Spain is a major European wine country with a large, economically significant and territorially embedded wine supply chain. In 2025, Spain recorded 889,470 hectares of vineyard area for wine grapes. The 2025/2026 campaign was expected to produce around 33.1 million hectolitres of wine and must. The wine value chain generated approximately EUR 22.35 billion in gross value added in 2023 and supported more than 386,000 full-time equivalent jobs across vine cultivation, winemaking, ageing and marketing. As of 1 January 2025, Spain had 3,868 wine-producing companies. [1, 2, 3, 4]

For the Grapes of Change Observatory, these figures matter because Spain shows both scale and fragmentation. The country combines large wine companies, export-oriented actors, cooperatives, thousands of wineries, many small family producers, very small vineyard holdings, wine tourism, hospitality, education and a strong rural footprint. A single prevention model cannot reach this ecosystem evenly.

The Spanish evidence base also makes women visible in several parts of the sector. Women represent around 30% of winery employees and around 28% of cooperative members. They hold 30.4% of wine-growing holdings, and women managing wine-growing holdings increased from 11,116 in 2009 to 23,194 in 2020. Women are also strongly represented in oenology education, accounting for 52.2% of bachelor’s students and 59.5% of master’s students in oenology. [5]

However, visibility does not automatically mean influence, protection or accountability. The same source shows thinner participation in cooperative governance: women occupy around 14% of direction and management roles, 8.3% of governing board positions and 4.4% of presidencies in wine cooperatives. Public evidence also remains incomplete on harassment and GBV in the wine sector, company-level reporting channels, women in executive functions, pay structures and the protection of seasonal or informal workers. [5]

The annual focus of this report is therefore: from participation to protection. Participation means that women are present in education, employment, holdings, cooperatives and professional functions. Protection means that this presence is matched by safe workplaces, trusted reporting channels, access to support, leadership opportunities and the ability to influence the sector’s future.

Central Observatory question for Spain

How can Spain’s wine sector turn women’s growing participation into protection, influence and accountable reporting across a fragmented ecosystem of holdings, wineries, cooperatives, education, trade, hospitality and rural territories?

A large wine economy where one prevention route will not be enough

Spain should be read as a wine ecosystem rather than as a list of wineries. The sector includes vineyards, holdings, wineries, cooperatives, bottling and distribution, retail, hospitality, wine tourism, events, training, communication, professional services and rural communities. The Grapes of Change methodology asks the Observatory to look along the wine supply chain, including production, distribution and promotion, catering and sommeliers, training and communication.

This matters for gender-based violence (GBV) prevention. A woman employed in a winery, a woman managing a vineyard holding, a cooperative member, a seasonal worker, an oenology student, a sommelier, a wine-tourism guide or a marketing professional may all be part of the wine economy. They do not face the same risks, reporting barriers or support pathways. A country report must therefore connect sector structure with workplace power, data visibility and practical access to help.


A fragmented sector, not one workplace

The Spanish wine sector combines concentration and fragmentation. On the one hand, the sector includes a limited number of large companies and leading groups with national and international reach. On the other hand, the productive base is spread across many small holdings, family-based actors, cooperatives and local producers. According to the Spanish country file, 70% of vineyard holdings are smaller than half a hectare and together account for only 6% of total vineyard area, while 4% of holdings exceed 10 hectares and represent 61% of total vineyard area. [6, 16]

This structure has direct implications for the Observatory. Larger companies may be able to implement formal equality plans, internal protocols, training and reporting systems. Smaller wineries and family holdings may need simpler tools, external guidance, cooperative-level support and visible links to public and specialist support services. Cooperatives, producer organisations, BSOs, training centres and rural institutions can become practical channels for reaching actors that do not have dedicated HR capacity.

Women in Spanish wine: visible across the pipeline, less visible in power

Spain offers one of the stronger gender-related evidence bases among the national country files. Women are visible in winery employment, ownership and management of wine-growing holdings, cooperative membership and education. This is an important starting point for an Observatory profile, because the question is not whether women are present in the sector. The stronger question is whether their participation is matched by authority, protection and voice.

