Lucia Albino Gilbert John C. Gilbert
Lucia Albino Gilbert, PhD, and John C. (Jack) Gilbert, PhD, both professors, have had long and distinguished careers at The University of Texas at Austin and Santa Clara University and are widely published in their fields. Their research on facilitating women’s career success in male-dominated scientific fields such as winemaking combines Lucia’s academic field of Psychology and John’s academic field of Organic Chemistry.
October 10, 2025
Women Winemakers Receive Greater Acclaim For Top-Rated California Wines, Not Only Chardonnay
Précis. "The 50 Greatest California Chardonnays of the 21st Century so far," a recent Robb Report, provided an unexpected opportunity to illuminate lead women winemakers who produce top wines. In this article we share the findings from two studies. In our first study, we examined the extent to which the wineries that produced the Chardonnays in the Report were led…
June 21, 2024
Keeping It in the Family: Next Generation Successes in Sonoma County
In this second of two articles on Northern California's next-generation successes, Drs. Lucia and John Gilbert share the generational-transition stories of six highly-regarded family-owned and operated Sonoma County wineries: A. Rafanelli Winery, Hafner Vineyard, Hawley Winery, J. Rochioli Vineyards and Winery, Nalle Winery, and Peterson Winery, offer insights and reflections, and a coda.
June 7, 2024
Keeping It in the Family: Next Generation Successes in Napa Valley
...we identified six of Napa's iconic family-owned wineries and vineyards established in the 1970s and 1980s that have significant next-generation involvement. We sent an invitation to the founding owners and their children asking them to participate in a conversation about their "Generational Transition," and the career paths of the children who have become involved. We also asked their advice for…
June 24, 2023
The Women Winemakers of the Okanagan Are Holding Their Ground
The recent attention being given to the Okanagan Valley and its wines inspired us to travel there to meet with its lead winemakers who are women. Our goal in visiting was to learn about their presence as winemakers in the region, colloquially referred to as "the Okanagan," and the career paths that led them there.
December 10, 2022
A Case Study of Iconic Napa Valley Wineries with a Change in Ownership and their Women Winemakers
We were recently gifted Napa: Behind the Bottle, a wonderful book of photographs in which Bill Tucker depicts the owners, winemakers, and workers of Napa's iconic family wineries and vineyards at the end of the 20th century. The first of these photographs are of Robert and Margrit Mondavi. (Corison Winery, Napa, courtesy of Cathy Corison, the first woman winemaker/proprietor in Napa Valley. Photo…
May 26, 2022
Three Women Bring Special Recognition to Southern Italy’s Wine Regions of Irpinia and Sicily
Our article introduces you to three important women in two of Italy's southern wine regions, each with different winery positions, but all working in regions less familiar to many lovers of good wine. The women are Ilaria Petitto, the CEO of Donnachiara winery in Irpinia, located east of Naples; Teresa Bruno, the owner of the Petilia family winery, also in Irpinia;…
February 28, 2021
California’s Wineries and Women’s Ownership: An Empirical Study
No formal academic studies to date have addressed the important question of women's ownership of wineries in California, and it seemed to us that it was time to do so.
December 10, 2020
Q & A with Lucia Albino Gilbert and Jack Gilbert, authors of Women Winemakers: Personal Odysseys
"Illuminating the women winemakers themselves is crucial to our goal. We want to make their presence in the wine industry more visible, both in California and globally." -Lucia Albino Gilbert
September 18, 2020
California’s Next Generation Lead Women Winemakers and the Promise that Accompanies their Success
Positive strides are being made in California's male-dominated wine industry.
July 26, 2019
Women Winemakers in the Piemonte-Langhe: The “Curse” Upended
We study women winemakers in major wine regions and what facilitates their success in the male-dominated field of winemaking. Reporting on prominent international wine regions where women are receiving increased recognition as winemakers is of particular interest.
November 2, 2018
From La Transmission to Les Fa’Bulleuses: Femmes de Vin Advancing Champagne
"We don't sit around and say what we already know about how challenging things are for women. We use our knowledge and experience as leaders to think about constructive change and how to bring it about," said Evelyne Boizel
August 1, 2018
The Women Winemakers of the “Reawakened” Priorat
The Priorat has quite recently experienced a significant reawakening as a wine region, and growing wine regions offer increased opportunities to women winemakers.
April 24, 2018
The Inspiring and Iconic Women Winemakers of New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay Wine Region
A leader in promoting gender equality, New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1893. Lucia and John Gilbert explore the country's egalitarian attitudes to women wanting to break into the field of winemaking.
July 13, 2017
Walla Walla Women Winemakers Challenge the Status Quo
Exploring the career paths of five impressive women winemakers in Walla Walla and the steps they are taking to challenge the status quo
March 15, 2017
California’s Trailblazing Women Winemakers: The First 20 Years (1965 through 1984)
Our article identifies 49 trailblazing women who entered the winemaking field between 1965, the year of the first female graduate of a premiere enology program in California, and 1984, some twenty years later.
February 12, 2017
Conversations with Women Winemakers in Portugal’s New Douro
Lucia Albino Gilbert and John C. Gilbert on the impressive women winemakers of Portugal's new Douro.
