I have the honor to present to you Mme. Walch from northern Italy. « Alto Adige » is an autonomous region of Trentino-Alto also called South Tyrol.  25 years ago it was hard to believe that there would be a women representing important vineyards, she told us.  The shortage of women in the practice of wine making was not a reason to keep her from her dreams, on the contrary, it fueled her passion to continue working.  She is also an architect and loves hiking. Now she feels completely satisfied with her accomplishments and we can clearly appreciate her happiness through her wines. This time I tasted :

She has cultivated 60 hectares, including the vineyards VIGNA Castel Ringberg and VIGNA Kastelaz.  Elena Walch is one of the most important winemakers in the region. The  Walch wines will remain in the hands of women.  The vineyard will now be ran by Julia and Karoline Walch, her daughters and the fifth generation of the family. She would like to share with women « that wine connects and makes the world a pleasurable place, but people should know all the hard work behind a wine bottle. »

Marie-Thérèse Chappaz is completely sure of her professional choice and has no regrets for being a winemaker; She regrets not having spent enough time in the vineyard as she wished because other tasks on her domaine. She confessed to me two of her big dreams: one is to produce a white wine without sulphites and second is to have more animals.  She recently accomplished one of her dreams with the acquisition of 2 horses .She would have preferred to revert on modern wine production and returned to a more holistic and natural method to make her wine; without any machines.  So now she picks up her noble grains one by one with her hands every year - so impressive.

To know more about Madame Chappaz and her wines visit: www.chappaz.ch