Since May 2025 fourteen organizations across eight countries, including agricultural federations, women's associations, universities, and business support networks are building the first Observatory dedicated to gender based discrimination and violence in wine sector, through the Grapes of Change of change initiative, under the EU Commission CERV Program.
A core outcome of the Grapes of Change project is the development of an Observatory on gender-based violence (GBV) to collect reliable, comparable data while also improving awareness, recognition, and prevention of GBV across the industry.
Talamonti is a first-generation Italian wine company based in Abruzzo, operating internationally and recognised as a pioneer in integrating gender equality into its organisational model. Talamonti is not just a virtuous example.
A focus group organised by ASAJA Mujeres in Spain in December 2025 brought together women winegrowers, winery managers, agricultural engineers, journalists, and sector representatives to contribute to the development of the Grapes of Change Observatory.
A beer can be much more than a simple drink. It can become a message, a choice, a concrete gesture of collective responsibility.
Two focus groups held in France in December 2025 brought together professionals, associations, and sector stakeholders to collect qualitative feedback on the Observatory’s objectives.
On 17 November, the Italian partners held a blended focus group. Participants highlighted the need for more precise data along the whole wine supply chain, the fact that gender-based violence occurs in many different forms...
Participants of the Greek Focus Group described an industry rich in expertise but fragmented and traditionally male-dominated, with women often concentrated in communication, hospitality rather than leadership and production, yet a rapid shift is visible...
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Grapes of Change publishes a video introducing the project and its goals.
On 7 November 2025, Grapes of Change joined the Coldiretti Village in Bologna (Italy) with the workshop “Cultivating Equality”, a public debate dedicated to promoting gender equality and inclusion in the wine and agrifood sectors.
Gender equity is not only a matter of fairness but also contributes to stronger organisational performance, innovation, talent attraction, and retention across the industry.
Grapes of Change is funded by the European Union’s CERV programme. But what is CERV exactly?
The Grapes of Change project was represented at the VIOLET project expert seminar on research into sexual harassment and violence in the workplace, held on 16–17 September 2025 in Bratislava, Slovakia.
07/11/2025 | Bologna (IT)
Article on the website Vitisphère.
Article in the newspaper Libération.
Article in the newspaper Oinologia
Article in the newspaper Elle.
For decades, the wine sector has been narrated as a progressive, cultured, almost enlightened world. A sector rooted in land and tradition, yet capable of innovation. A community that speaks the language of sustainability, heritage, craftsmanship, and care. From the outside, it looks like a place where respect and merit should naturally prevail.
And yet, beneath this narrative, a different reality has quietly persisted.
The Grapes of Change project officially began with a two-day kick-off meeting in Rome on 30 June–1 July 2025, bringing together partners from across Europe for an energizing start to the initiative.