Sommelier: What They Do and How to Become One

A sommelier is a wine professional who runs the wine and drinks side of a restaurant: choosing the wines, building the list, recommending bottles to guests and serving them properly. Many sommeliers earn certificates from bodies such as the Court of Master Sommeliers or the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). This guide explains what the job involves, how the main certifications work, how many Master Sommeliers there are, and how to get started.

Note: The Wine Blue Book team are researchers, not sommeliers. Everything below comes from the certifying bodies’ own pages, which we link in the Sources box.

What does a sommelier do?

The Court of Master Sommeliers Americas (CMS-A), which runs a four-level sommelier certification program, describes the job as much more than recommending wine. According to its “What a sommelier does” page, a restaurant sommelier handles:

• Wine selection: building a wine list that suits the food and the guests, and that sells.
• Wine pairing: suggesting wines that match the dishes.
• Wine service: opening and decanting, serving at the right temperature, and choosing the right glass.
• Education: training staff and guiding customers, sometimes running tastings.
• Cellar management: in some places, inventory, storage and buying.

The CMS-A adds that sommeliers are often responsible for the whole beverage list, including beer, sake, spirits and cocktails. Fine-dining restaurants are the classic workplace, but it points to many other careers too.

In our view, the best sommeliers are mostly good hosts: knowing a lot about wine matters less than finding the right bottle for each guest’s taste and budget. If you’re curious about the tasting side of the job, our guide to how to taste wine walks through the basics, and our wine and food pairing guide covers the matching rules sommeliers start from.

The Court of Master Sommeliers: four levels

The CMS-A runs a four-level program. Each level must be passed before the next:

Level	Format	Key requirements (CMS-A)
1. Introductory Sommelier Course & Examination	Two-day in-person course, or online over up to six months, ending in an exam	70 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes; 60% to pass; open to anyone 21 or over
2. Certified Sommelier Examination	One-day exam	Written blind tasting of four wines, a 45-question theory test and a service exam; 60% on every section in one sitting
3. Advanced Sommelier Course & Examination	Three-day course, then a separate exam	At least two years of restaurant service or sales experience and a knowledge assessment to get into the course; theory, verbal tasting and practical exam
4. Master Sommelier Diploma Examination	Oral theory, blind tasting of six wines, service exam	Must pass all three parts

Level 1: Introductory Sommelier

The course is taught by Master Sommeliers and introduces the Court’s Deductive Tasting Method, a structured way to describe a wine and work out what it is, plus its service standards and basic theory on wine, beer, spirits and sake. As of October 2026, the CMS-A lists the in-person course and exam at $949, wines included, and the online version at $649, wines sold separately. The in-person course runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. over two days, with the exam on the afternoon of day two.

Level 2: Certified Sommelier

In our view, this is the level most people mean by a “certified sommelier.” The CMS-A strongly suggests at least three years in the industry and about a year of study after the Introductory level. The exam has three parts:

• Tasting: describe and identify four wines, two white and two red, in writing within 45 minutes.
• Theory: 45 questions, including multiple choice, short answers and simple math, in 38 minutes.
• Hospitality and service: a mock restaurant setting where you may open still or sparkling wine, recommend drinks and discuss food pairings.

You need at least 60% on every section in the same sitting. Successful candidates get a certificate and the Certified Sommelier lapel pin.

Level 3: Advanced Sommelier

The CMS-A recommends waiting at least a year after the Certified exam. To get into the three-day Advanced course, you must have passed the Certified exam, have at least two years of restaurant experience in a service or sales role within the past seven years, work in the hospitality or beverage trade, and pass the Sommelier Knowledge Assessment, a roughly 55-minute test at a Pearson testing center. The Advanced exam itself has three parts: a written theory exam taken first at a Pearson VUE center, then verbal tasting and a practical service exam. All three must be passed within one calendar year, with at least 60% on each.

Level 4: Master Sommelier

The Master Sommelier Diploma is the top level. According to the CMS-A, it has three parts:

• Theory: a one-hour oral exam on wine regions, grapes, winemaking, history and service, plus beer, sake, spirits and cocktails.
• Hospitality and service: a restaurant-style scenario testing presentation, decanting, glassware, pairing, business math and salesmanship.
• Tasting: six wines, three red and three white, tasted blind in 25 minutes, described aloud to a panel, with grape, region and vintage identified.

