What it means to be a Master Sommelier
The letters "MS" after your name will reassure an employer that you are a professional beverage manager and can control an efficient, profitable beverage service.
WHY BECOME A MASTER SOMMELIER
- The prestige of the top professional qualification in wine service.
- Improved promotion, job opportunities and salary prospects.
- MS Diploma is recognised worldwide – your passport to a top job in whichever country you choose to work.
- The courses and examinations provide and recognise expertise in both elements of restaurant service – food and wine.
WHY THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY NEEDS MASTER SOMMELIERS
- The Master Sommelier is a salesperson, a wine expert and a qualified taster who can pass on his or her knowledge to colleagues and consumers.
- With such qualifications, wine service improves and helps to raise standards of all service throughout an establishment.
- With increased knowledge and professionalism goes the greater ability to up-sell with significant impact on establishment's wine sales and profitability.
- Also the enhanced ability to better manage what, in many instances, is a restaurant's biggest asset - its cellar, is fundamental to the long term success of that restaurant.
- Increased professionalism also enhances morale and staff retention and encourages return custom and recommendations from customers.
- Master Sommeliers are committed to the very highest standards of service and quality customer care, and to helping others achieve the same levels of excellence.
Individuals who successfully complete all parts of the Master Sommelier Diploma will be expected to uphold the accepted ethics and standards of the Court of Master Sommeliers. Recipients of the Diploma will be required to sign an agreement binding them to the code of ethics and conduct of Master Sommeliers.
Candidates must be 21 years of age to participate or must be of legal drinking age in the country where they are taking the CMS program. All candidates should have been employed in wine service for a minimum of three years, although in the country where the program is being run, this is not mandatory to enter the Introductory Course. Admittance to the Advanced Course is via a selection process of the Court's academic admissions committee. It requires a successful completion of the Introductory Course and a mandatory five years in the wine/service industry. Each candidate must submit details of work in the trade, letters of recommendation, and answers to a brief questionnaire. Candidates also must be able to corroborate all claims and pay an entrance fee as stated on the entry form.
