What started out as a very clear path to sommelier-hood was quickly disrupted by the pandemic. This week, however, begins our final countdown to completing the Introductory Sommelier Course & Examination. If you’ve followed the journey, beginning with Enthusiast to Sommelier: Getting Started, you quickly realize how self-study followed by a two-day course and examination turned into a fifteen-month marathon. Sometimes it seemed more like a fifteen-month rollercoaster 😉 Fortunately, there was wine. Lots of wine!

The past few months have been non-productive. Summer is the time to enjoy the easy breezy lifestyle of casual get togethers and family gatherings. And while many (ok… all) of these events involved wine, it didn’t involve wine education. With the exception of several wine-themed events–such as tastings and food/wine pairings–very little progress was made towards preparing for the exam. All of that changed this week as we begin the final countdown.

We began the week with a bing-watching day of online classes hosted by various Master Sommeliers of The Court of Master Sommeliers. Then we each took six practice exams to get an idea of where we need to concentrate our studies. As expected, recalling most of the information about major wine regions was second nature. This was definitely not the case with the more diverse regions (e.g. Loire Valley). For the next four evenings, we will be diving deep into these challenging regions. If all goes well, we will have completed the course and examination by this time next week.

The clock is ticking 😉

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