The Talent of Tasting: ONAV Redefines Wine Education

Promoting the humanism of the senses to rediscover the centrality of the human experience in the world of wine, while embracing new trends in tasting methods. This is the goal of the ONAV courses - National Organization of Wine Tasters, an Italian association dedicated to promoting wine culture. This evolution arises in a cultural and social context in which the senses – smell, taste, and sensorial perception – become distinctive human traits , elements that machines can support, but not replicate in their depth and complexity. ONAV courses, organized throughout Italy thanks to over 80 active chapters, are aimed at those who wish to approach wine in a knowledgeable, in-depth, and precise way. The course, open to all, consists of 30 hours of theoretical and practical lessons and the tasting of 50 wines .

Wine and non-wine - ONAV's training program also includes de-alcoholized wines, which are properly termed dealcoholized. These wines undergo physical processes (such as reverse osmosis or vacuum distillation) to remove ethanol, reducing the alcohol content to below 0.5% or zero, while preserving much of their sensory profile. " With trends seeing young people, especially Gen Z, moving away from wine and embracing dealcoholized products, we believe it's necessary to offer a tasting program for new products as well. Not to follow trends, but because tasting is a way to explore each product, going beyond the physical and entering the sensorial and organoleptic dimension," emphasized President Vito Intini. " This is a form of education and training that is ageless and should also be applied to trendy wines, such as macerated whites, resistant (PIWI), screwcap, and dealcoholized wines."

Senses VS AI – With artificial intelligence increasingly permeating more aspects of knowledge, sensory education represents a truly human frontier: direct experience, intuition, and the ability to discern nuances and sensations in the glass are irreplaceable components of being and perceiving. Through tasting sessions, grape study, organoleptic analysis, and exploration of the many Italian and international terroirs, participants are guided on a journey of sensory awareness and discovery that enhances the human dimension of experience. In this sense, ONAV courses are part of a true humanism of wine , with a holistic approach to it as a profound expression of culture, history, and the relationship between humanity and nature.

Taster and Sommelier for the first time in the same training course - The ONAV course for Taster and Sommelier in its entirety is divided into three training levels :

• Level 1, delivered in 30 hours , for obtaining the Wine Taster License , with theory and practice of technical tasting and registration in the ONAV National Register.
• Level 2 to achieve the title of Expert Wine Taster , in 42 hours of theory and practice, with in-depth studies on grape varieties, territories and sensory techniques, with the possibility of following also via streaming and with teaching materials and wine kits included.
• 3rd level to become a Master Taster , with the SUMAV university course (Master Wine Taster University School), or Master Sommelier , an innovative path that embraces wine in all its facets, from anthropology to neuroscience, from food and wine pairing with starred chefs to 360-degree knowledge of food and wine.

Furthermore, the association offers innovative courses such as #VINODENTRO , an online course to become a Wine Connoisseur , with on-demand lessons and guided tastings that allow you to familiarize yourself with the language of wine wherever you are.

To learn more about the course program, please visit the "Teaching" section of onav.it. To check the schedule, locations, and participation methods, please visit the "Courses" section. Alternatively, please contact the secretariat at segreteria@onav.it.