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 First Italics Wine Club in the world was launched on June 2, 2017 at the Stax Italian Restaurant at the hospitality partner Hyatt Regency by the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IICCI) as a part of the global programme of Italian Chambers of Commerce and Industry abroad (in case of India it is IICCI ). Alfiere- Italico Wine is an initiative launched as a part of the activities of this Club in conjunction with ICMQ, an Italian non-profit Certification Agency. Focused on various sectors in the Italian industry, wine is an important component and the first Italian product to be introduced as a certificated course at 3 levels of proficiency- entitling the qualifying participants after passing a 2-part certification examination as Cultore (Level-1), Mentore (Level-2) and Maestro (Level-3).
Level-1 for Cultore Launched
Level-1 of the three- level course was conducted by IICC on June 17-18 at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai in conjunction with ICMQ conducting the independent written and oral examination based on the material sent in advance to the participants and what was covered in the class. Welcoming around 25 attendees, Cesare Saccani, Vice President of ICMQ reiterated that the exam to be held by the Agency had been designed independently by the Agency which would also do the rating. Certification by it would be recognised internationally at various levels and was thus a unique educational programme.
Claudio Maffioletti, Secretary General for all offices of the IICCI in India, headquartered in Mumbai said he was happy that India had taken the lead in this aspect. In fact, he plans to attend a centralised meeting of  the global Italian Chambers in Rome on July 3 where the programme, contents and certification would be discussed vis-a-vis the Indian model and incorporated in a single unified programme.
The faculty comprised of Claudio Maffioletti who had also several engaging slides of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, Luca Bernardini from Slow Food, Davide Cananzi, Food Artist and Restaurant Consultant and Cav. Subhash Arora, President of Indian Wine Academy. Cesare Saccani and Ilaria Pierozzi were present from the testing agency ICMQ.
The students passing the exams are being certified as Alfiere Italico Wine- Cultore. This would also entitle them to participate in Level-2 (Alfiere Italico- Mentore certification) and subsequent to passing this exam to the final leg-Level 3 passing of which will make them Alfiere Italico- Maestro, the highest level of the certification programme,’ said Claudio Maffioletti. An interesting requirement for the Maestro level is that the individual must have been to Italian wineries at least once. IICCI plans to take a tour of such interested students at special rates, offering a unique opportunity to experience the Italian gastronomy and culture.
A full house- of 21 students participated for the Level-1 exam. Though a few said some of the questions were very tough, they were pleased enough with the course to join level-2 whenever it would be organised. Claudio affirmed, ‘I am very happy that the feedback from the course participants has been very positive. All the participants have affirmed that they want to attend Level -2 to aspire to become Alfiere-Italico –Mentore.’ ‘I hope they would eventually be excited to reach the highest level of Maestro and have the unique such distinction in India’, he added.
 ‘We plan to launch the project in Delhi soon, starting with launching the Italics Wine Club by mid August and conducting the Level-1 course in September. As in Mumbai, the participants will have to pass the exam and be certified by ICMQ India, an independent third party certification agency. However, every participant is given a participation Certificate even if he does not want to appear the exam or fails,’ heinformed delWine.
‘Certification is a means of providing assurance that a person attending a training course meets the requirements of a certification scheme. Confidence in the respective schemes is achieved by means of a globally accepted process of assessment, subsequent surveillance and periodic re-assessments of the competence of certified person,’ says Cesare Saccani, Vice President of ICMQ India which has already been certifying various categories including construction.
The courses do not train the individuals to be a Sommelier or become better tasters though storage, service and tasting are a part of the course. In that sense, the courses are complementary to WSET . In fact, 3 of the participants had already done WSET 3 and one had qualified the WSET Level-2.
The beauty and uniqueness is that it will a universal appeal for Italian wine lovers as the certification is being conducted by a totally independent body-ICMQ of which Cesare Saccani is the Vice President. At the inauguration of the 2-day course, he asserted that one could study higher levels in another country as it was a universally accepted certification. Every participant is entitled to become a member of the Italics Wine Club which would be launched in all the cities-Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, where IICC has its offices.
For an earlier Article, visit
Angels of Italian Wine land in Mumbai on June 17
or visit their Facebook page <Angels of Italian Wine in India> for further details on the various courses and other programmes to visit Italy or write directly to:
v.moschetti@indiaitaly.com
Subhash Arora |