How to Become a Wine Sommelier

Co-authored by Murphy Perng

Last Updated: May 6, 2021 References

Wine sommeliers do more than just pour and taste wine. A restaurant’s sommelier is the customer’s connection to the wine’s taste and history. A “somm” should be friendly, knowledgeable, and precise while maintaining an understanding for and appreciation of wine at the center of their professional life. There’s no one path to become a wine sommelier, but ways to develop your sommelier skills include tasting wines, working at a harvest, and becoming certified.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:
Cultivating Your Palate

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Taste constantly. Attend tastings or purchase your own wine to taste at home. Take wine appreciation classes at your local college or university to learn how to properly swirl, smell, and taste wine. Knowing the features of wine is more important than knowing what you like and dislike, since sommeliers need to be able to recommend wines for any taste.^{[1]
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- Practice identifying fruity, smoky, herbal, and spicy flavors. Note that often, a wine can have more than one.
- Learn about additional wine features like whether your wine is oaked, dry, or sweet.
- Develop a sense on whether the wine is balanced, harmonious, complex, or complete based on the way the flavors mix.
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Read about the wines you taste. After tasting each wine, read about the region the wine was grown in and the type of soil (“terroir”) present in that region. Research and memorize the climate and harvest for each year in each region, as these seemingly insignificant factors can greatly influence the way your wine tastes.^{[2]
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- Even a degree or two in the year’s climate can make a huge difference on a wine. Pinot noir grown in 14 °C (57 °F) will be lighter and more elegant, while Pinot produced in 16 °C (61 °F) climates will be full-bodied and fruit-driven.
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Practice talking about wine. You might feel foolish saying a wine tastes “fruity” or “dry,” but this language is common practice among the lives of wine sommeliers. Practice talking about wine with friends, or go out to restaurants and discuss wine with bartenders and sommeliers.^{[3]
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- When you’re just getting started, give yourself a head start by looking up wine ratings at magazines like Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. These ratings include hints of what flavors you should be looking for in each wine.
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Cut hot, spicy, and salty foods from your diet. Your sense of taste is intrinsically tied to your sense of smell, and hot, spicy, and salty foods can interfere with your ability to taste the fine intricacies in the wines you’re tasting. Specifically, take care to avoid:^{[4]
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- Salt
- Spicy food
- Mouthwash
- Espresso
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:
Familiarizing Yourself with the Wine Industry

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Find a mentor. There is a lot to being a sommelier that you can’t learn on your own or in books. The professional side of what’s expected of you, how to hold and pour wine, and how to select wine glasses depending on the type of wine are all things a mentor can teach you. Find a restaurant that’s willing to pair a novice sommelier with a more advanced one.^{[5]
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- Some restaurants even have an internship program for prospective sommeliers.
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Work a grape harvest to fully comprehend how winemaking works. Working a harvest will not only develop your appreciation for the work that goes in to making a wine, but it will also give you a deeper understanding of the process and a better sense of how wine is connected to land and weather. Look for a part-time job, or do a grape harvest internship to get the full experience.^{[6]
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Prepare to do a lot of grunt work. The wine industry is very traditional, and it will take some time for you to move up in the world of sommeliers. At the beginning of your career as a sommelier, a restaurant might have you moving boxes and doing inventory. As useless as these jobs seem, they actually give you a familiarity with the restaurant’s wines and with wine regions as a whole, and can be a great way to augment your understanding of wine.^{[7]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:
Becoming Certified

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Take the Master Sommeliers Introductory Course and Examination. Organized by the Court of Master Sommeliers, an organization founded in the UK that now operates internationally, this two-day course will give you classroom-style information about wine, wine service, and how to pair food and wine. The classes are presented by Master Sommeliers (the fourth and final distinction) and you receive a lapel pin if you complete it.^{[8]
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- If you have no experience in the sommelier industry, getting certified might be a good option to help you break into the business.
- The Masters Sommeliers Introductory Course and Examination costs ~£550.^{[9]
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Complete your Certified Sommelier Examination. You must take the Certified Sommelier Examination within two years of completing the Introductory Course and Examination. The Certified Sommelier Examination is a credential to show potential employers, and connect students together - once you complete this course, you receive a purple lapel pin.^{[10]
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- The test involves a short written component, a tasting test, and a practical service test.
- The Certified Sommelier Examination costs ~£230.^{[11]
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Earn your Advanced Sommelier Certificate. This high-level, five-day course gives you a deeper understanding of not only wine but also aperitifs, spirits, and liqueurs. You’ll develop a precise understanding of wine glasses and decanting, learn how to communicate with any customer and sell any wine, and identify grape varieties, country, district of origin, vintage, and quality level. Upon completing this course, you will receive a green lapel pin.^{[12]
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- The test involves a 1 hour theory paper, a blind tasting test, and a 45 minute serving test.
- The Advanced Sommelier Examination costs ~£720.^{[13]
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Become a Master Sommelier. The Master Sommelier certification and badge is the highest achievement a sommelier can attain. The test is includes an oral questioning component, a blind tasting component, and a service component. Upon completion of the exam, you will receive the coveted red lapel pin.^{[14]
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- The Master Sommelier test is by invitation only.^{[15]
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- As of 2017 there are only 229 Master Sommeliers in the world.^{[16]
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- The Master Sommelier Examination costs ~£750.^{[17]
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Community Q&A
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Question

Is becoming a sommelier hard?

Murphy Perng
Certified Wine Consultant
Murphy Perng is a Wine Consultant and the Founder and Host of Matter of Wine, a business that produces educational wine events, including team-building experiences and networking events. Based in Los Angeles, California, Murphy has collaborated with brands such as Equinox, Buzzfeed, WeWork, and Stage & Table, to name a few. Murphy possesses her WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) Level 3 Advanced Certification.

Murphy Perng

Certified Wine Consultant

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

Becoming a sommelier is all about knowing your stuff. Understanding the growing environment in which grapevines are grown is crucial to understanding why your wine tastes the way it does. The same grape varietal, when grown in different climates, can produce wines that range between thin and astringent to full-bodied and ripe. Different soils can absorb water at different levels, affecting the flavor profile of grapes. In addition to researching soil and climate, be sure to look into the sunlight, diurnal range, and water access in different growing environments.
Question

Is a level 1 sommelier the highest or lowest rank of sommelier?

Community Answer

Level 1 is the lowest rank. However, according to the Court of Master Sommeliers, students are not permitted to call themselves a "sommelier" until they have passed Level 2, a.k.a. the Certified Sommelier exam.
Question

Are there scholarships available for becoming a wine sommelier?

Community Answer

Yes, there are! Each of the major Sommelier organizations offer various scholarships, though admittance is usually very competitive. Another thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to be certified to be a sommelier! If money is an issue right now, start tasting on your own and working for restaurants, and get certified later (or never!). There are plenty of great and even famous sommeliers who have never been certified.
Question

Where can I go to learn? How long is the learning process of becoming a wine sommelier?

Community Answer

There are sommelier courses all over the world, and you can always teach yourself by going to tastings and reading about wine.
Question

After I complete my sommelier certification, where should I go to get a job?

Community Answer

Most high-end restaurants employ sommeliers, but you don't actually have to be certified in order to work for them! They're looking for your experience and how good of a service professional, two things you can obtain without being certified. If you are certified, take your resume to local high-end restaurants and apply for a job as a sommelier.