Italian wine group Argea has joined the Stronger Together Italia programme, becoming the first private wine company in the country to support the initiative aimed at preventing labour exploitation in wine supply chains.
The initiative aims to help wineries, bottlers, distributors and agricultural producers identify and mitigate risks of labour exploitation within their supply chains. The Stronger Together Italia programme was developed by the non-profit organisation Stronger Together in collaboration with Equalitas and is supported by the Scandinavian monopolies Systembolaget (Sweden), Vinmonopolet (Norway) and Alko (Finland).
Through training workshops, operational guidelines and supplier management tools, companies are encouraged to improve transparency in recruitment practices and strengthen oversight of working conditions.
Since 2022, Stronger Together has worked with Equalitas and several Italian regional wine consortia to promote responsible labour standards in the Italian wine sector. With the support of the Scandinavian monopolies, more than 33 workshops have been organised so far, training over 490 professionals from nearly 390 Italian wine companies.
“As the first private wine group in Italy, we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the development of increasingly high standards and to the cultural growth of our industry, promoting supply-chain management models based on transparency, accountability and the protection of people. We hope initiatives like this will progressively involve an increasing number of companies in the industry."
Michael Isnardi
Group QHSE & Sustainability Director at Argea
Michael Isnardi
Group QHSE & Sustainability Director at Argea
For Argea, joining the programme marks another step in strengthening the social dimension of sustainability across its production chain.
“As the first private wine group in Italy, we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the development of increasingly high standards and to the cultural growth of our industry, promoting supply-chain management models based on transparency, accountability and the protection of people. We hope initiatives like this will progressively involve an increasing number of companies in the industry,” says Michael Isnardi, Group QHSE & Sustainability Director at Argea.
The group already runs a Wine Supply Chain Sustainability Pact with partner wineries, which in 2025 included 28 producers representing more than 60 percent of the wine purchased by the company. Argea has also implemented a structured ESG monitoring system for suppliers. In 2025, the programme covered 752 suppliers overall, with 88 percent of wine suppliers successfully completing the qualification process, including ethical and social audits and on-site inspections.
Through its participation in Stronger Together Italia, Argea aims to contribute to higher labour standards and greater transparency across the Italian wine industry’s supply chains.
