Joans of Marc, a wine delivery business run by two women, promotes diversity whilst sharing part of the profit to charities like Mudgin-Gal, an Aboriginal women’s centre in Redfern.
Alysha Moscatt and Lucy Kendall have been making wine in West Gippsland under the label AlleVare, apart from working with other nearby vineyards. However, the duo noticed how underrepresented women are – which make up more than a third of the wine industry – in wine events.
In an industry that traditionally features male winemakers, Joans of Marc aims to make a difference by expanding the wine industry representation and encouraging retailers and wine event organisers to reach out to these underrepresented talents.
“When the gate-keepers actively and willingly open the doors to human beings who haven’t been well-represented in our industry (POC, women, queer folks and other minorities for instance) we stand a chance of diversifying who drinks, pours and makes it,” their social media post said.
“Diversity isn’t just a question of warm fuzzies (which we’re into in case anyone was asking), it’s also about helping our industry mature into all that it can be. We want winemaking to celebrate and actively seek out talent across the human spectrum.”
In establishing the business, Alysha and Lucy got a little help from fellow winemakers Clare Burder (Eminence Wines) and Tessa Brown (Vignerons Schmölzer and Brown). For each release, Joans of Marc sells a new 6-pack set of wines created by women and underrepresented groups and a portion of the proceeds go to a selected charity.
Established in 2020, Joans of Marc partly owes its name to a French heroine named Joan of Arc and partly to a French term, Marc, which is what is left of the grapes after the juice is pressed off to create wine.
One of their releases featured wines curated by Women and Revolution which includes a selection of wines created by women but bear a man’s name on each label. The aim is to change the assumption that comes with the label and to focus on the “unseen women” who also deserve to get their fair share of the credit.
The pack includes wines from Europe: 2017 Serge Dagueneau & Filles La Centenaire, 2018 Breuer-Mehrlein-Lundén Riesling Venture Trocken, 2018 Matías I Torres / Victoria Torres Pecis Negramoll Piezas N1, 2019 Gianfranco Alessandria Barbera d’Alba, 2020 Piero Gatti Moscato and 2020 Domaine Collotte Aligoté.
Proceeds from the sale of this wine pack will be donated to Mudgin-Gal Women’s Centre in Redfern. Mudgin-Gal meaning ‘Women’s Place’ is an Aboriginal organisation established in1992 and run and staffed by Aboriginal women. Mudgin-Gal Women’s Centre provides shelter to vulnerable women as well as skills-based programs particularly to women who aspire to be leaders in their own communities.