KALISPELL - March is Women’s History Month and MTN talked with a female winemaker about how historically, it is a male-dominated industry.
“The whole male-dominated wine industry actually stems back to the Greek times when the Greek God Dionysus, who was male or a male figure, was created or developed as the god of wine. And what that did was gave people a license to make it a male-dominated industry and say women couldn't partake in that,” said Angela Zuba of Waters Edge Winery and Bistro.
The wine industry in America is still mostly male-dominated, with 82% of winemakers and vineyard owners being male, but women are beginning to enter the industry and going from sipping wine with friends to making wine.
“Women actually have a better palate for wine tasting than men do. It's just natural in our bodies, we have a better sense of smell and that's where you get most of your taste aromas from. Just those passions and wanting to bring those complex flavors and pair it with amazing food and fun events. And I thought, 'you know what, why not? We'll take a risk and see what happens'," said Zuba.
Waters Edge Winery and Bistro is a full-production micro-urban winery in Kalispell since 2020. Having a vineyard in Montana isn’t the most productive business model, so owner Angela Zuba took this hardship as an opportunity to bring worldly wines to Kalispell.
“We can take grapes from Chile and grapes from Argentina or France and make a wine blend that you can't find anywhere else in the world. It takes that risk factor out it doesn't matter what the weather is outside, where the grapes are grown. We can just make the wine here,” said Zuba.
Zuba has personally created over 30 unique varietals of wine striving with every glass to make the best wine she can.
“You get to create and blend flavors and bring in nuances of oak and leather and spice and earth and all of these things and create something that when you get to see people drink it, and their eyes light up and they say 'oh my gosh, this is the best one I've ever had in my life.' That's, you know, that's the satisfaction right there,” said Zuba.
