What indicators allow us to measure the real impact of a woman in a sector as codified as Bordeaux wine? Clara Pésery’s journey offers a concrete case study to analyze the role of women in leadership positions within the trade and wine tourism, two segments where gender parity is still far from being achieved.
Digital Wine Tourism and Bordeaux Trade: Two Distinct Career Paths
Clara Pésery stands out with a positioning that intersects two worlds rarely associated in the wine industry in France. The Bordeaux trade, first, where leadership positions are still predominantly held by men. Digital wine tourism, next, a rapidly growing loyalty lever since 2024, particularly among millennials.
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Unlike a figure like Alessandra Antinori in Italy, whose career is rooted in a century-old family legacy, Pésery emphasizes digital innovation applied to the wine experience. This orientation, documented by Wine Spectator in its “Women Leaders in Global Wine” feature from November 2025, reflects a strategy that is less about heritage and more focused on acquiring new audiences.
To learn more about Clara Pésery, the details of her roles and achievements shed light on how this dual anchoring, between commerce and digital tourism, has structured her career.
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| Criterion | Clara Pésery (France) | Alessandra Antinori (Italy) |
|---|---|---|
| Main Anchor | Bordeaux trade + digital wine tourism | Historic family estate |
| Differentiation Lever | Digital innovation, millennial loyalty | Heritage legacy, sustainable viticulture |
| Sector Visibility | Events like Vinexpo, French specialized media | International press, global rankings |
| Local Gender Parity Context | Minority of women in leadership in Bordeaux châteaux | More visible female presence in large Tuscan families |
Gender Parity in the Boards of Bordeaux Châteaux: A Persistent Ceiling
Clara Pésery’s journey illustrates a well-documented paradox. Her personal successes, visibility at events like Vinexpo, and her role in promoting digital wine tourism do not erase a structural reality: women remain a minority in decision-making positions at major châteaux.
Testimonials collected by Terre de Vins in April 2025, in the feature “Women in Wine: Testimonials 2025,” confirm that Pésery’s journey inspires a significant increase in women accessing leadership positions in Bordeaux trading houses. The dynamic exists, but it remains slow.
What Field Feedback Reveals
- Increased visibility at professional events (Vinexpo, regional fairs) facilitates access to representation roles, without guaranteeing access to boards of directors
- Trading houses seem more permeable to female promotion than classified châteaux, where governance often remains familial and male-dominated
- Digital wine tourism, driven by profiles like Pésery’s, creates new leadership positions that did not exist ten years ago, partially circumventing traditional blockages
The trade is progressing faster than classified châteaux on the issue of gender parity. This distinction is rarely made in global sector analyses, but it changes the interpretation of Pésery’s journey.
Vinexpo and Specialized Media: Building Sector Legitimacy
Professional recognition in the French wine world goes through specific channels. International fairs, specialized press, and trading networks form an ecosystem where visibility is built over time.
Clara Pésery has utilized these channels methodically. Her presence at Vinexpo, documented by the sector press, has allowed her to position digital wine tourism as a credible strategic axis among wine professionals. This positioning contrasts with a more traditional approach focused on production or classification of wines.
A Reproducible Model for Women in Wine
The Terre de Vins feature from April 2025 highlights a ripple effect. The sommeliers and sales directors interviewed cite Pésery’s journey as a concrete reference, not as an abstract symbol. The nuance matters: a practical reference rather than an inspirational figure.
This distinction explains why her influence is measured more in trading houses, where recruitment criteria are evolving, than in the boards of the top classified growths, where co-optation logics remain dominant.
Digital Innovation in Wine in France: A Lever to Bypass Traditional Barriers
Digital wine tourism represents an expanding segment since 2024. For women in the sector, it offers a structural advantage: digital leadership positions are created, not inherited. No one blocks access to a role that did not exist in the previous organizational chart.
Clara Pésery seized this opportunity. Engaging millennials through digital tools (online bookings, immersive experiences, dedicated editorial content) constitutes a field where skills take precedence over established networks. However, this dynamic remains fragile: it depends on innovation budgets that not all estates are ready to allocate.
The model she embodies in the wine world in France, at the intersection of Bordeaux trade and digital strategy, outlines a path that does not confront traditional power structures head-on, but rather creates new roles. Parity progresses where positions are created, not where they are transmitted.