From the “Barolo Boys” to the “women of wine”, from feminism to the feminist passion that drives win

There are around 100,000 companies run by young people under 35, demonstrating how the sector in Italy is of great interest to the younger generations, according to a recent study by the Rome Business School, with almost 30% of wineries with annexed vineyards run by women, as well as 12% of industrial wineries (Cribis- Crif data). But there is also a strong female presence in commerce: female entrepreneurs in the world of wine lead 24% of companies linked to retail sales and 12.5% of those in the wholesale sector. Case histories such as that of Langhe, where from the “Barolo Boys” - a term coined by the US press and the title of the famous film that has won numerous festivals directed by Paolo Casalis and Tiziano Gaia - to today, a long way has been covered. But not only that.
It was the mid-1980s when, in Barolo, Chiara Boschis, at the helm of the historic Cantina Chiara Boschis - Pira & Figli, - 50,000 bottles produced per year including the Barolo Cannubi and Mosconi and Via Nuova, two crus and a blend, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera Superiore and Dolcetto d’Alba - then a pioneer in the sector, together with other visionaries such as, among others, Elio Altare, Giorgio Rivetti, Roberto Voerzio and Marc de Grazia, revolutionised the concept of Barolo. It was a generation that wanted to change the way Barolo was conceived, interpreted and communicated, transforming it in the 1990s into the star wine on international markets, first and foremost the American market, and going beyond its place of origin, the Langhe, which from then on became famous throughout the world. “Women today are the protagonists in wine-making companies, whereas historically they were assigned a dowry, which was not the vineyard, and the task of helping the family. It doesn’t happen anymore: I personally lived through the period of feminism and I introduced my feminist passion into my work as well, coming to the conclusion that women are the backbone of society”, says Chiara Boschis. “I recognize that the Barolo Boys were able to initiate a radical change, thanks to the moral and psychological tools of our generation. We rethought the way Barolo was produced, even attracting harsh critics, starting with the thinning of the vineyards and the creation of more efficient cellars, with an innovative thrust that required a great deal of investment, right through to giving greater importance to terroir. And the companies have since moved in this direction”.
And the new generations give thanks and reap the rewards. As in the case of Claudia and Silvia Cigliuti of Fratelli Cigliuti, the family business in Neive - 35,000 bottles of Barbaresco and Barbera - revolutionized by their father at the end of the 1960s, driven by the desire to innovate, produce quality wine and export it abroad (today’s label is the same as that of 1967, when the decision was taken to start thinning out and bottle a quality wine to differentiate themselves from the merchants of the time), and of which they are now at the helm. Even against the expectations of the father himself who, having two daughters, did not imagine they would follow in the same footsteps. “But we could never have done anything else. We were born in the middle of the vineyards and, when it came to deciding what to do with our lives, we realized that we could never have imagined it without the vineyard. We love it and follow it personally, spending most of our time there: my sister is an oenologist and I take care of the commercial side. But we are complementary, we make decisions together”, explains Claudia Cigliuti.
Federica Boffa, 24 years old, with a classical education followed by a degree in Business Administration, is also a family story, which today sees her at the helm with her cousin Cesare, like her fifth generation, of the historic Pio Cesare winery in Alba (450,000 bottles a year). “For me it was the natural evolution of the way I grew up, breathing in the atmosphere of our historic winery, walking among the rows of our vines and travelling the world with my parents”, she says. “Today we aim for widespread and selected distribution, we don’t want to appear too much, our philosophy is to be seen and not to be seen”. This is why Pio Cesare does not have its own e-commerce channel, even though during the lockdown it relied on a portfolio of platforms: “we did tastings via zoom but we believe in a direct relationship with our customers, in physical presence. And speaking of women: my generation sees a lot of them involved here in Langhe, and I think the reason is the care that this job requires together with patience, two virtues that have always distinguished us”, says Federica Boffa.
