CMS Certified Sommelier study guide
CMS Certified Sommelier · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Sommelier Examination is the second of the four levels in the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas education program. The pathway begins with the Introductory Sommelier Course and Examination, continues through the Certified Sommelier Examination and the Advanced Sommelier Course and Examination, and culminates in the Master Sommelier Diploma Examination. The Certified credential is aimed at working beverage professionals - restaurant sommeliers, floor captains, buyers, and serious hospitality students - who already have foundational knowledge and now need to demonstrate it under exam conditions rather than in conversation. Candidates are assessed across three broad fronts: wine theory (viticulture, vinification, grape varieties, regions, spirits, and beverage service knowledge), practical restaurant service, and deductive blind tasting using a structured method. Topics on this exam: Wine Theory (viticulture, vinification, grape varieties, regions, spirits, and beverage service knowledge), Practical Restaurant Service, and Deductive Blind Tasting. The CMS Certified Sommelier study guide has 3 sections and about 1,039 words.
01Wine Theory: Viticulture, Vinification, Grapes, Regions, Spirits
Theory questions reward reasoning from cause to result. Start in the vineyard: climate (heat summation, continentality, diurnal range), site (aspect, altitude, soil drainage and water-holding capacity), and vine management (training, canopy, crop load) set the sugar, acid, tannin and aroma precursors you meet in the glass. Know that sugar ripeness and physiological ripeness are not the same thing, and be able to define millerandage, coulure, botrytis, and phylloxera - including why grafting onto American rootstock became standard. Fermentation temperature trades aroma retention against extraction; maceration length and cap management build colour and tannin; malolactic conversion softens acid; lees contact builds texture; oak adds tannin, toast and controlled oxygen, scaled by barrel age and size.
343 words, about 2 min02Practical Restaurant Service
Service questions test order, safety and composure more than trivia. Know the full arc: mise en place (glassware polished and inspected, ice, linen, decanters, corkscrew, POS), greeting and seating, menu presentation, order taking, wine service, food delivery and clearing, payment and farewell. Within wine service the fixed order is: bring the bottle and confirm it is what was ordered, present the label to the host (not the cork), cut the capsule below the lip, wipe the neck, insert and extract the corkscrew gently, wipe again, pour a small taste for the host, then serve guests - conventionally host last, guests in a clockwise order. Sparkling: chill thoroughly, cut the foil, loosen the cage while pointing the bottle away from people, hold the cork, angle the bottle 45 degrees, turn the bottle rather than the cork, and ease it out with a whisper.
383 words, about 2 min03Deductive Blind Tasting
Blind tasting is controlled deduction. Sight: clarity, intensity, colour, rim variation, tears, sediment, gas. Nose: condition, intensity, development, and aroma families (fruit, floral, herbal, spice, oak, earth, reductive). Palate: sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, mousse, flavour intensity, finish length, complexity.
313 words, about 2 min