There are resumes, professional profiles, that no matter how hard you try to summarize and summarize, you just can't. This is undoubtedly the case of oenologist Luigi Odello, and president, among a thousand other prestigious institutional positions, of the Tasters Study and Training Center. A great expert on wine, grappa, coffee, and cheese, but also on apples, truffles, and olive oil, he is certainly one of the most authoritative figures at the international level in sensory analysis and technological innovations in beverages and foods.
It seems to me that your professional birth took place in the world of wine and wine technology. How did this extraordinary curiosity to embrace so many aspects of the world of drinking and from food develop in you? How much did it cost you to learn so many aspects of the elements and foods?
As is normally the case, one is born with a certain temperament and then fate puts its own spin on it. Yes, I am an oenologist, but after brief work experience I come to work for a company that deals with adjuvants for the food industry with a strong bent for innovation. So my horizon broadens and especially having to innovate leads me to become interested in sensory analysis: in fact, there is no point in innovating food and beverages if you are not sure that the change will bring a sensory benefit to the end user. So that learning was part of a daily routine in which the knowledge came from technicians in companies and researchers in universities and experimental institutes. In this, I was really lucky: I worked with people who loved me and whom I will never be able to match.
Your professional figure is as prestigious as it is atypical: how can you be competent and a specialist in so many disciplines or perhaps even in just one discipline, but with so many declinations and articulations? Has he taken specific studies or courses? Did he have masters? Or in what other form has he managed to acculturate himself over the years in such depth on such complex topics?
Seen from the outside this is how it may appear, but in fact I am essentially concerned with one thing: with the measurement and description of the perceived. The rules of this discipline can be applied to everything. Sensory analysis draws from psychology, statistics, and metrology to devise methods for figuring out how much people like a product and who likes it, but more importantly, methods that are suitable for rendering a sensory portrait of the object. We do not rely on more or less large and more or less trained groups of people to get answers to precise questions, then leave it to statistics to generate summaries and validate the results from the standpoint of reliability, trustworthiness, and comprehensiveness. But a sensory scientist reveals his or her ability primarily in the interpretation of data. And here knowledge of the commodity he deals with can be of great help to him. That is why everyone does a little bit of everything, but there are some product categories in which he is a specialist.
If you were to give a self-definition to your role, to your profession, how would you sum it up?
I could distinguish three roles. The professional one in which I am involved in training both in universities and in companies, in research and development of new methods, and in conducting panels for testing. The role of managing companies and associations that deal with sensory analysis and related subjects, and the more fun one involving outreach.
How many positions do you currently hold? What are you mainly involved in? What topics are most close to your heart?
At this time, in addition to our normal activity, which is particularly intense because our sensory analysis is also liking a lot abroad (in addition to Europe, we are working in Japan, Korea, China and Brazil), we are dealing with three important strands of innovation. One concerns the acquisition of sensory data by computer, thus avoiding paper records. Computers have already been used for years, but the issue is sensitive because electronic means can cause bias in assessments. In addition, our vision is not limited to laboratory testing, but mainly concerns consumer testing and the possibility of generating powerful, incremental histories remotely. The second strand of innovation concerns new methods for training judges using techniques peculiar to neurolinguistic programming and Ericksonian hypnosis. The third, on the other hand, concerns the use of sensory analysis to increase emotion in food storytelling and also includes new forms of expression of enography and new professional figures.
From your privileged and qualified observatory, how does Italy stand in Europe and the world in terms of the quality level of food and wine products? Are we still considered the country of great quality or is some other nation wetting our noses?
Italy is so rich that it can afford not to care about both form and substance. The real concern should be this. Products are perceived by our unconscious as well, the taste of infinity exists even if it cannot yet be easily measured for now. However, of its existence everyone can realize it: the desire to return to a particular restaurant, the intimate satisfaction in front of a dish, two types of wine that seem to be of equal level, but one bottle runs out and the other remains full. If this is the substance to be defended, the form should be better cared for: try reading the specifications of products with geographical indications and you will realize that they are passports without photos. In short: quality cannot be protected only with paper.
Can you explain in summary for the frequenters of this bolg the very important role played by the Centro Studi e Formazione Assaggiatori (Tasters Study and Training Center) and what topics your beautiful magazine L'Assaggio deals with?
The Centro Studi Assaggiatori develops its activity in five branches: it implements within companies and various bodies (chambers of commerce, associations, consortia, etc.) sensory analysis systems with the preparation of judges and panel leaders, carries out tests, conducts research, manages some non-profit associations related to sensory analysis, and produces the bibliography necessary for the study and popularization of sensory analysis. This is the context for L'Assaggio, which for now remains the only Italian periodical dealing with sensory analysis.
Who are the "taste storytellers"? What kind of new professional figure is it?
Taste storytellers is an association that brings together those who wish to produce and manage a new kind of communication of products and territories by making participants in events become protagonists through a series of techniques based on sensory analysis. Let's give just one example. You will all have witnessed a wonderful wine tasting conducted by a good sommelier who does not fail to hear even the note of second-cut Lodi clover. The Taste Narrators simply turn the situation upside down by transforming the tasting into a game in which the sommelier leads the group to discover the sensory code of the wine without expressing what he hears: it is the participants who speak, at the limit he complements, but at the end. The association is doing very well. In six months it has already created nine groups that are proving to be very active, and the formation of nine more is already planned for the fall. And it's nice to think that important bodies such as Fipe, Alma (the international cooking school), Csqa and so many fine companies wanted to show that they believe in these new professional figures by associating in a timely manner.
For those who want to know more ?
