What Is a Sommelier? Let’s Get to Brass Tacks
The term has two meanings:
- A sommelier’s job involves running the beverage program at a restaurant, with a focus on the wine list. A less sexy name for this job is “beverage manager.”
The word has a much older history. In Middle French, a sommelier was an official charged with transporting supplies. By the 19th century, the English word referred to a restaurant employee responsible for wines and their service. The English term for the job is “wine steward.” I doubt so many people would be clamoring to become a master wine butler.
- Wine certification. Somm education and certification used to be solely for the restaurant trade. Over the past decade, it has expanded considerably. People with this type of certification work in many parts of the wine trade—even winemakers.
SOMM’s analysis of LinkedIn employment data found that fewer than 25% of credentialed sommeliers now work in restaurants. Only about 10% of Master Sommeliers still work on the restaurant floor.
You can check out our full guide to becoming a certified sommelier right here: Become a Sommelier.
Get the Pronunciation Correct
The term is French, and French has masculine and feminine forms. In American English, “sommelier” is commonly pronounced suh-muhl-YAY.
- Sommelier, the masculine French form, is pronounced approximately soh/mə/lyay.
- Sommelière, the feminine French form, is pronounced approximately soh/mə/lyair.
The final syllable of “sommelier” rhymes approximately with “day.” Do not pronounce the final letters as a hard English “er.”
What Does a Restaurant Sommelier Do?
What doesn’t a restaurant sommelier do? If you have ever worked for a restaurant, you know that the term Sommelier is a very elastic phrase. It can mean someone who is the person who single-handedly earned the restaurant a Michelin star. It can also mean the owner’s idiot kid who shows up once a quarter to rewrite the wine list.
Here is what the typical restaurant sommelier does. First and foremost, they create a wine list that works well with the chef’s food. They also have to keep on top of inventory, and don’t forget to make sure they are shipping you the right vintages! Plus, those wines have to be priced correctly. The wine list has to earn a profit for the restaurant as well as not gouge the customers. That is not as easy as it seems, believe me.
That’s the basics behind the scenes. Let’s get onto the restaurant floor. The sommelier will be working hard during dinner service. You can expect them to know traditional French wine service, including how to properly open and present wines. They will also be making wine recommendations to as many VIP customers as humanly possible.
In a popular, well-run fine dining establishment, the sommelier will not be able to be at everyone’s table all at once. That means the somm will have to do extensive staff training on wine service and selection to the wait staff. Many of the best servers opt to attend wine school, which makes financial sense. The better the wine service, the bigger the check tends to be, and the happier the customer.
What Folks Mean When They Say They Want to Be a Somm
Most people who want to become a somm don’t necessarily want to work at a restaurant. They want to buy and taste wine for a living.
While that may seem like a pipe dream, pretty much any job in the trade includes tasting wine. And many jobs include buying it, too.
Wine certification is a good path into the wine trade. Can you call yourself a restaurant somm if you don’t work in a restaurant? I’d suggest not. However, you can proudly identify yourself as a credentialed sommelier.
Where Do Credentialed Sommeliers Work?
Twenty years ago, most sommeliers were found laboring in restaurants and hotels. The migration of sommeliers from restaurants started when the career was popularized by the SOMM movies, and accelerated during the COVID shutdowns.
Now you will see certified sommeliers spread across both the food and wine trades. Most people working in wine retail now have a sommelier credential. The same goes for food and wine journalism. And tasting rooms at wineries. These folks often have a level one or two credential.
You will see people with higher-level sommelier credentials (typically a level three) working in more lucrative portions of the wine trade. These include wine distribution, wine auctions, and the corporate wine world (yes, it exists).
Advanced and Master-level sommeliers tend to cluster in wine education, winemaking, and consulting. You will also see them in the C-suites of the larger food and wine corporations.
Sommelier Versus Wine Steward
With the expansion of the word “Sommelier,” maybe we should start using the old-timey term Wine Steward for a restaurant sommelier. The term rose to prominence in the early part of the 20th century in England and still holds the narrow meaning of someone who is employed to serve and recommend wine.
Sommelier Versus Beverage Director
But what if the job is more than serving wine? For many restaurant sommeliers, their job has expanded into what used to be called the beverage manager. In smaller restaurants, sommeliers don’t just manage the wine program, but the entire beer and cocktail list. That also means they have to manage bartenders, who have a well-earned reputation for bringing chaos into every beverage director’s life.
Sommelier Versus Winemaker
Here is where the pedal meets the metal for many sommeliers. They have spent their careers talking about malolactic fermentation, barrel aging, and vine trellising. And it doesn’t take long to realize they have so many opinions on the correct ways to do things.
But what happens when they have to do the thing itself? Most sommelier programs (WSET, CMS, looking at you) don’t ever teach their candidates how to actually make wine, so when they decide to take the jump into winemaking, some of them fail horribly.
The sommeliers who make great winemakers have taken a program that offers at least some winemaking education. The best are those who couple a sommelier credential with a little bit of on-the-job training. That seems to be the magic combination for success. Who needs a master’s degree from UC Davis anymore?
Do You Need Certification to Be a Sommelier?
You don’t need a piece of paper to become a sommelier, but it helps. A lot. To be a restaurant sommelier, all you really need is to work your way up from being a bus person to back waiter, to front waiter, and then maybe, with some luck, a sommelier. This is far from a guaranteed career path and will only work if you are young and patient.
The more reliable path to a life of sommelier-ness is to choose a wine school near you that offers sommelier courses, or a reputable online sommelier program. Sommelier credentials have become the de-facto credential in the food and wine trades.
To have an advantage in your career, you will also need some practical experience. Work for a year or two as a waiter in a fine dining restaurant if you are seeking to become a wine steward (see what I just did there?) If you want to work as a winemaker, seek out an intern position after earning your sommelier credential.
There are a few different levels of sommelier credentials. To understand the differences, you can check our Sommelier Certification Guide
Wine Schools
Finally, to earn a sommelier credential, you should check out one of the top three certification bodies: CMS, WSET and NWS.
Just as important as the certification body is the school you attend. Here is a list of accredited wine schools across the United States, along with their rankings: Wine Schools of America. There are plenty of great schools across the U.S. to consider.
For the current scandals plaguing the CMS—including allegations involving racism, sexual misconduct and examination failures—refer to our complete guide to the Court of Master Sommeliers.