Do Your Bit For International Women's Day 2023 By Drinking These Wines and Spirits — Yes, Really

Although better known for their decadent after dinner cream liqueur, Amarula has recently launched a South African gin in the UK, with women still very much at the heart of the brand’s success.

Like the liqueur, the spirit is made with the marula fruit, which can only be hand harvested for three months of the year, ripening from January to March. At the start of each season the village chiefs democratically hand out huge sacks for local women to fill with fruit. This is then taken to various pick-up points across the city (which sometimes means walking for miles, and even sleeping with their haul). Amarula’s local buyers then weigh their bounty and pay them in cash — often this is the only opportunity women have to make any money all year, so it provides an important lifeline for many. The fruit is then taken for processing, before winding up in your glass with a dash of tonic.

As for that cute tassel found around each bottle’s neck, it's not just there for decoration — it’s all part of an empowerment project the brand set up back in 2017. The initiative formalised the tassel making business, creating a sustainable, black women-owned enterprise with permanent employment and a safe working environment.

The business now employs 30 women from three local communities, many of whom are the breadwinner as well as the primary caregiver in their homes. The business has made more than 40 million tassels since incorporation, proudly adorning every Amarula bottle, both big and small.

While some of us were perfecting our banana bread recipe and completing Netflix during the Covid-19 lockdown, Abbie Roden and Will Sandbach (a married couple based in London) were making plans to launch amie. French for 'a female friend', the beautiful, modern rosé — produced in the south of France — has fittingly become an integral component of convivial lunches, while the label lends itself to the prettiest of tablescapes.

And for every order placed on the amie website, the brand donates £1 to charity: water. So far, they’ve raised over £10,000, creating the first 'amie well' which will be built in Uganda next year. With women responsible for 72% of the water collected in Sub-Saharan Africa, when a community gets access to clean, safe water, women and girls get their lives back. In turn, they start businesses, improve their homes, and take charge of their own futures. Cheers to that!

Uncle Nearest Whiskey is a brand that epitomises IWD's ‘Embrace Equity’ theme. A diverse, equitable and inclusive company that is breaking gender stereotypes and bias one bottle at a time, it’s led by female entrepreneur Fawn Weaver. She created the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund, which has invested $50 million in minority (BIPOC and women) founded companies with the aim of growing them into long-standing, legacy brands.

It seems a shrewd investment if the brand itself is anything to go on. The female-led company is reportedly the fastest growing independent whiskey brand in U.S. history. And if the name's not on your radar yet (they’re only just building their UK presence), get ready, as we think this Tennessee whiskey makes the ultimate Old Fashioned.

In case that's not enough, Victoria Eady Butler, great-great-granddaughter of ‘Uncle Nearest’ himself (the man that taught Jack Daniels everything he knew), is the brand’s master blender. And she just so happens to be the first female African American master blender in history.

As the striking label suggests, this progressive South African wine brand celebrates strong women and the vibrancy of black culture. It’s just launched in Waitrose, making it the ideal mid-week pick-me-up for when you fancy a side of female empowerment with your seabass.

AMANDLA is a majority black-owned and 100% black female-run business, and the brand has set up a bursary whereby they pledge two per cent of profits to a mentoring scholarship, encouraging young people from all walks of life to step into the worlds of business and wine. And although the bursary is not exclusively for women, presently the majority of people coming through the scheme are female.

Praisy Dlamini, Head Winemaker and MD, says: 'We want to pay it forward, so have pledged to contribute two per cent of our profits to the AMANDLA scholarship fund. This will give young, talented and driven individuals from families working on the farms that supply grapes for AMANDLA, the opportunity to achieve their dreams.'

As a fully Mexican-owned and operated brand, Clase Azul is committed to supporting the local community through its Fundación con Causa Azul, a foundation it created to provide education and resources for underfunded yet passionate artisans.

Approximately 80 per cent of its artisans are women who grew up in poverty with little, if any, formal schooling. Clase Azul provides them with two meals a day, transportation, day care and school tuition, which has helped revitalise the local economy in the small Mexican town of Santa María Canchesda where each Clase Azul decanter is handmade.

Clase Azul also carries the 'Butterfly Mark', a certificate that highlights the luxury brands (Cecilie Bahnsen and Grown Alchemist are also members) that are committed to having a positive impact on nature and society. And when you consider how highly it performed in our tequila taste test, we think it’s a wise bar cart investment.

Aaisha Dadral and Amanda Kakembo are co-founders of Equiano, the world’s first African-Caribbean rum, which is named after the 18th century former slave, author and abolitionist, Olaudah Equiano.

It’s made with a blend of spirits, including liquid from Gray's distillery in Mauritius (one of the oldest active distilleries on the island), where it spends 10 years ageing in French oak. It’s then combined with younger rum from Barbados’ Foursquare, where it rests in ex-Bourbon barrels. The result? A super smooth spirit with delicious notes of maple, vanilla, and roasted peach.

Not content with making a truly delicious product, the pair have put social purpose at the heart of their business, inspired by the brand’s namesake. As such, Equiano gives five per cent of profits, and £2 from every bottle, to initiatives furthering freedom and equality for all.