International Sommelier Guild

[pjackso]

I am thinking of taking the Sommelier courses offered by "The International Sommelier Guild". Is this going to be a waste of my time or is it the real deal?

Thanks...

pjackso

[Carema]

Most american people I know went through the Court of Master Sommeliers who have in their ranks as MSWs such luminaries as Doug Frost, Joe Spellman, and the soon to be famous Alpina Singh. Oh and Andrea Immer too. There are tons more but I cannot remember all their names. Anyway this international guild business looks like a good way to prepare for the court, but I am not sure their diploma means as much. The court diplomas do not mean all that terribly much either. Out of all those guys & ladies, only a few are working sommeliers- working in restaurants, at night, waiting on people, having to bus glasses etc. It is not that glamourous really. During the day you stock wine ( and in many restuarants this is usually in some nook and cranny that is difficult to access) and you do mass amounts of inventory. That is always a blast. Then at night you spend many hours trying to talk people out of Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon. Lots of times if the chef is egotistical enough (and many are) he will make the ultimate buying decisions or what you want to achieve just doesn't cut it in the profit margin area.

Gleaning the knowledge is fun and exciting but utimately, it is a small crowd that wants to hear of the soil & climate differences between the Pfalz and the Mosel really it comes down to- is it dry? will it go with pizza? is it under 20 bucks? Have you had that two buck chuck? No, I want the Brunello that is made of merlot grapes.

[Mark Sommelier]

Carema,

Nice assessment. I can tell you from experience that it may not be all that glamorous, but it sure is lucrative. I've given up talking people out of cabernet and I refuse to stock Cakebread. Something about that name makes people order it like crazy.

[Carema]

You are better man than me.

Ok so I am not a man. Anyway I broke down this year, after 86ing KoBrand out of the shop- "Never return" could be heard echoing down the avenue, Cakebread went off 'restriction' (guess they couldn't sell all one hundred million cases to on premise) and I bought a case. We haven't sold a ton, but if the dude who does not want to be advised about Cabernet by a woman comes in, it is a safe haven for him. I charge an insane amount of money for it (think on premise mark-up).

Maybe I will someday return to the nocturnal work of restuarants but I do not miss the hives. Plus the 6am wake up call on school days (make lunch, make breakfast, get two bodies dressed etc.) is pretty tuff when you are getting off work at oh say 1am

PS my son is in charge of emoticons

[KatieLoeb]

Lucrative for you actively-on-the-floor types, perhaps. Some of us slave away in relative obscurity up in our offices, going blind looking at spreadsheets and having the telephone stuck to our ears all day long... No tips for me, upstairs. This is the decidedly UNglamourous part of the job, along with the endless inventories and the checking in of the orders that was already mentioned.

The glamour part of the job is meeting with the sales people and tasting LOTS of wine that you'd never get to try on your own. Invitations to large scale tastings, wine dinners, introductions to winemakers that are in town meeting with their reps, etc. Then if you should travel on your personal time to any wine procducing areas, you're all hooked up for behind-the-scenes tours of the wineries, the vineyards, etc. Definitely worth it if that's how you like to spend your vacations !

["T"]

I've taken WF 1 and 2 through the ISG debating whether or not to do the sommelier diploma. If you want to learn more about wine than you thought you needed to then take the course. Lots of fun, good information, you get to try a lot of wines and they teach you how to taste properly and critically as well as taking good notes.

Taking courses doesn't mean dick if you aren't passionate about the subject. As in most things you get out what you put in.

If you love wine, take the initial courses since they are not too expensive once you are done then you will have an idea whether or not it is for you.

Send me an email or PM if you have further questions.