How To Become A Sommelier

There are only 269 people worldwide who hold the master sommelier title. The Master Sommelier Certification is the highest achievement you can make in the world of wine. The exam is said to be one of the hardest and most prestigious in the world.

In this video, Certified Sommelier, Vince explains the different agencies that offer sommelier certifications and the most well-known organization, The Court Of Master Sommeliers. The Court Of Master Sommeliers has 4 levels of certification: Introductory, Certified, Advanced, and Master.
The exam is made up of 3 parts: Theory, Service, and Blind Tasting.

Vince shares his experience becoming a Certified Sommelier and tips on how to study and pass the exam. After months of studying for the exam, Vince realized there was no easy way for the average person to learn about wine casually. Thus, V is for Vino was born. V is for Vino makes wine theory easy to understand and accessible to all.

Join our amazing community - VINO VIP - where you’ll have exclusive access to members-only content from in-depth wine education videos, to interviews, behind the scenes, virtual wine tastings, raffles/giveaways, your name in the credits of an episode, and early access to full episodes of Season 4 of V for Vino. This season Vince travels to wine regions in Portugal, France, Spain, and Italy, so you definitely don't want to miss it.
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00:00 - What is a Sommelier?
01:20 - The Different Sommelier Certification Agencies
01:45 - The Court Of Masters Sommeliers - 4 Levels
02:40 - How To Study For The Test - 3 Parts: Theory, Service, Blind Tasting
07:00 - How To Train For The Exam
08:20 - WHY? V is For Vino: Wine Education Made Easy
08:53 - Vino VIP: Join Our Community

[Strathd.somm]

Great video! On my journey to becoming a certified somm, I started with WSET 2 and fell in love with wine, I immediately took WSET 3 after and knew this was my passion. I then jumped over to CMS for the certified as it was more cost effective than the WSET 4 Diploma. But as you said, WSET is a more detailed educational program, and that is what gave me a great advantage / foundation to learning and building the additional knowledge needed for the CMS Certified exam. Mentoring is a huge thing that I’m glad you highlighted. I was lucky enough to have a class available in my city that is run by a master sommelier that prepares you for what you need to know for the Certified exam, including classes with tastings on the the important regions, as well as breaks for blind flights in between. One thing I will add to your assessment about blind tasting, is that it is a muscle you need to work. You get better at identifying flavours, aromas and structure the more often you get to do it. Which is why tasting groups or classes like mine are so important for that part of the exam. You nailed it, great video again. There are many ways to achieve a certification, mine was more like a hybrid of education, but at the end of the day, I achieved what I wanted it has allowed me to grow to a successful position in the hospitality industry. If anyone sees this, just know that there are many ways you can achieve your goals for certification, and you don’t necessarily have to just choose one, but choose the best path for you. Cheers!

[jameswingad]

"Having to do all the travelling" is an interesting way of putting it. It´s utterly brilliant! I love nothing more than travelling to wine regions, eating food in their lical restaurants and that no more than 12 months of the year... More seriously though so often the wine makes so much more sense if you´re there and taste where it was produced.

[laurawenrick]

WSET level 2 was a great resource and accomplishment for serious wine students and drinkers and the knowledge to amassing a great collectIon. I believe I got a well-rounded base to continue to learn about wine and continue to stock my wine cooler with great wines. WSET 3 … next year. 😃🍷

[lostbonobo]

Finally an educational video about the subject that provides a path and tools. Thank you!

[Dr.JohnLenihan]

Nice video. I did the Intro somm Class and passed but haven’t been able to find much info on how to prep for the CS exam. I passed the CSW test from the SWE after a year of intensive study and found it very helpful in preparing for my WSET 2 exam and the Intro Somm course, so I would highly recommend that. Keep the blind tasting videos coming. They are very useful!

[GadgetGuru-rw]

Sommelier goes back even further in history, he was basically the rations planner for the King on any trips he would take and have you heard about all of those kings that were worried about being poisoned? The Sommelier was the taster of food and beverages to ensure they were safe for the King to consume. Cheers!

[PNWJEEPER]

If your goal here was to make it easier for people to learn, I think you knocked it out of the park.
I've been working in the wine industry for several years, always looking to learn more about wine and grapes, how they're made, the people who make them and the history and culture associated with them. Honestly, I'm pretty fascinated by anything that comes in a bottle- wine or spirit.
These videos have helped me learn more and prompted me to research more, in the few weeks since I discovered them than I learned in the past year. Seriously - this is awesome stuff.
So far, I've been building as much theory as I can in order to become a more competent wine enthusiast, salesperson and server; but I'd like to take the WSET in the next year.
Thanks for sharing your experience and all the great material!

[Cclo]

Great video, yet again. Huge fan. I have you to thank in part for my WSET3 certification. So glad I found you on YT early in my journey. Cheers!🍷

[dlclawson]

Great information. Just took the WSET level
One exam and waiting for my results. Level two is next on my list!!

[KishorTwist]

I’d love to become one just for the knowledge.

[Seannery]

Great video, Vince! I agree that WSET is great at walking you through and really educating you. I did level 1 & 2 last year virtually from home and it was fun. It had been a VERY long time since I had been in a classroom or done anything really educational, and I really wanted to do well, so in the end I studied way harder than I probably needed to before both exams. But it was worth it.

[gabrielnunesduarte]

Thanks for that video, i am recently took the lvl 2 wset exam, and now looking further to do the lvl3, im in service industry for about 3 years now.

[irenezadonska]

I am so looking forward to your videos from Tuscany and Sicily

[tiberiumore]

such a useful video, please do more like this for us wine novices, thank you

[marksands]

I'm a new subscriber and I have to say that your videos are very well done and the content is interesting and keeps me engaged. I look forward to watching many more or your videos. Thanks.

[carlcadregari]

Great video as always. Why did you become a SOMM? You should consider opening a school, your presentation style is very professional but not stuffy or pretentious. I’d take a course from you. I got into wine at the end of 2019, my epiphany wine was a 2010 Brunello di Montalcino we had in Florence. I never knew wine could taste like that. Came home and started learning. So far I’ve done WSET L2 and L3, WSG Italian Wine Scholar and read the Society of Wine Educators CSW book (but not the course) and a couple of online “master classes”, built myself a wine cellar and have been to some industry tastings and more. I went that route just like you said, I wanted to learn but the service component was not something I wanted. I’ve lots and lots of other books that I’ve read, for studying and pleasure (not sure it’s permissible to mention them on your site). This is a life long learning path for sure. And I know I’ve just scratched the surface.. My dad was a plant geneticist, and I’m a science geek, so that part of viticulture is way cool to learn, but so is the art of wine, the history, the people, everything. Oh, and you get to drink wine for study purposes! Thanks again for great videos!

[CH-tgzq]

Vince, I am so glad that you decided to go in the direction of making educational videos. You might be a "certified" sommelier but you are a "master" educator. Many thanks for all of the great content that you produce!

[dunsterman]

Clear and concise. Great information. Thanks!

[travisthompson]

Thanks for this! I am looking to transition into wine sales from way unrelated current career and am strongly considering WSET to get a strong foundation of knowlege.

[edriccarter]

Awesome video. Thank you.
What books/resources do you recommend to read and prepare flashcards for the court of master sommelier intro and certified exams?