CMS Advanced Sommelier case studies
CMS Advanced Sommelier · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Advanced Sommelier Course and Examination is one of the four levels in the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas education program, which begins with the Introductory Sommelier Course and Examination and ends with the Master Sommelier Diploma Examination. It is designed for working sommeliers and beverage professionals who have already passed the Certified Sommelier Examination and want to deepen their theoretical knowledge, sharpen deductive tasting, and refine service and hospitality at a high level. The CMS Advanced Sommelier case studies are 5 cases and about 4,229 words.
1Blind Flight: Two White Burgundies, One Fault Line
During a deductive tasting session you are poured two white wines blind, both served at 12 C from bottles opened 20 minutes earlier. Wine A is medium-deep gold with an amber edge; the nose shows baked apple, honey, candied ginger, cereal and a faint Sherry-like note, with no fresh citrus or stone fruit.
995 words, about 5 min2Banquet Service: 180 Guests, 40 Minutes, One Server Down
Your team is serving a 180-guest wedding banquet with a six-course menu and nine wines. You have one captain, four servers and one barback; a fifth server has just called out sick.
856 words, about 4 min3Replacing a Chablis 1er Cru by Friday
Your 90-seat seafood restaurant sells 14 bottles a week of a 2020 Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre at 78 and 60 glasses a week at 16. Your distributor has just told you the 2021 allocation is cut by 60% and the price will rise 22%.
836 words, about 4 min4Cask Strength by the Numbers
You are running a whisky tasting for 24 guests. The feature is a single malt at cask strength, 58.4% abv, in 750 mL bottles, non-chill filtered.
765 words, about 4 min5Nama Sake and a Failed Cooler
On Thursday a distributor delivers 24 bottles of unpasteurized nama junmai ginjo (720 mL, 15.5% abv) in chilled cases. That night the walk-in cooler compressor fails; the alarm log shows the temperature reached 18 C between 22:00 and 08:00 before the unit was repaired.
777 words, about 4 min