Learn wine faster with AI (without skipping the books)

When I first wrote this in 2023, the promise was “skip the wine books”. I'd put it differently now: don't skip the books, get through them faster. AI is quick, patient and awake at 2 a.m. It is also sometimes wrong. A good book or an official source is how you catch it.

The short answer: use a syllabus to choose what to learn, an AI chat to explain it and quiz you, and a trusted source to check it. That loop is faster than reading cover to cover, and safer than trusting AI alone. All you need to start is a computer or phone and the free versions of the tools below.

How good is AI at wine, really?

Good, and not perfect. In March 2023, OpenAI's GPT-4 Technical Report tested its models on simulated sommelier theory exams. GPT-4 scored 92% on the Introductory, 86% on the Certified and 77% on the Advanced theory. The older GPT-3.5 scored 46% on the Advanced, well below the Court's 60% pass mark.

Two things to take from that. First, it was theory knowledge only: no AI sat the tasting or the service exam. Second, even the strong model got about a quarter of the Advanced theory wrong. Use AI to learn faster, and keep something reliable next to it.

The tools

• An AI chat such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, to explain topics and quiz you.
• An AI search tool such as Perplexity, which shows the sources behind each answer so you can check them.
• Your syllabus. It tells you what to learn and how deep. Get the current one from your Court or WSET: here is how to use the Court's syllabus.
• A trusted reference: your course book, a wine atlas, or the official body of the region you're studying.

The method, step by step

• 1. Pick one line from the syllabus. Say you're studying Austria and the line reads: define Strohwein.
• 2. Ask the AI at your level. “Explain Strohwein for a sommelier student at Introductory level, in five bullet points.”
• 3. Check it. Ask Perplexity the same question and open its sources, or go straight to the official body, for Austria that's Austrian Wine (austrianwine.com). If they disagree, the official source wins.
• 4. Make it yours. Write the answer in your own words, in your notes. Writing it is half of remembering it.
• 5. Turn it into questions. “Write three multiple-choice questions on this, each with one clearly right answer.”
• 6. Test yourself tomorrow, from memory, before you look.

Then the next line. Line by line, the syllabus becomes notes you trust and questions you can answer.

Ask in the format that suits you

This is where AI beats any book: it will teach you the way you learn. I learn best from bullet points, so that's what I ask for. Prefer tables? Ask for a table. Flashcards, a comparison of two regions, a story, a map described from north to south: just ask. Same facts, your format.

• “Put the Grand Crus of Chablis in a table with one note each.”
• “Compare Barolo and Barbaresco: grape, ageing rules, style.”
• “Turn this page of my notes into ten flashcards.”

Where the books still win

• Depth and context. A good book connects the map, the history and the why. AI answers the question you asked, not the one you didn't know to ask.
• Checked facts. A published reference has been edited and corrected. AI's answer was written a second ago.
• The exam's own words. Your Court's or WSET's material is what the exam is written from.
• And neither tastes for you. That part is a glass, a grid and a group.

The shortcut I built

Today I have put this way of studying into SOMM DIGI AI. Honest about it: I didn't build my own AI model. I taught today's best AI to talk wine like a sommelier, using my own Advanced Sommelier exam notes. It has 3,000+ exam-prep questions, quizzes and flashcards, pronunciation, and tools for the Court of Master Sommeliers and WSET paths. It's free to start, with no card, and the free Prompt Guide works in ChatGPT and Claude too.

Questions people ask