The words of our friends and family are still fresh in our minds. “You should take your love and passion for wine to the next level” one friend suggested at a wine pairing dinner. Another commented, “Yea… you guys really sweat the details and try to understand everything about these wines.” And so we thought… yea, why not. No one could have predicted the extraordinary circumstances that has made this particular journey so unusual. In a year without a pandemic we would have studied for months, attended the Introductory Sommelier Course & Examination as so many others have done. The Court of Master Sommeliers has done an incredible job communicating the ever-changing schedule of their wine education and certification events. Their positive outlook in the most recent announcement, however, doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Here we are in month eight (8) of our journey from “enthusiast to sommelier.” There is currently no end in sight. We’ve just received notice of our second cancellation. Unlike the previous cancellation, none of the events have been rescheduled. This means that we do not have a date for our Introductory Sommelier Course & Examination. I completely understand the challenges brought on by the pandemic, and appreciate (and respect) the guidelines necessary to keep everyone healthy and safe. All we can do at this point is to continue reading, re-reading, learning, quizzing and discussing all of the information anticipated for the first-level course and exam.

More to come!

Next article in the series: Enthusiast to Sommelier: Aroma Training

First article in this series: Enthusiast to Sommelier: Getting Started