Episode
Vininspo! Podcast Episode 39: Jane Thomson OAM
- Podcast
- Vininspo! podcast
- Published
- Apr 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4084
- Processing state
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Summary
Get every Vininspo! episode as soon as it drops on Substack: edmerrison.substack.com ; follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine Jane Thomson still gets grossly underestimated. Her substance, strength and sensitivity—not to mention a grasp of behavioural psychology that is so rare in the industry—make a mockery of those who dismiss her Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society as mere froth and bubbly. When I interviewed her last month, Jane had just returned from New York, where she was a delegate at the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at the United Nations headquarters. That invitation to the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality came just a couple of years after she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to women in the oenology sector. Nonetheless, there is a sense that—in the fragmented world of wine—the founder and chief executive of the Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society might still go unnoticed in certain circles of the wine community. She is perhaps the victim of a general tendency to pigeonhole people and a more specific, maybe sexist, propensity for wine not to take fun seriously, particularly where women are involved. The enjoyment factor among the 10,000 members of Jane’s organisation belies the fact that it does a great deal of important work. Aside from the value of companionship and moral support, this group has brought attention to various inequalities in the Australian wine scene, from gender pay disparities to grave issues with retaining women in the workforce as viticulturists, cellar hands and winemakers. It also spearheaded the Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA), first held in 2015, which has since evolved into the Australian Women in Wine movement, whose flagship event is the Australian Women in Wi…