ONAV and UICI extending their association throughout Italy

Wine, like food, is part of the culture, and specifically, a vehicle through which the traditions of a territory, the history of a company and the mission of a winemaker, are told to thousands of people. This is the reason why wine must be able to “speak” everyone’s language, and everyone must be able to narrate wine. Language is not the only barrier to break down, however, or at least it is the question that Onav - National Organization of Wine Tasters – pondered, and which led the organization to start a partnership with UICI - the Italian Union of Blind and Partially Sighted People. The two associations have signed the first Protocol of National Understanding, to stipulate a closer and continuous collaboration. The goal is to promote special courses to approach wine, dedicated to the blind and visually impaired, which stimulated ONAV and UICI to join forces and cooperate for the first time in Verona and Brescia in 2018. Now, wine-tasting courses for the blind and partially sighted will be available throughout the country. The courses will follow the traditional formula of 9 lessons lasting 3 hours each, in which highly qualified teachers, the same ones that conduct the traditional ONAV courses, will guide the aspiring tasters in the discovery of the wine world, supported by the traditional study text translated into braille, or in audio format.
“We drafted our program recently when the new Council was installed”, explained the president of ONA, Vito Intini. “We have officially added a privileged channel for social issues. The foundation of a project like this one is the unwavering will of all the members of our organization to promote the culture of wine and of conscious drinking that is really open to everyone, and which will allow us to break down all barriers”. “We decided to start a collaboration between UICI and ONAV”, said the president of UICI, Mario Barbuto, “centered on our desire to offer all of our members the opportunity to access tasting training courses about one of the excellences Italy produces: wine. The sensitivity and enthusiasm that the executives of ONAV have demonstrated in approaching our world will undoubtedly herald outstanding surprises, not least, for example, that of creating paths for new, as well as more specialized job opportunities”.