After the Verona 2020 Agile edition, Vinitaly International Academy got back on the road and set off for its 17th edition to be held in an Agile format. The original five-day program of in-depth lessons was updated to a format of the course combines pre-recorded warm-up sessions & lectures with virtual tastings.

This edition was characterised by the high level of candidates from Hong Kong hop-ing to gain the prestigious Ambassador / Expert title despite of the challenges brought along by COVID-19. Returning candidates expressed their desire to experi-ence the newly formatted course.

7 Candidates joined by 7 local certified Ambassadors/Experts went through the online lectures and virtual tastings with the VIA faculty. The course featured lectures covering 20 Italian wine regions; guided tastings of archetypal wines as well as a group video project. Bearing in mind the goal to give our candidates the opportunity to really understand and learn the differences between each grape variety and wine, as well as the confidence to talk about what each wine, wine tasting session of this edition was strengthened by showcasing 36 label of wines during the 2-day guided tastings.

The application to the course was open to wine professionals all over Asia, appli-cants were required to provide relevant wine education certificate as well as stating their motivation to participate the course.