AsiaLIFE

By sharing her passion for wine, Rémie Fujiwara hopes to get women excited about not onlydrinking, but also tasting wine. Words by Nora Lindstrom.

Phnom Penh’s women like their wine, yet so far wine tastings in the capital seem to have been conducted mainly by men. Enter Rémie Fujiwara, a passionate wine drinker with an MBA specialising in wine technology and viticulture. For almost a year, Rémie has been organising Women & World Wine events – regular wine tastings catering exclusively for women.

“Women are more open minded and ready to try out new wines,” Rémie says by way of justifying leaving men out. “They can communicate better about sensory products.”

Given her previous training as a biologist and her work with psychoactive drugs, Rémie knows a thing or two about how humans work. “It’s been proven that women have a better sense of smell and a more acute sense of taste,” she says. “Women tend to pick out wines better at tastings.”

Though she is quick to add that men too can have sensitive noses, she maintains men tend to be more pretentious at wine tastings – competition between egos leaves less room for real exploration into the wonderful world of wine.

According to Rémie, it really is a wonderful world. “Just like any other luxury good, fine wine has a story to tell,” she says. Describing wine as an expression of nature’s produce, she notes how the drink was originally made by monks as a celebration of what God had given them. Rémie too likes to celebrate nature’s gifts and shies away from entry level wines, arguing they lack individualism.

“If a bottle costs US$10 or less, it generally means it was mass, and machine, produced, and most likely mechanically manipulated so each bottle tastes the same regardless of its vintage.”

More expensive wines on the other hand are generally a labour of love. “Wine is made in the vineyard. Anything else is added value or manipulation. We should respect what nature has done in the vineyard,” Rémie summarises.

The monthly Women & World Wine events focus on particular themes, such as old or new world wines, wines by women winemakers, or simply funny labels. They feature a presentation on the wines and some tasting notes, followed by free flowing interaction whilst sipping five to seven different wines. Venues for the tastings vary, and sometimes a charity element is added to the event. “I have a core group of around ten women who always come,” Rémie says, adding that many women also come alone.

In addition to the women only tastings, which costs between US$30 to US$45 depending on the venue, Rémie also organises wine courses and other related events through her wine consulting company, Vinotage. These are open to both men and women, and Rémie points out she by no means wants to become pigeonholed as a ‘women only’ event organiser. Her ultimate goal is to bring more wine education to Cambodia. “At the moment, the service part of the wine industry is lacking,” she says.

Still, she says things are happening in wine world in Phnom Penh, and notes that locals are increasingly swapping their bottles of whiskey for wine. What surprises her however is how it is red, not white wine that is gaining popularity in the Kingdom. “Red seems to be considered more flavourful,” she says, adding that not only is that assumption wrong, but that a cold, fresh glass of white wine is generally favoured in climates such as Cambodia’s. Her own favourite wines include Argentinean cabernet, though she admits she still gravitates towards Italian whites.

With eight years of experience in the wine industry, Rémie also hopes simply to share her passion through the events that she organises. “I’m always looking for more people to talk about wine with,” she says.

While working in wine retail in Australia, she developed a rule to keep her from polishing off a whole bottle of premium wine alone; never open a bottle by yourself. She has stuck by the rule ever since, and also recommends it to others, particularly as storing an opened bottle of wine is difficult. “Invite someone over to finish the bottle,” she encourages.

As for why wine seems only to be increasing in popularity the world over, she comments: “People have been doing it for centuries, so there must be something good about it.” A statement it is clearly hard to argue with.

The one-year anniversary of Women & World Wine will take place at a “secret” location on Friday Jun. 4th. Rémie also offers wine-dinners every two to three months for US$60-US$75 per person, as well as private tastings starting at US$200 per evening (3h).

For more information, contact Rémie Fujiwara on 077 555 335, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit www.vinotage.biz.