I finally passed my certified sommelier exam. And, I say “finally” because I have
been putting it off for years, having taken the introductory course in 2007
when I first moved to Greenville.
Every September three master sommeliers come to town to participate in
Euphoria and to give both the introductory course and the certified exam. For the last few years I have
wanted to take it because, why would I not its offered here in Greenville? And
well it just makes sense. But
every year for the last three years I have been responsible for the planning
and execution of Euphoria on the distributor side, which is an immense amount
of planning that is months in the making.
I knew I couldn’t handle the pressure of the test as well as the stress
of getting through the event without any issues.
After coming home from Oregon, I vowed I would do it. I would study for that test and I would
pass it, and hopefully on the first try.
In February, I began blind tasting with some others in town studying for
various levels of the sommelier exam as there are two levels after the
certified: the advanced and the master level. It gets increasingly more difficult as you move up through
the Court of Master Sommeliers, as you would suspect. It has been a challenging and humbling experience blind
tasting at times, the moment you think you’ve got something down it never fails
that you get it wrong. It’s been
great to taste wines other than what I sold for many years. I had developed what they call a “house
palate,” the dreadful and dangerous problem of drinking only things you sell (or
make) and believing that everything that you do sell (or make) is superior to
what else is out there, specifically the competitions wines. There is a world of wine out there that
is lovely and interesting and I have been drinking some of it, getting my
palate back. You could call this
post “How Erin Got Her Groove…er Palate Back”.
So, in addition to blind tasting since February, I have also
been working part time at Bouharoun’s Fine Wines and Liquors in downtown
Greenville since March. I
committed to working two days a week, which would give me the flexibility to do
what I wanted while I wasn’t working like Pilates, blind taste, or study for
the theory portion of the exam.
Perfect. So now that the
test is over, what next? I’m just
not sure. I gave up a great job to
work harvest in Oregon, knowing that I didn’t have a job when I got back, but I
was okay with that situation. I entertained the thought of managing a restaurant,
but decided after talking to a couple of people that was not something I wanted
to do. I also entertained the idea
of getting back into wine distribution, the business I had just gotten out of only
months before. I decided again that
is not something I wanted to do even though it would be like riding a bike. Thankfully, I received a call from
Peter Bouharoun asking for some help at his store and as it turned out I was
free. I have been moving, cleaning
and organizing the wine side at the store, getting to taste with wine reps, but
most importantly of all those things to me is that when I leave the store the
work doesn’t follow me home. I
don’t have phone calls or emails to return or do paperwork at 10:00 at
night. But, I know that this is a
temporary situation and now that I have successfully passed the certified exam
and completed one of my short-term goals, I need to start looking for full time
work, but with one caveat: it needs to be something I am passionate about. I would like to stay in the wine
business, but I don’t know that it will be something here in Greenville. So where? Back to Oregon?
We would love to, but I’m not sure it will work out. So what next? That my friends is the question lurking about at every corner
of my mind. What next?
