Women Love Their Wine
“Love You Till I Die...”
"It's not about the female palate being different, it's about the female perspective being different,” said Leslie Sbrocco, author of "Wine for Women". Men have for ages said women and wine in the same breath, a reflection of man’s perspective in a man’s world. But as women reclaim their space in a distilled world, both her palate and perspective have come to matter. Now, it’s women and their wine.
Wine Surveys
India is consuming far more wine than it did a decade ago. India guzzled 1.5 million cases last year, compared to just 300,000 cases in 1999 and a fair share of this climb in consumption would easily go to women.
In a survey of Asian women, majority said they buy wine for its taste and as it goes well with food, and not to make a fashion statement. Women buy 64 percent of the wine sold in America today.
These figures have only encouraged wine marketers to seduce women more aggressively. A report by Vinexpo, the global wine conference held in Bordeaux every two years, showed 84 percent of Chinese women preferred red wine to white, which is the “complete reverse” of the situation that came up in northern Europe and the US when wine consumption took off several decades ago.
Wine - Red, white, and sparkling – have 10–14% alcohol-content by volume and have rarely been seen as a conventional drink. It’s considered more a grace of the civilised table. An important beverage that enhances the range of European cuisines, Wine is fast settling down in India, as much as a show of class as the preference of the palate.
Much of India will still debate if women are better equipped to deal with wine: taste, drink, buy or gift. But it’s for sure women are making efforts to endear the spirits. There are some websites and magazines dedicated to wine consumers in India, but there is also an all-girls wine club – Wine, Women & Wit or W3 – founded by a leading wine importer and patronised by a bunch of celebrities.
So women are creating their own private space where they discuss wine, throw a wine tasting party, share tips on imported spirits and even ponder the possibility of investing in wine.
Marketers have long tried to lure women to a bottle of wine with claims backed by research reports that said exactly what women would want to hear. Reports said it kept women from adding fat and enhanced their sexual desire. Some other research reports have trashed it.
But beyond these research reports and debates, the chorus is everyday rising:
Red, red wine I'm gonna love you till I die
Love you till I die and that's no lie
