Certified Sommelier service exam: practical tips to pass

The short answer: practise the tasks that come up most, sparkling wine service, a pairing with producer, vintage and appellation, and quick answers on cocktails, spirits and aperitifs, at a real table, until the mechanics run on their own. Then your attention is free for the person the exam is really about: the guest.

New to the format? Start with what the Certified practical exam is. This page is about how to get ready for it.

1. Learn your Court's service standards

Both Courts publish service standards, and they are not identical. Learn the one you will be examined on, word for word:

Sources: the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe's Service Standards, in its Journal, and the Americas' Hospitality & Service Standards. In both, you serve from the guest's right.

2. Make sparkling wine boring

Sparkling wine is the task you are most likely to meet, and the one where nerves show. Rehearse it until it is dull:

• Set up first: glasses placed, an ice bucket with water and ice, two service cloths, an underliner for the cork.
• Present the bottle to the host and confirm the wine and vintage out loud.
• Cut the foil cleanly and put it in your pocket.
• Thumb on the cork from now on. Loosen the cage under your thumb and keep the bottle pointed away from every guest.
• Twist the bottle, not the cork, at about 45°, in the air or in the bucket, never against your body. Let the gas out with a sigh, not a pop.
• Pour the host a taste, wait for approval, then serve the table in your Court's order.
• My drill: pour one bottle evenly into eight glasses, again and again, until every glass matches. Then carry them on a tray. The Court of Master Sommeliers Europe's study tips name carrying a tray and opening sparkling wine among the absolute minimums.

3. Rehearse still wine and decanting

• Still wine: foil cut below the second lip, cork drawn quietly, bottle wiped, a taste for the host, then the table.
• Decanting an old red: everything on the guéridon before you go to the table; the bottle in a lined basket so the sediment stays still; a candle behind the neck; one slow, steady pour; stop when the sediment arrives.
• Talk while you work. Tell the guest what you are doing and why. In a real dining room, decanting is part of the show.

4. Have pairings ready, with names

• Give a full answer. The Americas' exam guide says full marks for a pairing need the producer, vintage and full appellation.
• Keep a short list in your head by style: a light, crisp white; a full-bodied white; an off-dry white; a lighter, food-friendly red; a full-bodied red. That is the Americas' own suggestion, and it covers most dishes.
• Have an alternative ready, at a different price or from the Old World and the New, in case the guest wants something else.
• Say why in guest language: “The acidity cuts through the cream sauce”, not a lecture.

For the principles behind good answers, read food and wine pairing for CMS exams.

5. Drill the drinks questions

• Cocktails: the spirit, mixers, glass and garnish of the classics. Start with the gin cocktails.
• Producers: two names for each spirit, beer style and liqueur. The Americas' examples include two producers of stout, of single malt Scotch, of French vermouth and of coffee liqueur.
• Aperitif brands: the country and the taste of each, such as Aperol, pastis, Dolin, Lillet and Manzanilla Sherry.
• Champagne and Bordeaux names: the top cuvées of the great Champagne houses, and the First and Second Growths of 1855.
• Vintages: the best recent years, over the last 10 to 15, for classic regions such as Champagne, Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino and the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
• Build a drinks list in your head: aperitifs, spirits, cocktails, sparkling wines and non-alcoholic drinks, each with a recommendation ready. The Court of Master Sommeliers Europe gives the same advice.

6. Plan for things going wrong

• Write the order down, repeat it and confirm it. The Americas' guide suggests exactly that when you don't know a producer or wine.
• If you spill or fumble, apologise briefly, fix it and carry on, as you would with a real guest.
• If you don't know an answer, say so gracefully and offer what you do know. The Americas' guide says the examiners are not trying to stump you.
• Pack two of everything. The Americas' standards list two wine openers, two pens, a notepad and two odourless lighters or matches. In Europe, come in your working clothes with your corkscrew and tools.

A simple four-week practice plan

• Week 1: read your Court's service standards twice; practise still wine service every day.
• Week 2: sparkling wine every day, with the eight-glass drill and the tray.
• Week 3: decanting, plus five pairings a day out loud, each with producer, vintage and appellation.
• Week 4: full mock exams with a friend playing the guest and asking drinks questions, timed at about 16 minutes.

For the drinks and producer names, a few minutes of questions every day works better than one long session. SOMM DIGI AI has 3,000+ exam-prep questions and quizzes on any topic you choose.

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