The OIVE/AFI evidence indicates that women represent around 30% of salaried workers in wineries and around 28% of cooperative members. In wine-growing holdings, women hold 30.4% of ownership and 30.1% of management. Women managing holdings doubled between 2009 and 2020. The education pipeline is particularly important: women account for 52.2% of bachelor’s students and 59.5% of master’s students in oenology. [5]

At the same time, women do not appear equally across all levels of power. In cooperatives, women occupy around 14% of direction and management roles, 8.3% of governing board roles and 4.4% of presidencies. The available evidence also shows that women’s work in wine-growing holdings is often linked to family labour and part-time or low-intensity work patterns. These indicators suggest that participation should not be confused with influence. [5]

Data transparency: what can be seen and what remains invisible

The report can describe sector scale, holdings, wineries, employment and several gender indicators with relatively strong sources. It can also identify Spain’s legal framework and national support services. It cannot yet provide a complete wine-sector-specific measure of GBV, sexual harassment, reporting mechanisms, gender pay gaps, company policies, women in executive leadership or seasonal workers’ access to support. This limitation is not a weakness of the report; it is part of the Observatory agenda.

Rights, duties and practical reach

Spain has a developed legal and institutional framework on equality, non-discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence and violence against women. For a wine-sector country profile, the crucial question is not only what the law says, but how visible and usable these protections are in vineyards, wineries, cooperatives, family businesses, SMEs, wine tourism, hospitality, events and training settings.

Equality, discrimination and sexual harassment at work

Organic Law 3/2007 on effective equality between women and men establishes the legal basis for equal treatment and equal opportunities in access to employment, training, promotion, working conditions, pay, dismissal and participation in worker and employer organisations. It defines sexual harassment as any verbal or physical behaviour of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, particularly when it creates an intimidating, degrading or offensive environment. It also treats sexual harassment and sex-based harassment as discriminatory. [9]

The same law requires companies to promote working conditions that avoid conduct against sexual freedom and moral integrity at work, with special attention to sexual harassment and sex-based harassment, including in digital environments. It refers to measures such as codes of good practice, information campaigns and training. For wine-sector actors, this means that prevention cannot be limited to reactive procedures after an incident. It also requires information, culture, management responsibility and accessible reporting routes. [9]

Royal Decree 901/2020 regulates equality plans and confirms that all companies must respect equal treatment and opportunity in the workplace and adopt measures to prevent sexual harassment and sex-based harassment. Companies with 50 or more workers must prepare and apply an equality plan. Equality-plan procedures should include complaint channels, confidentiality, diligence, non-retaliation and respect for the dignity and privacy of those involved. [10]

Royal Decree 902/2020 strengthens equal pay and pay transparency mechanisms. It is relevant to the wine sector because equality at work includes not only protection from harassment and violence, but also fair remuneration, career progression and access to decision-making roles. [11]

Sexual violence and violence against women

Organic Law 10/2022 on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom strengthened Spain’s legal framework on sexual violence and victims’ rights. It is not wine-sector-specific, but it matters for workplaces because companies, cooperatives, BSOs and training institutions can help make rights, prevention and support pathways visible. [12]

National evidence confirms why this context matters. The 2024 Macro-Survey on Violence Against Women estimates that 36.2% of women aged 16 or over have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lives. It also estimates that 6.6% of women aged 16 or over have experienced sexual harassment involving a man from the work environment, including a colleague, boss, supervisor, client, patient, passenger, pupil or student. Only 2.3% of women who experienced sexual harassment reported it to the police or courts. These figures are national context and not wine-sector-specific evidence, but they show why trusted reporting and support pathways are essential. [8]

Company-level instruments and the wine sector

In larger wine companies, the legal framework can be translated into equality plans, written anti-harassment protocols, internal reporting channels, training for managers and workers, pay transparency measures and monitoring. In smaller wineries, family businesses and cooperatives, the same objectives may require simplified tools, model protocols, shared training, association-level guidance and support from BSOs or rural organisations.

