenay Özdemir, founder of Women in Wine Expo attend and share a little bit about her organisation and what they do.

We hope you found her as inspiring as we did, and will join us this May in London at the expo. They have kindly offered Wine Spirit Women a discount, that if 7 members of our organisation attend we will get a special rate of £360 per person (as opposed to £440 – more money for delicious drinks). You can see the full list of what’s included in your ticket here, some highlights are return transport to Kent for a vineyard tour at Balfour estate, a sparkling wine masterclass, cider masterclass, a 3 course lunch at the vineyard and much more.

Wine Spirit Women committee member Sevgi, will also be speaking at the conference.

Hope to see you there ladies.

Congratulations are in order as Kinsale Mead won a medal for their Hazy Summer Mead at the European Mead Makers Conference at the end of February. A whopping 630 meads from 36 countries were judged in Poland.

The Comité Champagne announced a whopping €10 million investment into R&D in the region. Included in this investment is the creation of a research, development and innovation centre to be completed by 2025, and an ambitious plan to move the sector towards “Net Zero Carbon” by 2050.

On February 24th two new Masters of Wine were announced, Wojciech Bońkowski MW (Poland) and Joshua Grainer MW (USA). There are now 416 MWs globally – 267 men and 149 women. You can read the full press release here.

New Zealand’s winemakers are dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, as Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne were overcome with floods and torrents of silt. The cyclone impact was extra severe as it arrive right on the cusp of the 2023 harvest.

The Drinks Trust launches annual industry survey. The survey has been created to capture the current mood of the hospitality and drinks industry and understand concerns and issues being faced. The results will help to evolve the services and support supplied by The Drinks Trust as well as businesses in the drinks hospitality trade. The survey comprises sections covering you, your work life and your well-being in the industry and should take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Wine Enthusiast published their Official 2023 Wine Vintage Chart. The chart aims to help you decide which bottles to save for later and which to enjoy right now and allows you to check ratings from the past 25 years.

Our hearts are with the growers in Chile as more than one million acres burn across the countries wine regions. Some of the nation’s oldest vines have been affected as fires spread across the Itata Valley; vintners are assessing the destruction and organizing relief efforts.

In more positive news we read a facinating article on SevenFiftyDaily about winemakers who are re imagining grape waste as a resource. We suggest you pop the kettle on and have a read yourself.

Finally there was more positive news as IBEC announced that Irish whiskey distilleries attracted 677,000 visitors in 2022. It’s fantastic to see Irish whiskey tourism bounce back after Covid-19 and we predict it will continue to go from strength to strength.

Whiplash Brewery Visit | Monday, 27th of March

This month, we are hosting a free event in collaboration with Whiplash Brewing. We will head to their brewery on Monday, the 27th of March for a Tour and Beer Tasting. Spaces are limited so please secure your place here to avoid disappointment.

Champagne Masterclass | Monday, 22nd May

Save the date! We’re currently planning a Champagne Masterclass to be held in D’Olier Street Restaurant on 22nd May. More details to follow. If you’re working in the wine trade and want us to feature one of your portfolio’s Champagnes please get in touch.

For March’s installment of our Q&A series we chatted to Amanda Thomson, CEO of Thomson Scott & NOUGHTY.

Amanda Thomson, CEO and Founder of B Corp Certified Thomson & Scott, was voted one of Business Insider’s Coolest People in Food & Drink 2019. Leading the global shift to alcohol-free drinking, Thomson recently launched game-changing Noughty – the first top quality alcohol-free, organic, vegan, halal, low sugar sparkling.
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Amanda is also driving the debate for greater transparency in wine production and labelling and wants consumers to push to know what’s in their bottle. 
Raised on a plant-based, no sugar diet by her health-conscious mother, Thomson has always had a keen interest as to what’s in her food. 

Formerly an Arts Broadcaster at the BBC, Thomson moved her young family to Paris and studied for her Diploma in Wine at the renowned Le Cordon Bleu School where she was Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 and an EY Winning Woman.  Thomson is also a Department of International Trade Export Champion. 
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Thomson & Scott now sells to the world’s coolest bars, restaurants, hotels and spas in key territories including Australia, Europe and North America.

The Merrion Tree in Dublin are seeking a Part-Time Manager (20-25 hours per week)

Wines Direct Ltd are hiring a Customer Service Administrator, based in their Mullingar office.

Food PR & Communications seek a PR Executive. Their clients include Ireland’s best restaurants, brands and food producers. The role is 4 day week or 5 day and can be hybrid or Galway city based.

Michelin star restaurant Chestnut in West Cork are hiring for a variety of roles including a front of house team member and food runner.

Carton House are hiring for a number of roles, including food and beverage coordinator and food and beverage operations manager.

In Cork Longueville House are recruiting for a restaurant team leader and restaurant/bar servers. Email CVs to info@longuevillehouse.ie

Diageo are recruiting for an Account Executive in Luxury Spirits.

A Resort Mixologist is required at Adare Manor in Limerick.

Nelly’s Dublin are hiring an experienced café supervisor. An interest in food & wine is a a big help.

Are you recruiting? Send us an email and we will feature any vacancies in our newsletter.

The Wine Buff Rathmines in Dublin will host a number of wine appreciation nights, check their Instagram for the full list of dates – tickets cost €20 pp.

Sheridan’s Galway will host a wine tasting celebrating producer Cascina Iuli on 9th March. Tickets are €50 and include nibbles.

Vinostito Spring Tasting will take place on 13th March in Fallon & Byrne Trade only*. Register here.

Wine Spirit Women are heading to Dublin’s Whiplash Brewery for a beer tasting on Monday 27th March. Tickets are free and you can reserve you spot here.

Up north there will be a Bushmills Whiskey Dinner in The Bowery Belfast, 16th March

Dublin’s 64 Wine will invite Charles Derain to host a Jura Wine Tasting on Thursday 16th March at 6.30pm. Tickets cost €90pp and include wine and food pairings.

On 31st March The Last Taste of Home Dining Experience will take place in Down County Gaol.

Women in Wine Expo, 3 day event in London, 10th – 12th May. More information here.

Save the Date: Wine Spirit Women will a Champagne Masterclass 22nd May D’Olier Street Restaurant. Tickets to follow.