Women’s voice in the wine sector
- More than a quarter of the 73,700 Italian wineries, over 19,500 are led by women. For the most part these are farms with vineyards and wineries also, a good portion are companies that sell retail.
- But businesswomen, although aware of their strength, still complain of poor representation in the ruling class of wine names. In fact, if 28% of the wineries are run by women, less than 10% of women sit on the boards of the Consortia for the protection of wines.
1/3 of wine is Women
- According to data provided by the Women of Wine Association, which brings together 650 entrepreneurs in the sector, the female-run cellars are about 115 thousand and correspond to 30% of the total. Of these, 77% focuses on high-profile DOC or DOCG productions and in 59% of the cases women managers are head of the cellars inherited from their parents even though in Italy, in the succession of the company, the daughters are clearly disadvantaged.
- From a research carried out by the Consorzio Vino Nobile-Montepulciano, it also emerges that 36% of the member companies are led by women, 33% of whom work in marketing, while 65% of the employees of the companies belonging to the consortium are women and ten years ago, the presence of women at the head of a Vino Nobile company grew by 15% and over 50% if we refer to 1980.
Women’s wine for women
According to the data released by Wine Monitor, the Nomisma observatory on the wine market, in 2015 Italy earned 48.9 million hectolitres the first place in the world wine production with a slight growth, 2%, but constant. True success of the past year, however, were the local bubbles, exported to 160 countries, for a value of just under one billion euros and volumes that are close to 2.8 million hectolitres (almost 370 million bottles) . On these market values, women, consumers, can make a difference and entrepreneurs are very careful to grasp any data that may emerge in this sense. A research of the 2013 Wine Sustainability Forum reveals how women and the older age groups have a greater propensity to pay a premium for quality wine, while in a study of the e-commerce giant French Vente Privee, realized in 2014 through its research institute Survey Lab, has shown that in Europe 47% of customers who buy wine online are women between 30 and 40 years, while in Italy, the percentage settles at 39% with a constant growth trend.
Furthermore, the observation of unofficial data leads the Association of Wine Women to commit themselves to clear directions even for large retailers, where it seems that women are always the ones to lead the purchase of wine choosing it based on the combinations, the characteristics productive and aesthetics. Not only. The Unioncamere data recall that women lead 143,256 companies in the tourism sector in Italy, but what is most striking is the progression from 2010 onwards; they are practically 5% more expensive than men-led new-co. And for wine managers, these are other potential customers
Women’s wine companies
Women of wine in Italy are at the forefront and the numbers confirm this.
In 42% of cases, these are small wineries with a turnover of less than half a million euros, only 17% reach the million and 41% exceed it.
Despite a company size that could create limits, they all export a lot and 52% make more than half of their business in foreign markets.
The data on the share of wine with denomination in the total (69%) also shows a strong orientation towards quality and dynamism, attitudes confirmed by the diversification of production that concerns 85% of Women of Wine with shares of more than a third of the company business.
21% also have restaurant services on the farm and 30% offer overnight stays; direct sales are plebiscite (91%). Strong attention to the environment for which 27% produce organic or biodynamic.
Some limitations in the wine sector for women
The women owners of wineries represent 28% of the production world, and can boast the highest national qualifications, greater propensity for quality and eco-sustainable viticulture than the national average. For example, they produce Doc and Docg in 68% of cases compared to an average of 38%.
However, despite these growing numbers, which are linked to the increase of women who consume wine, it continues to signal the presence of barriers, starting from the linguistic one, which occurs both in the understanding of the rites of the tasting of the drinks, and in the recognition of the professional role.