Support women’s education, buy Les Dames wine! Proceeds to @lesdames scholarships

August 22, 2016 – BRITISH COLUMBIA – It is high time that the dynamic women in British Columbia’s evolving wine industry get the recognition that they deserve. Over the past three decades, our wine industry has thrived as a result of hard-working industry members, many of whom are women. The #DamesWine project shines the light on these worthy ambassadors, and pays it forward to the next generation of female evolutionaries through fundraising.

Sommelier Mireille Sauvé capitalized on a local abundance of female talent and, leading a group of BC’s most wine-savvy women, recently launched the province’s newest wines; Dames White 2015 and Dames Red 2013, with 100% of the profit going to fund women’s education in the fields of food and drink. The wines have now hit the shelves in BC’s top private liquor stores and are featured on restaurant lists throughout the province so that consumers province-wide can #drinkforacause!

Sauvé reached out to established women within the industry to source the grapes for the Dames Wine and is using #girlpower right through to the sales channels. Industry pioneer Anne Sperling of Sperling Vineyards runs the vineyard where many of the grapes were sourced, Katie Holmes of Summerhill Winery and Janice Meyer Stevens from Meyer Family Vineyards and tolled alongside Sauvé from the cellar to the bottling line and Kirsten Munro heads up sales in the Okanagan, and these are just a few of the fine women involved in the project.

The 2015 Dames White is a dry, aromatic blend of 80% Pinot Blanc, 10% Riesling and 10% Gewurztraminer. Light-bodied with a lively acidity, it pairs best with shellfish and seafood, especially California Rolls. The 2013 Dames Red is an organic blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Syrah and is a luscious, fruit-forward wine, with flavours of plum and toasty vanilla that complement good cheeses and meats. Both wines are made exclusively from Okanagan Valley fruit and were produced at Meyer Family Vineyards as a custom crush, with Mireille Sauvé as Winemaker.

These wines celebrate the work that women are doing in the province’s wine industry, while providing funds for education for those rising up in the ranks. Sauvé herself was a scholarship recipient through the Les Dames d’Escoffier program where the funds will be channelled, and credits the contribution for allowing her to complete her dream of becoming a Sommelier – in fact Canada’s youngest female Sommelier – graduating from George Brown College in 1997.

520 cases of wine (6,240 bottles) were produced and are selling fast; the wines retail for $25 per bottle, exclusive of taxes, on www.dameswine.com and in private liquor stores and restaurants across BC (prices vary – click here for current list).