Women and wine have long been united in the realm of cliché, from Bridget Jones and her chardonnay to the Ab Fab girls and their endless bottles of champagne. But it’s actually a serious business: of the UK’s regular wine drinkers, 55 per cent are women, according to research by Wine Intelligence. Making wines that appeal to women is changing the way the industry thinks, from marketing campaigns to all-female tasting sessions.

“I would say there isn’t specifically a female palate, but there are trends,” says Lynne Whitaker, managing Director of Winebrand, a branding and market research consultancy for the wine industry. “Most women we speak to prefer white or rosé, and upfront, juicy wines.” She adds that New World wines tend to do well – partly because they tend to be labelled with the grape variety, which makes choosing easier. French wines are sometimes a difficult sell because the country’s classification system means they’re labelled according to where they were made.