It’s called ““Fucina Soave: Bottega di Talenti” which stands for “Forge Soave: a Shop for talents” and is an innovative social responsibility project that the Soave Consortium has chosen to support.

The initiative that the Consorzio del Soave has strongly backed in view of the growingly competitive environment, aims at the enhancement of the industry future professionals’ skills and creates a real “cultural investment project” embracing both theory and practice.

“Forge Soave: a Shop for talents” is an innovative Corporate Social Responsibility project that for the first time is created and managed not by a company but by a consortium. It was born from the far-sighted spirit of the Soave Consortium which believes in investing in training and development, knowing that this investment “in human resources” will bring prosperity to the appellation the whole area.

The name was not chosen at random. Fucina (Forge) is in fact the place where the blacksmith uses his craft to form, blow after blow, sculptures and masterpieces; bottega (shop) wants to be a homage to the Italian artisan tradition that the whole world recognizes and loves, and at the same time it refers to the phenomenon of the so-called “new makers”: the new artisans who have been able to innovate the past arts and crafts combining them with the use of technology. Finally, talenti (talents): the precious and rare treasures, which all seek.

Therefore, alongside the established training and promotion activities in the wine industry that have always been held in Soave, a real “Shop for talent” is born, with the clear objective to help the Soave wine companies to grow.

Three training modules were scheduled in collaboration with the Toniolo Foundation and Confcommercio. They will involve 45 young people, previously selected, between the ages of 20 and 30 years old.

The expected format includes both classroom lectures, taught by industry professionals at the Casa del Vino di Soave, and stages in local businesses. To date, there are two different routes already planned: the first focused on the marketing of wine which aims at preparing the new communicators for the Soave system; the second is directed instead to train the wine technicians with a path that will allow students to practice, right from the start, in a cellar.

“The course stems from the analysis of the Verona province wine sector’s needs – explains Aldo Lorenzoni, director of the Consortium of Soave – i.e. the requests from companies, including small and medium-sized, working mainly with foreign markets.”

Classes cover a variety of issues starting from the origin of the product, the properties of the grape and the terroir, the study of viticultural realities, the processes of wine making, and how to do a tasting. There will also be lectures on commercial negotiation and b2b meetings, technical illustration of a label and an explanation of the Italian legal system, and finally lessons in communication and web 2.0 activities.

The course as intended by the Consortium aims to give the tools to understand the world of wine, communicate the product and manage trade agreements.

Not only classroom and internships. In the days of lessons, the students who have attended the first module, besides learning the basics of wine making and tasting technique, practiced with real business cases, proposing ideas and solutions, some of which were then executed ​​on their behalf by Consortium of Soave.

One of the ideas originated in the classroom and then implemented by the Consorzio del Soave is the motto Dream Verona, Drink Soave, used in the communication campaign, created in cooperation with Dalmograf and the airport of Verona Catullo, which aims to link the image of Verona and the Soave wine, creating emotions and feelings, especially among foreign tourists. This, along with other projects planned during the lessons, will enjoy visibility during the next Vinitaly, at the Soave Consortium stand, Hall 5 G 4-7.