Maternity, impostor syndrome, sense of belonging, desire for autonomy, rebellion against a mapped out path. These are some of the themes that recur in the stories told by the “wine educator” Laura Donadoni in his book THEntrepide – Stories of women, wine and freedom, Slow Food Publisher, in bookstores from October 11th. To also say the banality of the prejudice that still concerns them, the women of winewhen they decide to have their say in a sector still largely dominated by men.
The women of wine tell their stories, Intrepid
And yet the gender issues in these lives they do not represent so much a limit but rather an element to be considered in building one’s own story. A piece that made the path of these women more difficult but also more aware and structured.
Among the women of wine interviewed there are legends, and there are travel companions, not equally famous but equally Dauntless: the book divides the stories into these two groups. All are united by “a positive restlessness”, as the author explains in the preface. «The desire to change things, the courage to look difficulties in the face and face them». Here they are then, the six legends.
Raffaella Bologna, the queen of Barbera
She carries the legacy of the Braida winery on her shoulders and today produces more than half a million bottles, for 35 hectares of vineyards in Rocchetta Tanaro, the most rock town in Monferrato, as she defines it. She graduated as an oenologist in 1988, when this alone, for a woman, meant challenging the system. With the “anxiety to demonstrate that she had earned her role” (it is the so-called impostor syndrome), has, over the years, found its voice. He cultivated the vineyards with his brother Beppe, giving life to a Barbera that is both “sharp and welcoming at the same time”. How is she: “persuasive, but with an unsettling sincerity».
Chiara Condello, the rebellious daughter of Borgo Condé
Raised in the family business, she took her own path and today produces The Fireflies, a Sangiovese that reflects it. A graduate in Economics, daughter of successful (and commercial) winemakers, she has chosen to produce her own label, outside the family business, proposing her interpretation of Sangiovese from Predappio. She did so by personally going into debt to take over a few hectares of abandoned vineyard, with Sangiovese vines more than fifty years old. Her first two wines «the cru le Lucciole and the Tre Vigne, are worthy of one champion of the terroir». Its third vintage, released in 2021, earned the Three Glasses of Gambero Rosso.
Matilde Poggi, the wine diplomat
It is the soul of the Le Fraghe company, in Cavaion Veronese, land of Bardolino and Chiaretto: one of the first Italian wine companies founded and run by a woman. She has the “heart and hands of a winemaker” and “a mind that would be the envy of the best politicians and diplomats”. She is the only Italian woman in wine to hold a position at European level: in 2022 it was in fact nominated president of Cevi (Confédération Européenne des Vignerons Indépendants).
Stevie Kim, the upright guide of Vinitaly
Born in Korea and raised in the United States, now residing in Verona, she is the ambassador of Italian winemakers in the world: “The Italian Wine Evangelist“. He is a truly surprising character, who the world of wine has stolen from finance. A former journalist for Forbes magazine in New York, after a sabbatical between Italy and Europe, she was first Senior advisor for Verona Fiere, and within three years she became general director of Vinitaly Academy. In 2012 she created Opera Wine, which offers operators the opportunity to learn about the 100 best Italian wines. She has two daughters and a husband, an esteemed professor.
Josè Rallo, the entrepreneur of the future
She should have been the seventh Giuseppina in the family if her mother Gabriella had not decided to break with Sicilian tradition by calling her Josephine. French name then shortened to Spanish: «he is masculine. A beautiful mess”, says Laura Donadoni in the book. Her mother passed on her character to her, and also the baton of the family business. That Donnafugata, the “woman on the run”, which pays homage to the story of Queen Maria Carolina, wife of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who fled from Naples to Sicily, right where the company’s vineyards are located. Graduated in Pisa in Economics and Commerce, José Rallo surprisingly returned to work in the family business in 1990. He has given a significant boost to the family business from a management point of view. But she also gave life, together with her husband, Francesco Favara, to a musical project that integrates notes and wine: the Donnafugata Music&Wine Band.
Dominga Cotarella, among the women of wine, the supermanager
Daughter of the famous Italian winemaker Riccardo Cotarella, graduated in Agricultural Sciences, nominated Knight of the Republic in June 2023, Dominga did not just take the reins of the family business (Falesco, in Tuscia), but gave it a new and clear vision. After 10 years at Antinori where she worked in marketing and communications, she returned to the family business with the role of Sales Director and CEO. She brought the project to life Intertwining, Higher education school, thanks to which graduates also bring their family wines into the world. And then, in 2021, with her cousins Enrica and Marta, a Cotarella Foundationa non-profit organization that supports those who fight against eating disorders through recovering the pleasure of food and wine: a theme she approached to support her son. And then, again, Liaison, an import and distribution project for very small French artisanal wineries.
Travel companions: because wine women are not just producers
The second part of the wine is instead dedicated to the “travel companions”, the women who have achieved or are trying to achieve their dreams in the wine sector even if none of them produces wine. Because the professional figures in the wine sector are many and very different.
The story says it Cristina Mascanzoni Kaiserwho left a permanent job, as a new mother, and chased her dream by founding Wine Ho. Acronym for Wine Hospitality, it is a training and consultancy company dedicated to wineries that make hospitality an important part of their business.
Sustainability, hospitality, communication and… work-life balance
She is also a mother Lavinia Furlani, now president of the magazine Wine Meridianwho has found his own way of reconciling family and career.
There were only 5 female students out of 1200 enrolled at the time Martina Broggio she enrolled at the technical institute of Conegliano. She today she won her challenge and she is sustainability consultant: deals with revitalizing the soil and helps winemakers deal with climate change.
Maria Beretta he is a wine agent. Woman. Probably the first. Her story spans the 80s in a Sicily still steeped in gender prejudices, where working women (moreover alone and immigrants from the North) did not have an easy life.
But among the Intrepide stories there is also that of Federica Pontifounder of Parvina women’s wine shop, online store and today also a cultural and networking hub for women entrepreneurs in the food and wine sector. Her chapter in the book Intrepid, is entitled “the right to fail” and is an empathetic survey of the expectations that weigh on the shoulders of working women and mothers. With a happy ending.
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