Vinitaly MW tasting roundup

Vinitaly International Academy used this week’s Verona course to turn Italian wine geography into a fast tasting map, with Sarah Heller Master of Wine leading technical sessions around the fair. (vinitaly.com) The academy’s 2026 flagship course opened on April 15 in Verona with 59 students from 28 countries, and four more candidates were due to join for the exam. Vinitaly said Heller would guide the technical tasting of 96 wines over four days, while the full program covered 164 wines from all 20 Italian regions. (vinitaly.com) That structure explains why a smaller set of Heller’s notes can travel well beyond the classroom. Vinitaly International Academy says its mission is to teach the diversity of Italian wine in a “rigorous, organized manner,” with a focus on native grapes and regional biodiversity. (vinitaly.com) Heller is not an outside commentator dropped in for the event. Vinitaly says she has been on the academy faculty since 2018 after passing the inaugural ambassador program in 2015, and the Institute of Masters of Wine lists her as a Hong Kong-based Master of Wine with roles in buying, education and criticism. (vinitaly.com, mastersofwine.org) The tasting method itself is built for comparison, not just praise. In the 2025 Verona course, Heller taught students to sort wines by structure, using contrasts such as “hard” for acidity, tannin and texture and “soft” for body, sugar and alcohol, then to judge whether the wine is balanced. (vinitaly.com) That framework is especially useful with Italian whites, where Heller said texture can matter as much as aroma. In a 2025 session, Vinitaly quoted her telling students that restrained aromatics in Italian whites make structure more important for identification, and pointed to grapes such as Greco, Verduzzo, Ansonica, Grechetto and Albana as examples of firmer, more “hard” textures. (vinitaly.com) For reds, the academy has pushed a regional spine that trade buyers can remember. In another 2025 session, Andrea Lonardi Master of Wine and Heller grouped Nebbiolo in Piemonte, Sangiovese in Tuscany and Nerello Mascalese on Etna as a north-to-south model of lighter-colored, high-acid, high-tannin Italian fine reds. (vinitaly.com) Vinitaly timed the academy to run alongside the main fair, which this year took place in Verona from April 12 to April 15. The organizer says the academy has certified 464 ambassadors across 52 countries since 2015, giving the tasting notes a ready-made audience of importers, educators, sommeliers and journalists. (vinitaly.com, vinitaly.com) The result is less a list of favorites than a shorthand for selling Italy by region and grape. In Verona this week, Vinitaly’s own curriculum was built around benchmark bottles, regional contrasts and repeatable descriptors that professionals can carry straight from the tasting room to a wine list or shop floor. (vinitaly.com, vinitaly.com)