The sommelier certification is a multi-layered examination designed to see if a student had been able to indeed absorb the width and detail that is required to work at the highest levels. It ensures that our graduates are theoretically sound in all alcohol knowledge, are adept at understanding how to properly act and mange oneself within the industry in order to become successful.

The curriculum is exhaustive in breadth and length, but all of the tools are provided so that students will have a realistic ability to pass their examinations and achieve good passing success rates and avoid the merry go round of exam failures, further time and resources in rewriting examinations or penalized with time constraints.

Our grading method is standardized and consistent for each and every student.

The examinations can be broken down to what (which consist of 3 examination components) secondly practical (which consists of 3 additional examination components) and for those pursuing the degree a successful submission of a dissertation and peer reviewed approved.

All 6 components of the examinations must be passed with a 75% in each; meaning this is not a combined average but rather mastering each component equally. This is a multilayered exam process. The examinations are completely based on the curriculum, book, videos and the additional 360 hour of instructor lectures.

ISGM Sommelier Examination Overview:

The examinations are split into 4 consecutive days.

Theory Exam 1- Multiple Choice consists of 300 questions with an allocation of 3 hours in total.

Theory Exam 2- Sommelier Management and Food Menus: This section consists of two components, Section A and Section B that are graded with equal weight and are combined to form one final mark.

Section A: Cellar Management Essays 5 Essays consisting of: sommelier business, management of a food outlet at any size, investment and inventory with respect to a food outlet, sales and marketing, and lastly social media.

5 Essays are to be written within the scope of: sommelier business, management of a food outlet at any size, investment and inventory with respect to a food outlet the question asks, sales and marketing, and lastly social media.

Each of the 5 essays are to be written in proper full sentence and paragraph writing development format and bullet points are not acceptable. Each essay is to be no less than 900 - 1,000 words in length. All essential terminology spelling and grammar will count up to 10% off the grade. The examination has an allocation of 3 hours in total.

Section B: Table d’hôte Food Menus Given the importance of wine and food pairing to the sommelier profession, the ISG uses the menus in this section as an evaluative tool. Students are required to show that they are able to read a menu description, understand the primary structural and aromatic components of a dish, and then suggest two precise wines (name, producer, vintage), one being a traditional match while a second one being a different wine completely for each plate.

Although theoretical dishes paired with theoretical wine will never replace real food and wine pairing, the student must write a full explanation as to why the particular wine will match each dish.

5 different menus of table d’hôte with 2 menus based on 2 different European/regional classical cuisines, 1 Eastern European or Asia Minor/Mediterranean cuisine, 1 Asia cuisine and 1 American (either Californian, Pacific Northwest, Tex-Mex or Creole cuisine).

Students are required to show that they are able to read a menu description, understand the primary structural and aromatic components of a dish, and then suggest two precise wines (name, producer, vintage), one being a traditional match while a second one being a different wine completely for each plate; the student must write a full explanation as to why the particular wine will match each dish and justify it properly.

There are some restrictions that students must observe when suggesting wine. For all 5 menus, sparkling wine may be suggested only for one appetizers. Similarly, for all menus alcoholic beverages other than wine (beer, sake, spirits, etc.) may be suggested only for the last course.

Most challengingly, the two products suggested per menu item in all menus, each suggestion must come from different varieties and different regions.

Explanations (or justifications) related to the food and wine pairing should demonstrate the following: an understanding of the primary structural relations and interactions between the wine and food (weight, alcohol, tannin, acidity, residual sugar, aromatic intensity, saltiness, bitterness, spiciness); an understanding of the cultural relationships between the dish and wine (if there are any); an understanding of the aromatic relationships between the wine and the food; and an understanding of the progression of wines through the full menu.

The examination has an allocation of 3 hours in total.

Theory Exam 3 - Essays

This section consists of 20 essay topics. Students are required to produce these essays so that the ISG can evaluate the depth and breadth of the student’s knowledge. Each essay must be at least 1,300 words minimum. The student’s economy of expression and development is as critical as the quality of the information. Students are required to write in complete sentences (bullet-pointed lists are not acceptable). All essential terminology spelling and grammar will count up to 10% off the grade. The essays will come from the following 20 subjects; please note that when we state a country, it can be in relation to one particular region or it may be from multiple regions including often comparing and contrasting 2 different regions within a country:

