Seven new Italian wine ambassadors named

Seven wine professionals working in the US and UK have been named Italian wine ambassadors by trade body Vinitaly International.

The experts gained ambassador certification after completing the first Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) Ambassador course ever held in Los Angeles, California, on 18 February.

VIA’s tasting-intensive curriculum debuted in L.A. last week, bringing 27 wine professionals from the United States, the U.K., Italy, China, and Bulgaria on a journey across Italy’s oenological history, tasting 106 different wines and learning all about the country’s viticulture, appellations and native grape varieties.

There are now 177 accredited members of the Vinitaly International Academy, of which 164 are ambassadors.

The new ambassadors are:

• Rebecca Lawrence, Wine Educator and Assistant Manager at The Vineking – Independent Wine Merchants in Redhill, U.K.;
• Massimo Serradimigni, Importer and Distributor at Winebow in Skokie, USA;
• Catherine Stratton, Wine Educator at C.S. Selections LLC in Playa del Rey, USA;
• Petra Belliti, owner of DiVita Tours in San Diego, USA;
• Emily Wynbrandt, Importer and Distributor at Mucci Imports in Brooklyn, USA;
• Orazio Campoli, Sales Manager at Lyra Wines in Los Angeles, USA;
• Sheila Donohue, Importer and Distributor at Vero Vino in New York, USA.

The Italian Wine Ambassador course was reformatted in Autumn 2018 to allow candidates to ease the learning process and allow candidates to sample more wines than ever before.

In Los Angeles, candidates tasted 65 labels during the guided tastings that followed the theory lectures, as well as a further 41 labels during the Tasting Labs;  a newmodule in which students could specifically practice their tasting and appreciation.

Rebecca Lawrence, one of the newest recruits, approved of the new course. “Obviously it still got that foundation with the multiple-choice, so you can show off the breadth of your knowledge, but the short answer questions really show the depth, and give you the chance to really do a deep dive on the subject,” she said.

“And, obviously, I think the tasting is fundamental because there are so many grapes and if you are going to be an Ambassador you need to know what they taste like and be able to describe them.”