The CMS-A says it takes 5 to 10 years on average, or longer, to become a Master Sommelier.

A short history

The CMS-A traces the title to 1969, when the first Master Sommelier exam was held in London. The Court of Master Sommeliers was set up in 1977 to standardize sommelier training, and in 1987 the first Master Sommelier exam outside the UK took place in Monterey, California.

How many Master Sommeliers are there?

These are the official counts from the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas, with the date of each:

Count	Source and date
305 Master Sommeliers worldwide, 176 in the Americas	CMS-A announcement, September 14, 2026
299 worldwide, 176 earned through the Americas chapter	CMS-A “About Master Sommeliers” page, checked October 28, 2026
4 new Master Sommeliers out of 30 candidates	2026 Master Sommelier exam, per the September 14, 2026 announcement

The two worldwide totals don’t match, so we show both with their dates. The CMS-A lists Master Sommeliers from countries including the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, China, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. We could not find an official count of Certified or Introductory sommeliers in the US on the CMS-A site, so we don’t give one.

For comparison, the Institute of Masters of Wine, a separate body, says 528 people have become a Master of Wine (MW) since its first exam in 1953.

WSET qualifications

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), based in London, offers four levels of wine qualifications through course providers in more than 70 countries, according to its website. They cover wine production, regions and WSET’s Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine; unlike the upper CMS-A levels, none of the WSET wine pages we read describes a restaurant service exam.

WSET level	Study time	Assessment	Entry requirement
Level 1 Award in Wines	At least 6 hours	30 multiple-choice questions	None
Level 2 Award in Wines	At least 28 hours, including 16 hours of teaching	One-hour exam, 50 multiple-choice questions	None
Level 3 Award in Wines	At least 84 hours, including 30 hours of teaching	Unit 1: 50 multiple-choice questions and a short written-answer paper; Unit 2: blind tasting of two wines	Level 2 or equivalent knowledge recommended
Level 4 Diploma in Wines	At least 500 hours, including 116 hours of teaching	Six units, including a 3,000-word research assignment	WSET Level 3 Award in Wines (or in Wines and Spirits) required

WSET says the Diploma usually takes 18 months to 3 years and is a key step for anyone who wants to go on to become a Master of Wine. WSET says its wine qualifications at Levels 1 to 3 are regulated by Ofqual in the UK.

CMS or WSET: which should you take?

In our view, the choice depends on where you want to work:

• Restaurant floor: the CMS-A path, because it tests service and salesmanship as well as knowledge.
• Retail, import, marketing or writing: WSET, because its levels are built around theory and structured tasting.
• Not sure yet: WSET Level 2 is a low-commitment way to find out how much you enjoy studying wine.

Plenty of professionals do both. We’d start with whichever course is offered closest to you, since in-person tasting practice is hard to replace.

How to become a sommelier

The CMS-A suggests a mix of study, practice and work experience. Based on its advice:

1. Learn the basics. Read widely and go to tastings and classes to learn the main regions, grapes and winemaking methods. Our wine books guide lists good places to start.
2. Get a first certificate. Take the CMS-A Introductory course or WSET Level 1 or 2.
3. Practice tasting. Go to tastings, join a wine club or practice with friends and colleagues to train your memory for aromas and flavors.
4. Work in a restaurant. The CMS-A suggests starting as a server, barback or bartender to learn service and how a restaurant works.
5. Build a network. Get to know other sommeliers, winemakers and distributors.
6. Move up the levels. Each CMS-A level must be passed before the next, and the CMS-A recommends waiting about a year between the Certified and Advanced exams.

Tip: You must be of legal drinking age to taste in these courses: 21 or over for the CMS-A’s in-person Introductory course in the US, and the legal drinking age of the country you study in for WSET.

What a sommelier earns

We only quote pay figures from official sources, and we didn’t find a sommelier-specific figure on an official page, so we don’t give one here.