It was the last hour on the last day of Wine Paris, the three-day trade fair held this week at Porte de Versailles. Visitors were starting to leave the fairgrounds, and staff was beginning to break down their stands.

Time was not on my side, I thought, as I wondered how to adapt my presentation on the topic of “Women, Wine and Innovation” to a no-doubt smaller audience. I had prepared the content thoroughly (including thoughtful input from readers of this Enolytics 101 series, for which I’m grateful) though I adjusted the delivery to be more on-the-floor than from-the-stage, and invited a more interactive bilingual exchange from the audience than I had originally planned.

I’m very glad that I did. The audience, who were almost exclusively French, clearly had a running start with their own opinions of the topic. They offered cogent and considered commentary on their own experiences of women innovators within wine. To my mind, that commentary laid a foundation for what I hope will be an open and ongoing conversation.

It felt like a start. It also felt like there is a lot more that needs to be said and elicited and responded to. That is an important takeaway from the content part of an overall very successful return of the Vinexposium fair.

Here, in summary, are a few key points from the session.

• The title of the presentation, “Women, Wine and Innovation,” is misleading. I believe firmly that there’s no biological reason for women and men to innovate differently, and sweeping statements like “women’s innovations are more relationship-based” is a slippery slope down to stereotypes that I have no desire to perpetuate.

• The better title for the session would have been “Recognizing Women, Wine and Innovation,” given how often women’s innovations are underfunded and unnoticed.

• We looked at specific examples from four distinct categories where women innovators lead, namely Technology, DEI, Wellness and Generational Change.

I ended the session with a few suggestions for how each of us, for ourselves and our teams, can encourage innovation. One in particular is to look, intentionally, for innovation as you go about your day. Practice identifying it. Get in the habit of naming it when you see it. Start to develop a greater familiarity and fluency with it. It’s happening in wine, and ready to be noticed, cultivated and funded.

That’s a very good thing, especially for those of us who care about innovation and the future of our industry.

Thank you, as always, for reading and for your feedback –
Cathy