This past fall I spent a week in Northern California training and tasting in preparation to take my exam for the Advanced Sommelier Certificate, granted by the United States Sommelier Association.
The blind tasting part of the exam was a killer, featuring two wines that rarely make it onto a US wine list — a Portuguese Albariño or Alvarinho (as the Portuguese call it) and a South African Pinotage (that was markedly uncharacteristic in its flavor profile).
My fellow classmates and test-takers and were visibly dismayed when the wines were revealed as we had all failed to identify these two varietals and we expected we had failed the blind tasting portion of the exam (which included only five wines).
So I was delighted and surprised when I was informed that I had passed the exam and I waited in anticipation for the actual certificate to be mailed to me as proof positive that I was officially certified.
What will I do now that I'm a certified wine educator and sommelier? I'm not sure yet. I have been very busy working towards another certification that enhances my executive, life and transition coaching business. This has nothing to do with wine, of course, but I joke with my friends that if I, as an executive, life and transition coach, I can't help my clients move towards their goals and desires I can at very least pour them a well-chosen glass of Bordeaux.
Cheers!
The blind tasting part of the exam was a killer, featuring two wines that rarely make it onto a US wine list — a Portuguese Albariño or Alvarinho (as the Portuguese call it) and a South African Pinotage (that was markedly uncharacteristic in its flavor profile).
My fellow classmates and test-takers and were visibly dismayed when the wines were revealed as we had all failed to identify these two varietals and we expected we had failed the blind tasting portion of the exam (which included only five wines).
So I was delighted and surprised when I was informed that I had passed the exam and I waited in anticipation for the actual certificate to be mailed to me as proof positive that I was officially certified.
What will I do now that I'm a certified wine educator and sommelier? I'm not sure yet. I have been very busy working towards another certification that enhances my executive, life and transition coaching business. This has nothing to do with wine, of course, but I joke with my friends that if I, as an executive, life and transition coach, I can't help my clients move towards their goals and desires I can at very least pour them a well-chosen glass of Bordeaux.
Cheers!
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