1. Wine Chemistry
2. Wine Chemistry
3. Wine Geology
4. Vineyard Management
5. Botany/Pathogens
6. Organic Viticulture
7. Vinification winery processes
8. France
9. Italy
10. Iberia Peninsula
11. European Cool Climate (Germany, Austria or Switzerland),
12. Middle or Eastern Europe, or Mediterranean/Levant or Asia Minor
13. United States
14. Canada
15. South America
16. Oceania
17. Sparkling
18. Fortified
19. Distillates
20. Beer

The examination has an allocation of 16 hours in total split into 4 units at a time, meaning 4 hours for 5 essays at a time and not altogether

Practical Exam 4- Blind Tasting

1. The ISG’s blind tasting examination consists of 32 products arranged in 5 flights.
2. The first flight consists of 4 sparkling wines
3. The second flight consists of 8 rosé & white wines
4. The third flight consists of 8 red wines
5. The fourth flight consists of 6 products, spirits, sake, beer and cider
6. The fifth flight consists of 6 products, fortified wines, dessert wines, flavored wines and faulty wines.
• Students are required to provide complete tasting notes and to identify the origins of the products and finishing with quality to price ratio evaluation and potential in the market place.
• All 32 products are valued at 50 points each; half of the points are awarded for a descriptive tasting note the other half of the points are awarded for identification of the product and market evaluation.

The examination has an allocation of 4 hours in total.

Exam 5- Service

1. The goal is to see a student’s ability to serve wine and to communicate about wine, food, and service with guests.
2. In this section, the student uses his or her own full food and wine menus from their Cellar Management Practicum. Guests order wine and may also request advice on wine and food pairing.
3. The student will provide information and perform two forms of service—proper service of sparkling wine, and proper decanting service of mature red wine in a basket.
4. Students are graded on their grooming and appearance, interactions with judges, economy of movement, professionalism, proper suggestions based on judges’ requests or questions and the appropriate way of complete service from beginning to end for both products.

The examination has no specific time allocation, but typically students average between 30-45 minutes from beginning to end.

Exam 6- Cellar Management Practicum

The Cellar Management Practicum is a skill-building assignment which must be completed by all ISG sommelier students. The goal of the assignment is to introduce you to the practical managerial elements of the sommelier position and help you to develop a skill set which you can take with you into the hospitality workplace. It is also designed to help you orient yourself and how to deal within your local wine community and establish working relationships.

All 6 examinations, the 3 theory and 3 practical, students must achieve 75% in each one in order to graduate, this is not an aggregate average.

ISGM Sommelier Degree- Dissertation

Students electing to pursue their degree designation understand that this step is for research and potential publishing of work which will involve ultimately researching, submitting and passing their dissertation.

Students may elect to proceed with this step but are not obligated on a specific commencement time and can come to it at their discretion in time . Meaning, the only obligation is they must have successfully completed the ISGM Sommelier first.

Once students declare the intention to proceed with the dissertation, then they have exactly 6 months to submit it for the purposes of evaluation.

Students are provided with one sommelier instructor mentor available for advice and assistance with respect to:

• Dissertation Abstract
• Dissertation Introduction
• Dissertation Theoretical framework

Depending on the nature of the research, the ISG may take from 6-12 months to provide its peer evaluation.

The only grades provided are Passing with Distinction, Passing or Failing.

There is a $1,000.00 for the dissertation due only upon commencement. There are no additional fees, should a failure be given it can be resubmitted once only. If a failure occurs on two submissions then another $1,000.00 is charged after the third submission.

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All Examinations commence 4 weeks after concluding week 202

All Examinations take place on 5 consecutive days from Monday through Friday straight all day.

Since the International Sommelier Guild has existed, it has continuously taken the philosophy that we must be evolving and developing the education standards we offer in order to be at the forefront of the field.

In 2006 we had our last significant structural change to the highest program before the ISGM entrance in 2018, which at the time was the Sommelier Diploma Program (SDP). The last significant changes had been done with designations back with the 1997 designation, the 1989 designation, and 1982 designation.

The ISGM system is a Sommelier – Oenology - Wine Business Management - Culinary Arts - Nutrition Program, containing lecture hours (outside of the tasting hourly components and examinations), and this new system is impacting over 2,200 global SDP graduates.

To pass the ISGM requires 75% in each of the theory and practical exams. For the ISGM Degree designation, which follows, a dissertation must be submitted, which has a pass with distinction, pass or failure results strictly. This last step is not mandatory, and one can come back to it whenever they want to if they ever want to, six months or ten years later, there is no time obligation.