Women who excel at making wine

Making wine and tending vineyards was once a male preserve, particularly in France, the home of 'chauvinism'. No longer - the ladies are there driving tractors, pruning vines and making some of the world’s very best wines.

It all started with Olga Raffault, who was left a widow with two small children - and a vineyard in Chinon in the Loire - in 1947. With the aid of a German ex-POW she created one of the most famous Red Loire vineyards; one which, several generations on, is still achieving the same high quality wines made from 100% Cabernet Franc (introduced into the Loire by Cardinal Richelieu because it was his favourite grape variety).

Moving to the present day, Clotilde Davenne is the new sensation in the Chablis region. The head winemaker at the famous Chablis house of Jean Marc Brocard before she went solo, her Sauvignon St Bris is superb and the benchmark wine for the appellation.

Patricia Atkinson of Clos d'Yvigne in South West France was in her 50s when, in the 1990s, she started up. She had no previous experience but had to get to work after her income-producing husband fell ill. Though she had to learn to drive a tractor and do everything by herself, she succeeded in making very good wine - true grit.

In Bordeaux, Chateau Leoville & Langoa Barton are now run by Lillian Barton, a charming and dynamic lady of Irish descent who is as at home in their famous winery as she is with her animals and children. Not far away, Corinne Mentzelopoulos is the Chatelaine at the famous Chateau Margaux: she is another very clever hands-on lady who runs the show.

And in Italy, there's Judy Beardsall, a New Yorker who makes  Ananda, a much-praised 'super Tuscan', while running a wine consulting business in the US and writing books about wine - her best known being Sniffing the cork and other wine myths demystified. ·