The national initiative “Companies for a society free from gender-based violence” is an example of how employers can contribute to prevention and labour-market insertion for women victims of violence. It is promoted through the Government Delegation against Gender-Based Violence and the Women’s Institute, with cooperation from intermediary organisations. For the wine sector, such initiatives can be used as bridges between equality commitments, rural employment and business support. [15]

Support and signposting

The Observatory is not an emergency service or an individual complaint mechanism. Its role is to make information visible and guide users towards appropriate support. In Spain, 016 is the national information and advice service on violence against women. It is free, confidential, available 24 hours a day, and offers assistance by phone, email, WhatsApp and online chat in multiple languages.

Spain also provides ATENPRO, an assistance and protection service for victims, and an official map and directory of support resources. [13, 14]

Five findings for the Spanish Observatory profile

1. Strong sector data, weak wine-sector-specific GBV data

Spain has strong evidence on vineyard area, production, companies, holdings, GVA, employment and several women-in-wine indicators. It does not yet have a public, consolidated evidence base on GBV, sexual harassment, reporting mechanisms or company-level prevention policies specifically in the wine sector.

National data on sexual harassment and violence against women are therefore useful as context, but they should not be presented as wine-sector data. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8]

2. Fragmentation makes prevention uneven

Spain has 3,868 wine-producing companies and more than half a million vineyard holdings. The holdings structure is highly fragmented: 70% of holdings are smaller than half a hectare, while a small minority of larger holdings accounts for most vineyard area.

This means that prevention must be designed for very different organisational realities: large companies, cooperatives, SMEs, micro-wineries, family holdings and rural labour settings. [4, 6, 16]

3. Women participate in the sector, but governance remains thinner

Women are visible in winery employment, holdings, cooperatives and education. Yet representation falls sharply in cooperative decision-making: women account for around 28% of cooperative members, but around 14% of direction and management roles, 8.3% of governing boards and 4.4% of presidencies.

The Observatory should therefore monitor the transition from participation to influence. [5]

4. The education pipeline is a strategic prevention point

Women already form a strong part of the future professional pipeline. They account for more than half of bachelor’s and master’s students in oenology.

Training institutions, oenology programmes, vocational education and wine-management courses can therefore become early prevention spaces, where future professionals learn about rights, harassment prevention, bystander action, leadership and reporting pathways before entering workplaces. [5]

5. Rural territory and supply-chain work require broader access routes

Wine in Spain is deeply territorial. More than 40% of Spanish municipalities have vineyards, and many wine-growing municipalities are small. Women working in holdings are often family members, and many work at low annual time intensity.

Prevention and support must therefore reach beyond formal winery employment: into rural communities, cooperatives, family labour, seasonal work, wine tourism, events, hospitality and customer-facing settings. [5]

The Observatory added value

Spain does not need another ranking of wine production. It needs a way to connect a large and fragmented wine economy with women’s participation, cooperative governance, rural support, workplace safety, reporting capacity and organisational change.

Spain data snapshot

Clean indicators for the Spain profile

The snapshot below converts the available evidence into indicators that can be used directly in the Observatory page. Each indicator includes a scope note because the wine sector can be defined narrowly, as wine production, or broadly, as a supply chain including viticulture, trade, hospitality, services, education and communication.


Value-chain economic structure

The OIVE/AFI estimate of Spain’s wine value chain separates the sector into vine cultivation, winemaking and ageing, and marketing. This is useful for the Observatory because GBV prevention and equality measures must reach more than the production stage.



Fragmentation of holdings


Women’s participation ladder


Data visibility matrix


Supply-chain prevention map


Monitoring priorities


Official data and sector sources

  • OIVE – Organizacion Interprofesional del Vino de Espana
    Provides sector reports, economic intelligence and data on the Spanish wine value chain, including company counts, GVA, employment and women-in-wine indicators.
  • MAPA – Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion
    Provides official agricultural statistics, crop forecasts, vineyard area, wine production, designations of origin and policy information for the wine sector.
  • DIRCE / INE – Directorio Central de Empresas and national statistical sources
    Useful for monitoring the number of wine-producing companies and broader business structure.
  • Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Espana
    Relevant for cooperative membership, governance, rural actors and potential dissemination of prevention tools.
  • Federacion Espanola de Enologia
    Relevant for the professional and education pipeline in oenology and for future prevention training aimed at early-career professionals.

