Walnut Creek’s private dining and Italian restaurant, Prima Ristorante, is presenting its annual Women in Wine, an event featuring six female winemakers. The event will take place at Prima on May 23 at 6:30 p.m. At $88 per person, customers will be able to enjoy the finest wines by some of the finest women winemakers in California.
“We all know that women do everything better, that’s why six who really know how to make wine will be pouring their wares and lighting up PRIMA at our annual celebration of the women who do it so well,” John Rittmaster of Prima said.
PRIMA’s tentative lineup includes Sabrine Rodems from Wrath Wines; Carole Meredith from a small mountain winery in Napa Valley, Lagier-Meredith; Carissa Mondavi from Continuum Estate; Remi Barrett from La Sirena Napa Valley Wines by Heidi Barrett; Tracey Brandt from Donkey & Goat in Berkeley; and Nancy Walker from School House Vineyard in St Helena. They will be pouring their wines alongside a four-course dinner.
In the past 20 to 30 years, women have made significant gains in the California winemaking business, especially in Sonoma and Napa, according to the Women Winemakers of California.
“Progress has clearly been made, but despite statements to the contrary, the proverbial glass ceiling has not yet been shattered,” according to the group’s website. “According to our data, 9.8 percent of California’s wineries have women as the main or lead winemakers.”
Sonoma/Marin and Napa both feature the highest percentage of winemakers at around 12 percent each. However, Southern California hosts the lowest percentage of women winemakers at 4.7 percent.
“The approach we used in addressing the ‘how many’ question was to calculate the percentage of wineries with women as the main winemakers,” according to the website. “By using this approach, we could take into account the fact that some winemakers craft wine for more than one winery or craft wines for their own label in addition to their role as winemaker for one or more other wineries. This is particularly the case for well-known winemakers.”
For more information about the Women in Wine event or any of Prima’s products or services, call 925-322-2761 or 925-935-7780, view the private dining restaurant on the web at http://www.primawine.com or visit 1552 N. Main St. in Walnut Creek.
Prima is an Italian restaurant coupled with a wine shop that offers private dining and a catering service for guests. More than 34 years ago, Prima was at the forefront of the wine and food bar tradition that is so widespread today. Executive chef and owner Peter Chastain demonstrates a keen Italian sensibility at Prima and uses the highest quality local and sustainable ingredients the market has to offer each day. Chastain considers the essence of Prima’s cooking to be an act of stewardship in preserving Italian tastes and traditions while providing a good value to guests. Today, Prima is established as one of the food and wine destinations in Northern California that features one of the most extensive and distinguished wine collections in the world.
