The Somm School
Best for: Professionals, corporate teams, and students looking for WSET Levels 1 and 2 or advanced tasting workshops.
Main credentials: WSET Level 1 Award in Wines and WSET Level 2 Award in Wines.
Format: Professional training, corporate programs, certification courses, and advanced tasting workshops.
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona.
Strength: Practical wine education for trade, corporate, and tasting-focused students.
Watch out: The school’s strongest fit appears to be short-format professional training and introductory WSET study rather than a full, multi-level sommelier pathway.
SOMM verdict: The Somm School is a useful regional and professional training option for students seeking WSET-based instruction, corporate wine education, or focused tasting workshops.
About The Somm School
The Somm School offers wine courses for professionals, corporate clients, and students seeking structured wine education. Its programs include Advanced Upselling, WSET Levels 1 and 2, advanced tasting classes, and themed workshops designed to improve wine knowledge, tasting accuracy, and service confidence.
The school is owned and operated by Rebecca DeVaney, a wine and spirits professional with experience in wine education, private cellar consultation, wine appraisal, auctions, spirits education, and hospitality entrepreneurship.
Courses and Certifications
The Somm School offers a mix of certification programs, professional-development workshops, and advanced tasting classes. Its certification offerings include WSET Level 1 and WSET Level 2, both of which are widely used introductory credentials in the wine trade.
WSET Level 1 Award in Wines
The WSET Level 1 Award in Wines is designed for beginners. It introduces students to major wine types and styles, basic wine-tasting language, and introductory food-and-wine pairing concepts. Students who successfully complete the course receive a WSET certificate and lapel pin.
WSET Level 2 Award in Wines
The WSET Level 2 Award in Wines is designed for students who want to build a broader foundation in wine. It covers major grape varieties, important wine regions, labeling terms, service basics, and the factors that influence wine style and quality. The course is appropriate for serious beginners as well as students with some prior wine knowledge.
Advanced Tasting Classes
The Somm School also offers advanced tasting classes for students who want to improve their ability to evaluate wine with more precision. These classes may cover principal grape varieties, regional comparisons, vintage differences, wine faults, and blending workshops.
The school also offers master-level wine classes built around three-hour workshops focused on specific regions, wine styles, or advanced tasting themes. These programs are best suited for students who already have some wine knowledge and want a deeper, more focused tasting experience.
Regional and Specialty Wine Programs
In addition to WSET certification courses, The Somm School offers regional and specialty programs. These include courses and workshops focused on Australian wine, Burgundy, Champagne, German wine, and other major wine-producing regions.
The school also provides in-house and private programs for groups, including Wine Tasting 101, Wine & Food Pairing 101, French wine, Italian wine, Spanish wine, and lesser-known grape varieties. These workshops are useful for corporate groups, hospitality teams, and private students who want a more targeted wine-education experience.
Corporate and Professional Wine Training
The Somm School’s professional programs include training for sales, service, and hospitality contexts. Its Advanced Upselling program is especially relevant for restaurants, hotels, tasting rooms, and beverage teams that want staff to communicate about wine more effectively and increase guest confidence at the point of sale.
This professional focus sets The Somm School apart from programs built primarily around long academic certification tracks. Its strongest use case is practical wine education for students, teams, and professionals who need applicable wine knowledge.
Rebecca DeVaney, Founder of The Somm School
Rebecca DeVaney is the founder and operator of The Somm School. Her wine and spirits background includes WSET study in London, fermentation training for distillers at White Labs in San Diego, fine wine and spirits appraisal and fraud-detection coursework at New York University, French Wine Scholar study through the French Wine Society, and the Certified Specialist of Spirits credential from the Society of Wine Educators.
Her professional experience includes wine education, private cellar consultation, auctions and private sales, rare-wine evaluation, hospitality ownership, and work connected to beverage-industry policy and advocacy. This gives The Somm School a practical orientation, especially for students interested in service, sales, collecting, and professional wine communication.
Strengths and Limitations
The Somm School’s strengths include its practical training model, WSET Levels 1 and 2, advanced tasting workshops, and corporate wine education programs. It is a strong fit for students who want introductory credentials, regional wine workshops, or professional training for hospitality and sales environments.
Its limitation is that it does not appear to offer a complete multi-level sommelier certification pathway on the scale of larger credentialing bodies or national wine schools. Students seeking advanced certification, long-form academic wine study, or a broader progression beyond WSET Level 2 may need to compare additional programs.
SOMM Verdict
The Somm School is a practical wine-education option for students and professionals in Arizona who want WSET Levels 1 and 2, advanced tasting instruction, or corporate wine training. Its best fit is the student who wants useful, applied wine knowledge rather than a large institutional certification track.