How to become a sommelier

Wine tasting may be a timeless hobby, but it takes more than a few casual tastings to become a true expert.

For individuals interested in working in the food, beverage, and/or hospitality industries, earning a sommelier certification can advance your career by offering you an experience-based and rigorous program of study. Attending sommelier school can further your career development by giving you the foundations necessary to succeed in wine service, whether you envision yourself as a Beverage Director, a Consulting Sommelier, a wine merchant, a restaurant owner, or in another position related to beverage service.

Kendall College in Chicago offers two pathways to learn how to become successful sommeliers: our Hospitality Management Program (with a concentration in Beverage Management), or our continuing education Wine Professional Program.

Click through to find out what it takes to become a sommelier…

What is a sommelier?

A sommelier is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional with a deep knowledge of wine, wine service, and wine and food pairing, and a master sommelier typically earns around US$80,000 annually, though that will vary by employer and location. From developing wine lists to training restaurant staff on wine service and working within the taste preferences and budgets of customers, a sommelier is an expert on everything wine-related. In fact, a sommelier today may have a broader range of expertise than just wines, and he or she might also have specialty knowledge of beers, spirits, cocktails, mineral waters, coffees, and teas.

According to Adam Sweders, head sommelier at Prime and Provisions in Chicago, a unique point of service is to make diners feel special. “When you have someone come to the table who talks passionately about wine, it infects people with that passion.”

How long does it take to become a sommelier?

Laura Rhys, head sommelier at La Trompette Restaurant in London

While a sommelier is a job title that anyone can have, becoming a professionally certified sommelier requires years of study, tastings, and experience. For example, Laura Rhys, a head sommelier at La Trompette Restaurant in the United Kingdom, began working as a sommelier in 2004, eventually taking the Court of Master Sommeliers Exams and participating in several sommelier competitions. She passed her Master Sommelier Diploma in 2010.

What career path does a sommelier typically follow?

It’s possible to start your career as a sommelier by teaching yourself about wine and getting a job in the restaurant or hospitality industry; however potential employers are more likely to hire you if you have your sommelier certification first.

As a sommelier, you can work at a restaurant as a beverage director or wine director, enhancing customers’ overall dining experiences with your specialized knowledge. According to Kendall’s John Laloganes, a Level III Sommelier, “the sommelier’s role can be compared to that of an executive chef or chef de cuisine because of their potentially broad range of focuses in the restaurant (aside from wine, beer, distilled spirits, and even coffee, tea, ciders and sake may fall under their domain.”

You can also work as a wine merchant, a manager of a tasting room, as a wine distributor, or as a proprietor of a wine store.

What personality traits does a sommelier need?

A sommelier must blend his or her highly specialized knowledge with exceptional customer service skills to make the customers’ dining experiences outstanding. He or she must be dedicated to all aspects of wine and wine service, and he or she should be able to creatively problem solve (for example, a sommelier will need to be able to find the right wine for a customer’s palate and budget). Strong people skills and an ability to work well with others are also essential.

Laloganes believes that “a sommelier is a position of a highly skilled and talented professional that has an exceptional and exemplary track record of customer service skills. They should not only have a solid foundation of the technical skills, but also personal qualities such as being modest, confident, charming, articulate, and passionate.”

Going further, Marc Weisburg, a former executive chef and sommelier, believes that learning to read people is an essential quality of a sommelier. “After years in the service industry, you get a sense of not only someone’s preferences, but also their mood. As a sommelier, you have to be sensitive to both the customers’ wine preferences, their adventure/risk factor, and their mood. And, the atmosphere at a table will be very different if it is a couple on a date, whether it’s a first date or they’ve been together for a long time, or on the other hand if it’s a casual business meeting or a formal business lunch/dinner.”

Check out this infographic for more information on how to become a sommelier…