For most of my professional career, the sommelier has been a relic of the past, a symbol of that forgotten time when only the wealthy ordered fine wine off a restaurant wine list and only the stuffiest, most image-conscious restaurants found it necessary to employ a certified wine professional to cater to their upper-crust clientele. A restaurant with a sommelier was considered by most casual wine drinkers to be wine snobbery on steroids.
The world has changed, and so has the professional sommelier. To some extent much of the credit for the change goes to the Court of Master Sommeliers, which trains, tests and certifies sommeliers in four distinct levels of expertise and maintains the professional standards that have shaped the world of the modern sommelier.
"Somm," the movie, is a documentary by Jason Wise that follows four young sommeliers as they prepare for the Master Sommelier (MS) exam. "Somm" is now showing in theaters around the country and also is available at the iTunes store.
If you have the vaguest interest in wine and dine out with any frequency, you need to see this film. Whatever you think you know, or could possibly imagine, about the world of the professional sommelier, do yourself a favor and check your assumptions at the door. The subjects of the documentary — Ian, Justin, Brian and JLynn — are ordinary guys with one exception: All four have a passion for wine that has morphed into obsession, which in turn has inspired their quest to be the best they can be at their chosen profession.
Of the four levels of expertise certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers — Level 1, Certified, Advanced and Master — the Master level is the highest and most difficult to achieve. Of those who take the Master Somm exam, only 3 percent pass. There are but 200 or so master sommeliers in the world.
The preparation is demanding, time consuming, and mentally and physically grueling. Most sommeliers studying for the Master exam do so in teams, constantly challenging each other to improve their knowledge of the subject, their tasting skills and their service skills under extreme pressure. Many brilliant sommeliers never pass the Master exam despite multiple attempts. It’s that hard.
Wise in his documentary follows one such study group. The film was three years in the making and made a huge splash at the Napa Valley Film Festival earlier this year. The four characters are compelling at a very basic human level, while resisting the urge to give in to a fear of failure as they immerse themselves in what to many might seem to be an impossible dream. Master Sommelier Fred Dame, a legendary sommelier and one of the testers at the Master exam, is brilliant simply being himself.
The film is polished and sophisticated in the way "Sideways" never was, and the characters had the crowd at my screening cheering and sighing as the results of the exam were announced. "Somm" is entertaining, at times great fun, and, I daresay, delivers an important message about the growing presence of the modern professional sommelier in the restaurant industry.
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