“Sommelier Astemio” starts the project for girls and boys with special educational needs

In Cesena the world of wine becomes, in its own right, a vehicle and tool for supporting inclusive ideas and projects. Friday 14 June give her 7.00pm the Fornace Marzocchi park (La Buca) in via A. Manuzzi 145 will host “Cantine all’Aperto”, an open-air tasting journey aimed at enhancing and promoting the local food and wine tradition while promoting, at the same time, a social mission. During the event it will in fact be possible to take a real tour of some of the best wineries in Romagna, accompanying the journey with excellent local food. The evening, which in case of bad weather will be postponed to June 21st, will be dedicated to raising funds for the social project “Teetotal Sommelier”an educational path that uses wine culture as a tool of inclusiveness for children with special educational needs.

The price to participate is 20 euro per person, which includes five wine tastings and two dishes: an excellent opportunity to taste local wines, enjoy delicious dishes – there will be tasting stands from local wineries and, as far as possible, also the producers themselves – and contribute to the inclusion working of people affected by various disabilities.

The event is made possible thanks to the participation of various partners: AIS Romagna, Rotary Cesena Valle Savio, the BBP Social & Food Experience Group with the Welldone CILS Social Food and Incanto brands, the Centrale del Latte di Cesena, the Salumificio del Vecchio and Giancarlo Faggioli. These entities in the Cesena area have joined forces to create an initiative that enhances local products and the importance of inclusiveness and professional training in the restaurant sector. The initiative also involves Romagna Initiatives.

What is the project Sommelier Teetotal?

The Absolute Sommelier is an educational program dedicated to children with special educational needs. Officially born with the first training course organized in Bari in March 2022, at the Grande Albergo delle Nazioni in Bari, it is the result of the tenacity of the delegate from Bari, Raffaele Massa, and the work of the Italian Sommelier Puglia Association. After months and months of tenacious work, comparisons and insights, Raffaele Massa and his collaborators, supported by the entire region, have achieved the creation of a real institutional and permanent program, that is, a specific training course held by AIS teachers, accompanied from a specific book: “I am worth it… I learn to talk about wine”. Through the text and the related lessons, students address the fundamental themes of AIS teaching (viticulture, oenology, visual and olfactory characteristics of wines, service techniques, food pairing criteria) developed through simple and clear language, with illustrations, comics and captions suitable to be understood and remembered.

In the coming months, therefore, aspiring Sommelier Teetotallers will learn to serve wine, to pair it with food, to describe it with the sole use of sight and smell, acquiring real professionalism. In turn, the AIS teachers, who provide expertise and commitment, will adapt terminology and classifications to the language of the students, whose genuine desire to learn is stronger than any hypothetical communication difficulty.

The local wineries that have so far joined the initiative also sponsored by the Union of Valle del Savio Municipalities are: