Breaking into the wine-tasting profession

By HOLLY J. WAGNER , Special Advertising Sections Writer

The word sommelier conjures images of tuxedoed men tasting and serving wine, but the profession is changing, offering broader responsibilities for a greater pool of aspirants who need some unexpected skills to succeed.

“Wine in America is poised on a big, shifting plateau right now. Historically, most wine professionals were self-taught,” said Karen MacNeil, chairwoman of the professional wine studies program at the Greystone Campus of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa and author of “The Wine Bible.” “The problem with self-teaching is you can teach yourself something wrong.”

Experts agree that the ability to taste wines can be learned, but this career is only for people who love wine, people and the hospitality business.

“Anybody in the wine business has to be passionate about wine. Suddenly wine is more than just a fad, it is an important part of our lifestyle, but it is not an easy business to break into.

You really have to pay your dues,” said Peter Marks, the wine curator at the Copia wine education and cultural center in Napa.

Marks, who has achieved the most difficult certification in the business, the Master of Wines, teaches professionals and the general public at the center. It’s not just about wine — part of his job is teaching aspiring professionals what to expect on the job.

“You are working nights, you are probably working weekends and holidays. You are working special events. You select wines, work with the chef, educate the wait staff. You have to be a presenter,” he said. There are two, often overlapping, paths to a career as sommelier: working up through the restaurant industry and getting some formal training. Both can involve long work hours and a variety of tasks. The highest cost involved — the wines themselves — often lead students to work in restaurants or wine retail environments where they can get access to world-class wines through tastings.

“To really become a sommelier, you have to develop some professional experience in the wine field. You have to be able to share that knowledge with people,” said Andrea Robinson, dean of the wine program at the French Culinary Institute in New York City.

Becoming a sommelier is a combination of self-teaching and certification programs, and about a third of sommeliers nationwide work without ever pursuing certification, according to a survey published in January 2005 by the professional networking Web site Starchefs.

com. Two-thirds of respondents had some type of professional wine training. Competition is hot in California, which accounted for 25% of survey respondents and ranked second in professional training at 73%. But, that means opportunity in a field where the pay averages $52,700 a year, according to the Starchefs survey.

Only a few organizations offer certification, but most of them have classes in many states and countries, often at cooking schools and college extension programs.

The Court of Master Sommeliers offers two types of certification:

Master Sommelier and Master of Wines. The first, directed at restaurant professionals, covers wine theory, geography and tasting, but also includes components of building a wine list and cellar for a restaurant, managing inventory, training staff and customer interaction.

The Master of Wines is a more sophisticated and intense wine education with little focus on service. It is administered under the auspices of the London, England-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust. The trust offers courses in 26 countries, including at Copia.

Also available is a Certified Wine Professional designation from CIA.

That course is focused more on the wines than on service, and people who earn this certification alone are more often working in wine importing or retailing businesses than restaurants and hotels.

“You can learn it if you work hard enough,’ ” MacNeil said. “You don’t have to have the perfect palette. Hardly anyone does.”

Already trained as a sous chef at Culinary Institute of America, Andy Herbert decided to pursue education as a sommelier at the school’s Greystone Campus.

“I worked as a sous chef, but I decided that I was more a front-ofthe- house guy,” he said. “I spent about $20,000 for a year’s education, taking every class they offered.”

He said because of the level of instruction he got from the professionals, with every class he took, his feelings of confidence and his sense of competence grew exponentially.

The CIA reputation and networking also helped him get his job as the sommelier and wine director at Mozambique, a South African restaurant in Laguna Beach.

“I don’t think anybody can achieve the MS or MW title without a lot of self-discipline and selflearning,” Marks said. “Things are changing constantly and every vintage is a new experience.”

Jeffrey Steele is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

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