Wine has long been perceived as a male-dominated world. For centuries, symbolic authority, from inheritance in family domains to the role of the “master winemaker”, has largely been coded as masculine. Women were present, often as vineyard workers or “wine widows” taking over after a husband’s death, but their visibility and recognition were limited. Today, the landscape is changing. In some oenology programs, women now make up the majority of students, and in countries such as Spain and Italy, close to a third of wineries are led or owned by women. Yet this presence is not evenly reflected across positions of leadership and prestige.
