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When Rachel Triggs fell pregnant, she felt she had no choice but to leave her career for good.
She couldn't possibly see herself able to work in winemaking while having a family, especially without a partner willing to pick up the slack, so she resigned.
"I simply didn't think I had a choice," she said.
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Fifteen years, a law degree, and a successful legal career later, she doesn't think much of the wine industry is more appealing for primary caregivers and women than when she left it.
Triggs and fellow Australian Women in Wine advisory board member Alexia Roberts, who spoke to 9news.com.au for International Women's Day, said the time demands of winemaking were very likely among the multiple reasons the industry was so male-dominated.
Just 23 per cent of Australia's winemakers are women and only 18 per cent of viticulturists are women, according to the latest Australian Taxation Office data.
However, women comprise 41 per cent of graduates from Australian winemaking and viticulture degrees, the 2020-2021 data shows.
Roberts, who is also chief winemaker and general manager at Penny's Hill in South Australia's McLaren Vale with 20 years of experience, said the team behind Australian Women in Wine, a not-for-profit organisation advocating for gender equality in the sector, was alarmed about the significant "drop-off rate" after female graduates started working.
Indeed, she observed the gender balance was almost 50/50 when she completed a Bachelor of Oenology at the University of Adelaide in 2004.
She quickly noticed the gender imbalance once she started working at a winery.
"And we haven't made much ground as an industry over the last few decades," she said.
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Triggs, who worked at a range of South Australian wineries before becoming a corporate lawyer and then in advisory work, and Roberts both believe a multitude of factors are deterring women from the industry.
After spending more than a decade working in wine law and advocacy since being a winemaker, Triggs said she had experienced gender was not just an issue in cellars.
"Unfortunately, at a grassroots level in the wineries there are issues, but then at an executive level in wine, there are issues and challenges as well," she said.
"Representation of women in leadership in the Australian grape and wine sector is dismal.
"It is an industry where there is a 'boys club' mentality.
"That's typical of alcohol."
While working for a wine organisation, the mother-of-two believes she came second to a man for a senior leadership role that she had been mentored in for reasons other than her talent or merit.
Roberts agreed there's an indisputable gap in women in leadership roles in the Australian wine community.
Triggs said she similarly experienced the "boys club" mentality as a young winemaker.
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She said the acts were in jest at the time, and that she didn't blame her former male colleagues, but that when she looked back she realised what occurred was "really not OK".
"It was all in good humour and good nature, but there was definitely a clear delineation between the men and the women in the cellar," she said.
She said the young female winemakers were most often at the butt of practical jokes, such as tipping a bucket of cold water on an unsuspecting person.
"Most of those jokes, if you didn't take in good humour, you didn't last."
Roberts said she had been "very lucky" to have not felt excluded as a female winemaker, but had certainly heard of women having awful experiences.
Roberts said she believed women were sometimes excluded from social occasions indirectly, simply because they didn't have the same interests as male colleagues, such as a fishing trip or round of golf on days off.
"It's just that females are still very much a minority."
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Both Triggs and Roberts agreed the nature of many grassroots winemaking jobs was likely a leading barrier to women staying in the industry.
Triggs found doing a law degree and having a thriving career as a lawyer much more manageable than working in a cellar in terms of her schedule.
Particularly during vintage, the three months of the year when grapes are harvested, the women said workers were often required to do 12- to 14-hour days at the winery, seven days a week.
Triggs said she worked 16-hour days during the vintage before she fell pregnant.
The schedule means parents require someone else to manage children outside of school and childcare hours.
What's more, the women said there were often many variable factors that meant workers would have to go to the winery at unplanned times.
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"It's really hard when you're juggling a family and a career to be able to get that work-life balance," Roberts said.
The mother-of-two said she had been lucky to have been fully supported in working while having children – and wouldn't have been able to thrive in the industry otherwise – but had certainly "done the juggle", including bringing her two children to the winery.
Triggs said while some larger wineries and companies had brought in procedures and policies to allow workers to be part-time and not have to be on-call, a lot of the smaller businesses were not there.
"Policies of individual wine companies need to make sure to create positions, particularly for young working parents, whereby they are not going to be the person that needs to do the 16-hour day," she said.
"You need to make sure that you've got back-ups in the same way if somebody gets sick or gets injured."
The physical work required in the cellars – in combination with the long hours – is also a potential deterrent to women.
"Even as a 19-year-old, it was tiring," Triggs said.
"You're up and down ladders, you're on top of presses, you're driving forklifts."
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But, Triggs said, as a male colleague showed her early on, strength didn't need to be a barrier.
"I was trying to unscrew a hose and one of the males came up and said to me, 'You don't need to be as strong as everyone else. You just need to be smarter. You should always carry with you a three-inch spanner so that you can do these things,'" she said.
"There's a lack of people acknowledging that you don't actually need the strength.
"There just needs to be better practices."
Triggs and Roberts each have decades of experience in the wine industry, but can't speak to the policies and practices at all wineries.
The experienced team at Australian Women in Wine is undertaking research to further understand the gender disparity in the sector.
To any females considering getting into winemaking, Roberts' advice is not to hesitate.
"Absolutely do it. The wine industry is a fantastic industry to be a part of. But get yourself a mentor."
