One project, three countries, limitless wine knowledge – Native Grapes Academy 2019 by numbers
December 21, 2019
A green line for Russia’s favourite Italian quality PDO wines
January 23, 2020
The Native Grape Odyssey started over 1 year ago, through a collaboration between 2 European countries, Italy and Spain, and through the coordination between several relevant bodies, Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) and Organización Interprofesional del Vino de España (OIVE); co-financed by the European Union.
Today is December 27th, 4 days before the official end of our first year; if it is true that a project like this is mainly made of people, it is also true that to fully understand our path, we also need to demonstrate some of the statistics that accompany the people and experiences within this project.
Therefore, what did the Native Grape Odyssey project bring us over the course of 2019?
3 NGO Maestro Courses were followed by 3 Walk-Around Tastings, one for each country involved. We were in Toronto (Canada) between September 15th to 19th. We then flew to Moscow (Russia) from October 28th to November 1st – and then ended our year in Tokyo (Japan) from December 2nd to 6th.
Each course ran for 5 days, which encompassed a classroom taught course, an exam, and and finally an informal tasting. The entire experience was an intellectual and sensory journey throughout Italian and Spanish wine regions; students were tasked with in-depth exploration of native grape varieites and regions. The idea behind the Walk Around Tasting on the final day, was to demonstrate the synthesis of theory and practice.
120 heroes: about 40 students participated in each of the countries involved: experts, professionals and wine enthusiasts.
240 copies of the book: Native Grape Odyssey – Volume 1, the first in a series of six publications to be produced within the three years of the project. These works are the fruits of a collaboration between Prof. Attilio Scienza, full professor at the University of Milan and an authority in the field of genetic studies on grapevines, and Serena Imazio, a biologist and researcher. This book was distributed to participants at every NGO educational activity, free of charge.
490 wines were tasted, these were PDO and PGI exclusively, they ranged from a still Barolo DOCG to a sparkling Cava DO; quality has been demonstrated in different shapes, flavors and colors, the wine has been the star of the entire project from start to finish.
3600 posts have been published on our social media channels! We believe that a good education should be shared, and it’s the first step to building our close community of passionate wine heroes.
1 NGO Tasting App, last, but not least. Our Web App was launched in November and already has 363 subscribers to. This is the digital form of the portable tasting booklet NGO that has used in the courses. Here you can share your notes with other members of the global community and explore European quality wines in your own time. This is a new way of tasting, smarter and eco-friendly, and… the best tasting notes, will be rewarded with an invitation to Vinitaly 2020!
Native Grape Odyssey has flourished, thanks in part because of our fantastic support from you; all of you who actively participated in the course, and those who took the effort to inform themselves about the project and even those who are reading this last article right now.
Our greatest wish for the two years ahead is that we can continue to sail forward with quality and value – numerical and otherwise – we want to exceed expectations every time, and we want you to be a part of it every step of the way.
To find out what we have in store for next year, follow us on the NGO official website nativegrapeodyssey.com as well as our social channels.
Happy holidays from the entire NGO team!
About: Native Grape Odyssey is a brand of the European Union project Native Grapes Academy (NGA). NGA is a project financed by the European Union and managed by Unione Italiana Vini and Interprofesional del Vino de España (OIVE) for the promotion of PDO and PGI European wines abroad, in particular in three countries: Japan, Canada and Russia. In order to achieve this, the Native Grape Odyssey educational program will organize wine seminars, workshops and b2b meetings both in these countries and in Verona, Italy, inviting wine experts and influencers from these countries. These events, realized in the span of three years (2019-21) aim at creating awareness about European native wines abroad, in particular Italian and Spanish wines, which share a long tradition and a high standard of quality.