Courteney Cox: “Just like in other areas, women bring a fresh perspective to wine”

It has often been said and/or written that wine is men’s business. Is this still true in your opinion?

I think there are still many sommeliers who tend to have a man taste a freshly opened bottle of wine rather than a woman! The same applies when you are invited to the homes of some "conservative" people, who still think that a woman's "job" is to watch over the roast in the oven while the man is in charge of getting the wine from the cellar! But mentalities are of course changing. I once chatted with a woman who had taken over her father's business because he no longer had the strength to look after his vines. It wasn’t the man's sons who took over but his daughter. To perpetuate his legacy, she had gone as far as to study oenology at university. Her father had only given hands-on, practical training and in her eyes, that was not enough. I think deep down she knew she had to prove herself. As her every move was now being scrutinised, she equipped herself to equal and even surpass men!

What do you think women contribute to the wine business?

Whether they are cellar masters, oenologists, winegrowers, sommeliers or winemakers, they bring a fresh perspective to wine. There is no denying that women are capable of taking more risks, of being more enterprising and launching genuinely novel projects. From the container to its contents, including the shape of the bottle, the design of the label, the blends, etc., they like to think outside the box. And that’s not just true of the wine world. For gastronomy, design, painting or whatever, women take a decidedly more modern, more enterprising approach to things!

But what about you, Courteney, what is your intimate relationship with wine?

I don't really see the point of uncorking a bottle on your own! That is so sad! It's a bit like booking a table in a top restaurant and eating all by yourself! I love to "enjoy life", with my friends from ‘Friends’ for example. Matt (LeBlanc) has travelled a lot. He tells us about the wines he has tasted all over the world. Jennifer (Aniston) really knows her stuff and she can't stand men who talk down to her about wine. Lisa (Kudrow) married a Frenchman. Consequently, she only has eyes for the wines produced in her beloved’s home country. But of all of us, the one who knows the most about wine is David (Schwimmer). A few years ago he played a sommelier in a series called 'Feed the Beast'. To be credible on camera, he trained with one of the best sommeliers in New York. I'm not saying that David would be able to write a thesis on wine, but one thing is for sure, the person who tries to palm him off with a basic wine in place of a grand cru hasn't been born yet!

Courteney Cox appears in a scene of "Cougar Town."