She is echoed by Giorgia and Fabrizia Costa, twins, born in 1984, from the Ermanno Costa winery in Canale (35,000-40,000 bottles annually of Roero, Roero Arneis, Barbera d’Alba, Alba Doc, Chardonnay-Viognier known as Balin, and Bracchetto dry rosé known as Roséfiur). No e-commerce because “customers like to relate to the producer”, six hectares of land, sales by word of mouth and to regular customers. Foreign markets include the USA, Northern Europe and Taiwan. “Over the years, working in the family business, we have realized that we are able to grasp certain nuances that escape our father and brother. Like the attention to detail. Work in the vineyard, being manual, requires delicacy and patience, typically feminine qualities. But the world of wine is still largely male”.
Not everything is always rosy in Italian wine. According to a recent study by the University of Siena on the gender gap in wine cellars commissioned by the Donne del Vino (Women in Wine) and the UIV-Unione Italiana Vini (Italian Wine Union), there is a problem in the sector: in the pay bracket above 2,500 euros net per month, women make up about 2%, while men make up 5%. However, it is true that women in wine companies hold top positions: in agriculture, 16% of managers are women, and the same happens in the cellar, where 34% of managers are women. For example, when Ornella Costa of the Matteo Correggia winery in Canale - 130,000 bottles of Roero, Roero Arneis and Barbera, 45% of which are destined for Italy and the rest for export, with the USA, Europe, Japan and Australia leading the way - took over her husband’s business 20 years ago, together with her long-standing collaborator Luca Rostagno, she was solely responsible for the commercial side. Over time, she has grown to manage the company together with her son Giovanni, an oenologist: “I think a change is necessary, which must first of all be cultural”, she says, “to ensure that women, with equal skill, are valued as much as men. Personally, I have never experienced any awkward situations, but I have often found myself the only woman present at business meetings. Fortunately, things are changing now”.
Luisa Rocca, 37, of the historic Bruno Rocca winery in Barbaresco - 70/75. 000 bottles, 7 out of 10 100% Nebbiolo as Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbaresco, Barbaresco Currà, Barbaresco Rabajà, Barbaresco Riserva Currà, Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà and Barbaresco Maria Adelaide, alongside Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto d’Alba, 35% for the Italian market, while foreign markets include Japan, Australia, USA and Europe - has often found herself alone, the only woman, but has never felt excluded. Strong in her father’s passion for wine - so strong that he left his job at Ferrero - she was immediately involved in the company, finding herself in New York at the age of 20 for work reasons: “a real baptism of fire: as a minor, in the USA you can drink from the age of 21, I found myself managing our American market. But I have always been able to count on the image of excellence that we have, especially abroad, and this has opened many doors for me”, recalls Luisa Rocca, who now oversees the commercial side of the business, while her brother is an oenologist. “The woman has a profound and articulated vision of the sector and this is a plus, also in light of the fact that today the wine industry is made up of various factors that must interact with each other”.
But from one great wine to another, from a historic territory to an iconic terroir, there are many stories to tell from Piedmont to Sicily, passing through Tuscany, like that of Simonetta Valiani Biondi Santi, owner of the Le Chiuse winery in Montalcino - 40,000 bottles annually of Rosso Montalcino, Brunello Montalcino and Brunello Riserva - tells of her adventure, which began in 1987, when she was 26 years old and had three young children, traveling between Florence and Montalcino to manage the family business: “it was difficult at the beginning, and tiring, with three children. But there has always been a lot of passion and being a woman has been a great help because we are more combative and reactive. Today, my son works with me on the farm after studying agriculture. It means that I have managed to pass on to him the passion for my work”.
These women entrepreneurs were involved by two young women, sisters Giuditta and Arianna Gallo, owners of the Relais San Maurizio - and authors of the collection of these stories - a luxury hospitality structure in the Langhe that has created the San Maurizio Wine Club, a physical place created for wine lovers. You can choose the best labels on the market as a result of a careful selection that relies on the know-how in the field of enology of the Relais San Maurizio. “With this project we want to create a system that brings together several high-quality wineries to offer the best to wine lovers, exploiting both the potential of online and physical locations. Naturally, our selection must include women entrepreneurs who work in the sector and represent this “new wave” of which we feel part and which we want to support”.