At Copia’s Women in Wine symposium Nov. 10, an attentive, mostly-female audience learned that women buy 80 percent of the wine sold in the United States.

To that imposing figure, add the fact that many men are introduced to wine by women, and one thing is clear:

“We are the power base when it comes to wine purchasing,” said keynote speaker Elizabeth Thach, Ph.D., a professor of wine business and management at Sonoma State University.

Thach presented a wealth of data showing that not only do women make most of the decisions in buying wine — they also tend to have more discriminating palates than men.

Men are from Parker, women are from Robinson?

Genetic differences between the sexes include extra taste buds for most females, Thach told the group — and that could explain why reviews by the wine world’s two top critics are often at odds with each other.

Based on their published writing, “many people think that Robert Parker is a ‘tolerant taster,’ whereas Jancis (Robinson) is hypersensitive,” said Thach, who worked with Napa wine educator Tim Hanni to create a simple quiz for palate perception.

The writers haven’t taken the test yet, but if their reviews are to be of any use, “you need to find a wine critic who has a similar palate to you,” Thach said, citing a large research study that showed a majority of women falling into the “hypersensitive” category.

Wine educators and marketers also need to take women’s tastes into account, Thach continued — while anyone who scoffs at white-zinfandel sippers should be aware that those wine consumers are simply honoring their discriminating taste buds.

“Let’s celebrate the differences,” Thach said.

“The good news is that everyone can learn to appreciate all the different styles, no matter where you fall on this continuum.

“That’s what wine education is all about.”

No glass ceilings at Napa wineries

More and more, women can please those extra taste buds with wines made by female winemakers.

“There’s been a significant increase in the number of women in the wine industry around the world in the past 10 years,” Thach said — and several of them were on hand for the symposium (a grand Greek name meaning “to drink together,” said Copia wine director Peter Marks, as he dispensed tastes of Mumm).      

Among the pros discussing their careers and taking questions were Napa wine veterans Eileen Crane, managing director of Domaine Carneros, and Michaela Rodeno, CEO of St. Supéry Vineyards & Winery, alongside younger winemakers Ashley Heisey (Oakville Ranch, Long Meadow Ranch), Kari Auringer (assistant to star vintner-consultant Celia Masyczek) and Alison Crowe (Plata Wine Partners; author of  “The Wine Maker’s Answer Book”).

Out-of-town visitors included former sportswriter Linda Murphy, who reinvented herself as a wine critic and now writes for jancisrobinson.com and the San Francisco Chronicle, and Shelley Lindgren, the young co-owner and wine director of San Francisco’s popular A16 and SPQR restaurants.

Since the dark days of prohibition, when winemaking was controlled by the church and organized crime, women have taken great strides in the industry, panelists agreed.

“My success wouldn’t have been possible in another century,” said Heisey. “I never really saw wine production as a men’s world.”

Heisey credited occupational-safety laws with making winery work “more sustainable:

“If you’re a reasonably fit woman, you can do all the tasks involved,” she said.

Crowe decided in her teens that she wanted to be a winemaker — “I didn’t know that it was known as a man’s industry,” she said — and completed the enology program at University of California, Davis, where she is now pursuing an MBA.

Crowe also has a degree in Spanish and a special fluency in English that has made her a popular columnist in magazines like Wine Wizard, Wine Business Monthly and Vineyard and Winery Management.

She recently collected her writings into a handbook titled “The Wine Maker’s Answer Book,” a compact and user-friendly manual sized to fit into an apron pocket, and has launched a Web site at www.alisoncrowe.com.

Rodeno took a different path to the winemaking world, parlaying a French degree into a career that has led her to the top job at St. Supéry.

“I’m the poster child for French degrees at UC Davis,” she said, laughing as she recalled the days when she was one of the few Napans who could talk with French vintners visiting Domaine Chandon, where she worked in marketing.

Rodeno may have launched the rewriting of dozens of résumés when she spoke out — in a good-natured but very firm tone — on what she sees as the misuse of a certain term:

“If one more person says ‘I’m passionate about wine,’ I’m going to throw up,” Rodeno said. “It’s a joke at St. Supéry.

“Say you love wine. Passion, to me, belongs to a different world.”

Heisey urged the Copia audience to make “careful choices” when selecting jobs.

“Don’t settle,” she said. “We are deeply imprinted by our job experiences.

“Know, really, what motivates you, and honor that.”

You don’t have to be a woman, or in the wine world, to find those words worth remembering.