Luigi Odello, oenologist, was born in Murazzano, in the province of Cuneo, in 1951. Twenty years later he became an oenotechnician at the Alba School and, almost immediately, began working within a company operating in the field of adjuvants, technologies and oenological and food publishing, occupying grades of progressive responsibility up to the level of sales manager. There he held positions supervising and assisting the company's foreign subsidiaries in France, Spain and Austria, acquiring a deep knowledge of the beverages and food world of these nations, a knowledge later extended to other countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Australia and almost all the Eastern countries) with numerous trips. In 1990, after seventeen years working in the same company, he established a business consulting firm operating in the beverage and food industry with emphasis on quality systems, sensory analysis, technological innovation and communication.
Positions held
He is president of the Centro Studi e Formazione Assaggiatori (Tasters Study and Training Center), advisor of Anag, grappa and brandy tasters as well as of the Piedmont Grappa Institute and the Grappa Veneta Institute; secretary general of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, the Lombard Grappa Institute, the Italian Espresso National Institute and the National Grappa Institute; master taster of the National Wine Tasters Organization; master taster of the National Cheese Tasters Organization; member of the Italian Academy of Vine and Wine.
Journalistic Activity
Author of numerous technical essays published by magazines in the world of popular science, he has been carrying out his journalistic activity concerning beverages and food for 20 years through the pages of the following magazines: Il Mondo, Bargiornale, La Cucina Italiana, Sale & Pepe, Pubblico Esercizio, Vini d'Italia, Il Vino, Grand Gourmet, La Situla, Enoteca Italiana, Vini e Liquori, Piacere Italia, Il Barman, Tastevin, Giorni, Civiltà del Bere, Il Codice della Cucina Italiana, Tutti al Bar, Il Mondo della Birra, Beverage Distribution, International Bartender, Pasticceria Internazionale, L'Alimentarista, GDO, Label, La Madia, Locali Top and others.
Since 1991, he has been the editor of the periodical L'Assaggiatore, the magazine of professional tasting expressed by the National Organization of Wine Tasters; Anag (Grappa and Spirits Tasters); the National Association of Honey Tasters; the International Institute
Coffee Tasters; and the National Organization of Olive Oil Tasters.
Writer's activity
As an extension worker in the field of food:he is the author of the following books: How to Make and Appreciate Grappa, Whisky & Whiskey, The Civilizations of Wine, Let's Learn to Distill, The Distillation of Essences, The Tasting of Grappa and Grape Spirits, Acquavitae: Charter of Grappas, Grappa from the Alembic to the Glass, Cocktails and Aperitifs, Coffee and Cappuccinos, Grappa between Tastings and Alembics, Knowing and De-tasting Grappa from Lombardy, Knowing and Appreciating Liqueurs, The Indispensable Book of Italian Sparkling Wines;
He co-authored or collaborated on the following works: Catalogue of the World's Spirits, The Tasting of Grappa, Wine is... Piedmont, Grappa and its world between past and present, Beer pleasure and health, The Barman, Grappa between sensory analysis and technology, The Taste of Truffle, Valcalepio and others;
He authored: Valcalepio & C., Knowing and Tasting the Wines of Bergamo and Bibliography of Grappa, L'Assaggio dell'Espresso, Bibliography of Grappa, The Wine, Grappa and the Taxation, Grappa alambicco d'oro, Grappa and Wine: quality certification; Grappa & Cuisine in the Venetian Tradition, Grappa: target the world.
Research activity,relations with universities
As part of his studies to educate the consumer in the choice of good beverages, Luigi Odello has developed the grappa tasting method (now formalized by Anag), a system for tasting brandies, structured that of cocktails and beer.His is also the organoleptic sheet for tasting coffee, and from another of his elaborations was derived that for tasting cheeses. Notable is his contribution to the development of methods for studying the market acceptability of food products, the correlation between sensory analysis tests and technological innovation, and the control of the results of sensory analysis panels.
The research activity is carried out through constant contact with the Universities for which he teaches sensory analysis (Udine and Palermo), conducts seminars, and is co-rapporteur of theses such as:
Graziella Talarico - The grappa of Piedmont: history of the custom and technology of a successful brandy
Enrica Villa - Grappa: from distillation to the tasting bench. The importance of sensory analysis in this specific sector
Caterina Minarelli - The export of grappa in the world. Issues related to labeling and product presentation
Marco Ricci - The marketing and commercialization of grappa.
Some company examples
Stefania Finiguerra - The role of sensory analysis in determining the typical consumer of the grappa product
Cristina Lo Russo - The perception of espresso coffee for its possible protection as a typical Italian product
Tomaso Fabris - Assessment of the communication and promotion needs and development possibilities of wineries in the Colli Orientali del Friuli area
Simonetta Zambella - Survey on the level reached by wineries in the North Piedmont region in communication promotion and quality
Anna Toffano - Survey on the communication and promotion needs of wineries in the Collio area
Paola Borlatto - The application of sensory analysis to truffles during the National Fair of Alba. A concrete step toward consumer protection.
Francesca Ursella - Contests of typical products: methodology, usefulness and reliability.
Fabrizio Sficco - Sensory analysis in the quality control of truffles and truffle products
The activity
Teaching and conferences
Professor of sensory analysis at the University of Udine and Palermo and teaching collaborator at other universities, Technical director and lecturer at the Master's Degree in Sensory Analysis, training courses of Ais, Fisar and Anag, as well as the National Organization of Wine Tasters, the Italian Academy of Master Pastry Chefs, the National Organization of Cheese Tasters and the Academy of Beer. On average, he is a speaker at
six annual scientific or popular conferences of national or international relevance.
Interview by Monica Palla
