Wine with Leslie: Getting into the spirit of women in the drinks industry

Street artist Mister Copy continues work on a mural depicting St. Brigid which was commissioned to coincide with the return of the sacred relics of St Brigid to County Kildare after nearly a millennium. The relics will go on display at Kildare Town Parish Church in what is the 1500th anniversary of her death. Picture date: Friday January 26, 2024. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

International Women’s Day was back in March, and it was remiss of me not to mention it in this column, given how important women have been over the centuries to the development of wine culture.

For millennia in Ireland, women were the brewers — and don’t forget that St. Brigid is the patron saint of brewers, famed for her beer (sometimes magically created from her bathwater).