The Italian Trade Agency is to launch a series of educational wine courses for trade members. A world-class, intensive, immersion three-day course will be offered to professionals already in the industry (sommeliers, wine retailers, brand managers, and more) and will take place across USA in 10 major cities. The dates are as follows: New York (May 14–16), Chicago (June 4–6), Columbus (July 23–25), Washington D.C. (July 30–August 1), Denver (September 17–19), and Miami (September 23–25). In 2020, the program will continue in Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Boston. The three-day seminar will target intermediate to advanced-level attendees and will combine an overview of Italian wine, followed by a deeper dive into Italy’s 20 regions. Each seminar will be led by notable industry experts, including masters sommeliers, wine directors and importers.
THE COURSES
Experts will cover topics including regulations surrounding the production of Italian wine, a commercial analysis of the wine industry in Italy, wine-making philosophies, the positioning of Italian wine in the US and wine tourism as a fundamental tool in the developing of the industry. The seminar will also highlight historical and cultural references, climate and terroir, wine-growing areas, vital denominations, the main vines, cult labels, labels to discover, and food and wine pairing with international cuisines. Each day will end with a tasting. On the last day, attendees will take part in a certification test.
THE GOALS OF ITALIAN TRADE AGENCY
“This education program is a vital part of our campaign to help raise awareness on Italian wines as well as shed light on the country’s rich history of wine-making – Italian Trade Commissioner, Maurizio Forte remarks -. We have worked hard to develop a program that will greatly benefit our colleagues in the trade industry to better understand the complexity and elegance of Italy’s wines.” These classes are the next step for the three-year marketing campaign, “Italian Wine ––Taste the Passion”, a multi-channel PR campaign. The goal of the Italian Trade Agency is to elevate the perception of the premium quality and diversity of Italian wines. The campaign already reached more than 900 million impressions among US consumers who engaged with more than 500 posts presenting breath-taking views, enthusiastic toasts, amazing festive tables in the celebration of the incredibly rich landscape of Italy’s wine production.