Celebrating International Women’s Day across the trade

By Oliver Catchpole

Published: 09 March, 2026

With much going on, Harpers rounds up just a small selection of the wide range of events, activities and releases from the drinks trade marking and celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) this year (Sunday 8 March).

First up, tying into the IWD theme of ‘Give to Gain’, Curious Vines – a UK-based support network for women and non-binary people in the wine trade – launched a social media campaign, asking people to post themselves with a caption highlighting acts of generosity they have observed.

Due to popular demand, this campaign could well be extended to include the rest of the month – which is also International Women’s Month (IWM).

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IMW has also been marked by indie merchant Humble Grape, which launched its Women in Wine: Smashing Grapes and the Patriarchy” campaign, as Harpers reported.

While some of this campaign will run until the summer, from 8 until 10 March, the independent will offer every woman who dines at its restaurants a free glass of wine, marking IWD.

Tuesday 10 March will also see an exclusive event to celebrate International Women’s Month in Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London.

Hosted by the assistant bar manager Nora Foldavi, the event will involve an afternoon of round table talks from leading women in hospitality, including Kaitlin Wilkes, founder of The Ada Coleman Project, Kelly Villareal of Tonic Bar at Four Seasons Riyadh, Priyanka Blah, director of education for BCB Berlin and academy chair for The World’s 50 Best Bars, Raissa de Haas, co-founder of Double Dutch and Amanda Wan of Three X Co.

Slightly earlier in the month (5 March) some of pub group Greene King’s senior leadership team visited HMP Drake Hall and HMP Downview to talk to women prisoners about career opportunities in hospitality.

The visit was both in support of IWD and the group’s ‘Releasing Potential’ scheme, which helps prisoners to develop skills and offers them employment once out of custody.

So far 19% of the over 350 individuals the scheme has helped have been women (only 4% of the UK prison population are female).

Events at four more female prisons are planned throughout March.

Meanwhile, premium drinks retailer Hackstons have released a ‘curated collection’ of wine and whisky to highlight five woman winemakers and master blenders.

The selection includes the 2017 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs (crafted under the guidance of Cherie Spriggs), the Krug Grande Cuvée 172ème Edition (overseen by Julie Cavil), Royal Brackla 21-Year-Old (crafted by Stephanie Macleod), Johnnie Walker Blue Label (created under the direction of Dr Emma Walker) and the 2019 Penfolds Grange (overseen by senior winemaker Stephanie Dutton).

Rum-maker Don Papa also hosted an IWD event for the launch of its new Don Papa Masskara, with a panel celebrating women shaping the spirits industry, which featured Eron Mibo, founder of Tales & Tails, Anna Sebastian, founder of Anna Sebastian Hospitality & Celebrate Her and Cri Molina, global marketing & innovations manager at Diageo.

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