Legal and institutional resources

  • BOE – Organic Law 3/2007 on effective equality between women and men
    Key legal source on equality, non-discrimination, sexual harassment and sex-based harassment at work.
  • BOE – Royal Decree 901/2020 on equality plans and their registration
    Relevant for company-level equality planning, diagnosis, monitoring and procedures against sexual and sex-based harassment.
  • BOE – Royal Decree 902/2020 on equal pay between women and men
    Relevant for pay transparency and equal pay for work of equal value.
  • BOE – Organic Law 10/2022 on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom
    Relevant for prevention of sexual violence and victims rights.
  • Igualdad en la Empresa
    Practical public resource on company equality tools, equality plans and good practices.

Support and signposting

  • 016 – National information and advice service on violence against women
    Free, confidential, available 24/7 and accessible through phone, email, WhatsApp and online chat.
  • ATENPRO – Telephone assistance and protection service for victims of violence against women
    National support and protection pathway for women experiencing violence.
  • Official resource locator for support services
    Useful for connecting Observatory users with local and regional services, including legal, psychological and emergency support pathways.
  • Companies for a society free from gender-based violence
    Public initiative encouraging company involvement in awareness-raising and labour-market insertion for women victims of violence.
  • ASAJA Mujeres
    Spanish partner and rural women organisation representing and defending the rights and interests of women and families in rural areas. It is relevant for connecting gender equality, rural work and the wine-sector agenda.

Closing message

Spain’s wine sector already has women in the pipeline, in holdings, in wineries and in cooperatives. The next Observatory question is not simply how many women are present, but where their presence becomes protection, leadership and voice.

For companies, this means policies, training and trusted reporting. For cooperatives and BSOs, it means practical support for SMEs and rural actors. For public authorities, it means better gender-disaggregated data and visible support pathways. For women in the sector, it means that participation should not depend on silence, resilience or individual negotiation, but on accountable systems.

  1. Organizacion Interprofesional del Vino de Espana (OIVE). Superficie vinedo para uva de vinificacion en Espana – Ano 2025. Published 28 January 2026. OIVE statistics report
  2. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion (MAPA). Avances mensuales de superficies y producciones agricolas – noviembre 2025. Official PDF report
  3. OIVE / Analistas Financieros Internacionales (AFI). Relevancia economica y social del sector vitivinicola en Espana y el relevo generacional, July 2025. AFI economic report
  4. OIVE Economic Intelligence / DIRCE. Numero de bodegas en Espana en 2025. DIRCE winery statistics
  5. OIVE / AFI. La relevancia economica y social del sector vitivinicola en Espana, 2023. Economic and social report
  6. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion. Press and statistical information on vineyard holdings and quality denominations, as referenced in the Spanish country file.
  7. Alimarket. Informe 2025 del sector del vino. Sector and market source used for qualitative context on company-size structure and family business presence. Alimarket sector report
  8. Delegacion del Gobierno contra la Violencia de Genero. Macroencuesta de Violencia contra la Mujer 2024 – Executive Summary. Executive summary
  9. Boletin Oficial del Estado. Ley Organica 3/2007, de 22 de marzo, para la igualdad efectiva de mujeres y hombres. Official legal text
  10. Boletin Oficial del Estado. Real Decreto 901/2020, de 13 de octubre, por el que se regulan los planes de igualdad y su registro. Equality plans regulation
  11. Boletin Oficial del Estado. Real Decreto 902/2020, de 13 de octubre, de igualdad retributiva entre mujeres y hombres. Equal pay regulation
  12. Boletin Oficial del Estado. Ley Organica 10/2022, de 6 de septiembre, de garantia integral de la libertad sexual. Official legal text
  13. Delegacion del Gobierno contra la Violencia de Genero. 016 – information and advice service on violence against women. 016 support service
  14. Delegacion del Gobierno contra la Violencia de Genero. Support resources, ATENPRO and official resource locator. Support resources
  15. Delegacion del Gobierno contra la Violencia de Genero / Instituto de las Mujeres. Empresas por una sociedad libre de violencia de genero. Public initiative
Spain map