Bâtonnage 2019 Returns to Stir Up Conversations around Women in Wine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

This daylong forum comes to Napa, CA, on May 4th for its second vintage.
San Francisco, CA – February 1, 2018 – This May, Bâtonnage returns for its second year. The forum focuses on topics that affect women in wine, and the inaugural event in 2018, which took place at a private estate in California’s Napa Valley, was a soaring success. The first year was an entirely grassroots effort, and it was sold out to its 300-person capacity. This year, the event is growing and will welcome 500 attendees.

 

The mission of Bâtonnage Forum is to connect with and educate wine professionals, as well as wine industry supporters, on the unique challenges and opportunities that women in the field – winemakers, vineyard workers, writers and marketers, salespeople, sommeliers, collectors, and drinkers – face, with programming and key speakers that raise issues and propose pragmatic solutions for charting a positive, inclusive course forward.

 

Held in Napa, the day will be full of compelling panels, covering the topics of Departing Dysfunction; Women Talk. Who Listens?; Pathways to Inclusion: But How, Really?; and Do You Sell Sex? The day will be capped with a wine tasting featuring Gallica Wine, Azienda Agricola Tiberio, Jaimee Motley Wines, Ovum, Martha Stoumen Wines, POE Wines, Raft, Cattleya, L.A. Lepiane Wines, Ryme Cellars, Inconnu, Lagier Meredith Vineyard, and more.

 

“This year, we’re looking forward to digging further into some of the more provocative discussions we began at the last forum. We’re also hoping to give attendees real, meaningful tools and techniques to take into their jobs that will help create positive progress for our industry,” explains founder Stevie Stacionis of Oakland, CA’s Bay Grape.

 

The line-up of featured panelists features people from all aspects of the wine trade, including Vinny Eng, Wine Director for Tartine Manufactory in San Francisco; Jennifer Reichardt, winemaker at Raft Wines; Melissa Sutherland, author of Drinking Italian Whites and sales director of Panebianco; June Rodil MS of McGuire Moorman Hospitality; Bibiana González Rave of Cattleya Wines; Karen Williams, founder of ACME Wines; Maribel Alvarado, Viticultural Director for Coastal Vineyard Care; Erica Duecy, Editorial Director of SevenFifty Daily; Monica Samuels, Director of Sake and Spirits at Vine Connections; and more.

 

The 2019 Bâtonnage Forum is made possible by the support of GoVino, Bay Grape, and countless individual donations. Several generous women-led wineries made donations of wine to fundraise for the event, including A Tribute to Grace, Cattleya, Corison, Day, Diel, Inconnu, Iron Horse, L.A. Lepiane, Little Frances, Macari, March, Onward, Pewsey Vale, Raft, and Vasse Felix. The proceeds of all merchandising for sale at BatonnageForum.com benefit the event itself. The Forum welcomes SevenFifty Daily as our exclusive media partner in 2019.

 

Schedule of Events – Saturday, May 4, 2018
10:00am: Welcome address
10:30am: Panel 1 “Departing Dysfunction”
11:45am: Featured Speaker “Women Talk. Who Listens?”
12:15pm: Lunch
1:30pm: Panel 2 “Pathways to Inclusion: But How, Really?”
3:00pm: Panel 3 “Do You Sell Sex?”
4:15pm: Closing remarks
4:30pm: Winemaker-Hosted Wine Hour
5:45pm: Farewell

 

Who’s behind Bâtonnage?
Stevie Stacionis is the visionary behind the forum, as well as co-owner of the acclaimed Bay Grape wine shop in Oakland, California. Along with her partner, Stevie was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers (2017). Sarah Bray, DipWSET, is chief orchestrator for the event. She works as the US Brand Ambassador for Passopisciaro on Mt. Etna and Tenuta di Trinoro in Tuscany, and as Director, Europe for VinConnect, liaising with top estates to develop their direct-to-consumer marketing channels. Nicole Ruiz Hudson, DipWSET, leads the team’s social media strategy, though by day she’s a food and drink writer and educator currently living in Oakland, California. Samantha Sheehan is our host for the day. She makes wines under her Poe Wines and Ultraviolet labels, and Vermouth via her Mommenpop project. In 2019, the team has expanded to include our team of volunteers: Casey Burke, administrative executive; Molly Sherman, logistical liaison; and Meg Lewis, web and graphics designer.

 

For information on last year’s event:
In 2018, the day-long event covered topics such as Implicit Bias and Approaching the Conversation; Navigating the Male-Exclusivity Culture; Advocating and Negotiating; Work/Life Balance; Women in Management and Leadership Positions; and Keys to Success and Forward Progress, with panels led by women across the industry including Linda Bisson, professor emeritus UC Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology; Shelley Lindgren, wine director & co-owner of A16, SPQR & A16 Rockridge Restaurants; Megan Glaab, winemaker at UPHOLD and Ryme; Tonya Pitts, sommelier & wine director at One Market; Esther Mobley, wine writer for the SF Chronicle; Diana Snowden Seysses, winemaker at Ashes & Diamonds and Snowden Vineyards; R.H. Drexel, writer and founder of Loam Baby; and more. All audio recordings from the day are published on BâtonnageForum.com.

 

For all media inquiries and interviews: Please contact Sarah Bray at info@batonnageforum.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.