My theory on wine tasting

first of all - the dedication of the people depicted in this is impressive. insane and impressive. can't help but feel they could have been med students with the hours and years some of them have and will put into passing those exams.

However i do get the impression that the exams are fixed. Theory/service and ability to talk about wine + get people excited about wine are the only practical skills you would really need. the blind tasting just seems like an excuse to fail people who either:

dont present the right image

are not convincing with their wine banter

most importantly...
to keep the somm group elite and prevent the industry from becoming saturated with sommeliers

and that makes sense, even if it is incredibly unfair on the people who dedicate years to the exams only to be scammed at the end because the quota has already been filled.

ian may have touched on this when he noted - the exams were to be 'fairer' this year. also that they never tell you what the wines are after. seems shady.

anyway thats my impression of what is actually going on - i got the feeling most of those guys would be doing it anyway whether they knew the wine tasting counted for almost nothing in the end.