A few years ago, I attended a whisky tasting.
I don't remember all the details, but one story stuck with me.
The presenter spoke about a master blender who could identify which component was missing from a blend containing dozens of whiskies simply by smell. Whether the story has improved with retelling over the years is anyone's guess, but it left me wondering.
Do women play a similar role in wine?
The answer is a resounding yes.
Long before a bottle finds its way onto a dinner table, women are involved at almost every stage of the journey. Some work among the vines, deciding when grapes are ready to be harvested. Some spend their days tasting, blending and assessing wines. Others guide visitors through tastings, introducing them to wines they may never have chosen for themselves.
The women who walk vineyards at sunrise.
The women who study weather forecasts and growing conditions.
The women who notice subtle changes in a vineyard that most of us would walk straight past.
The women whose experience, judgement and senses help shape what eventually ends up in our glass.
Interestingly, researchers have found that women often outperform men in tests involving smell. Training, experience and practice remain the most important ingredients, but there is evidence that women can be particularly skilled at detecting and distinguishing aromas.
Which makes sense when you think about wine.
Before anyone tastes a wine, they smell it.
The aromas tell a story long before the first sip.
A trained nose can detect things most of us would never notice. A skilled winemaker can identify tiny differences between batches. A viticulturist can walk through a vineyard and recognise when fruit is developing exactly as it should.
It is part science, part agriculture and part instinct.
As Women's Day approaches, it seems fitting to raise a glass to the women behind South African wine.
Not just the celebrated winemakers and cellar masters.
But the women working in vineyards, cellars, laboratories and tasting rooms.
The women who help turn grapes into something worth sharing.
And perhaps also the women who open their homes, gather family and friends around a table, and pour the first glass.
Because wine has always been about more than what is in the bottle.
It is about the people behind it.
And the people gathered around it.
Here's to the women behind the wine.