Complete a certified sommelier course.

“We all return to the same ballroom at 1:30 p.m. There’s some sparkling rose from Oregon waiting for us! All of us are quietly stressing. “If #1 wasn’t a Chardonnay, then WTF was it?” At this point, if anyone in our group thought for sure they passed, they were keeping that to themselves. The masters gather us in a circle. We are congratulated for our hard work, and courage just for attempting this exam. And then one by one, names of those who passed are revealed. [...] Once we told there was just one name left to read, I knew my verdict. I joined six of my fourteen colleagues in the “Not Pass” group (curiously, the Court never uses the word “Fail”).”

“I just took the CMS Certified Sommelier exam a couple of days ago. I passed theory and tasting but didn’t pass the service portion. To be honest it’s my own fault. I didn’t prepare for service the way I should have. I don’t work in hospitality or in a restaurant so I didn’t have the kind of floor experience that really makes a difference. I studied the mechanics of service and watched videos but it’s not the same as actually doing it in a live setting. What I learned is that service is not something you can just study. It’s about muscle memory guest interaction poise and timing. And it really shows if you haven’t spent time doing it.”

“The two-day global wine marathon concluded with the final examination. The test anxiety was almost palpable in the air by test time. It was at this point when I sympathized with my classmates who specialize in wines from a particular region – whether retail, restaurant, distribution, or winery. I also empathized with my classmates who had gone straight to work for a Saturday night shift at their bar or restaurant after Day One. A generalist and rookie like me was in the strangely more enviable position. The test itself – I will divulge nothing specific – covered an impressive range of both specific and general wine and sommelier service knowledge. The questions were a mix of what some of us later termed “softball” questions and some really tough, specific (what I call “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” questions). I handed in my exam with the confidence that I’d at least passed the thing.”