Native Grape Odyssey is 1 project, 3 countries, and… lots of numbers

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 15^th to 19^th. We then flew to Moscow (Russia) from October 28^th to November 1^st – and then ended our year in Tokyo (Japan) from December 2^nd to 6^th.

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!