The truth of the matter: It is somehow equally easy and hard to taste. People either think it is completely impossible, or so trivial that it’s banal.

Can you smell the difference between strawberries and bananas? Can you mentally think of how, say, lemons taste, versus mint?

If you answered yes to the above, and you do not have physical deformity and are not suffering from anosmia from COVID-19, you can definitely learn to taste, at least at a proficient level, possibly even at a world class one.  

Also, hello! My name is Andrew Roy, I have taken the advanced sommelier exam, the same format as the master sommelier exam. I failed the first year, the tasting exam specifically (more for nerves than ability, in my humble opinion). I’ve signed up again and am training for the blind tasting section.

I can generally smell a wine and with a fairly high accuracy tell you what that wine is, in just a few seconds…

And, wait for it…I suck at tasting. More specifically, I am not a naturally gifted taster, and it took a long long time to get even moderately decent at it. 

There are three separate threads here, which I want to tease out, because they are all important:

1. Dedication and consistency: you can’t complain about the results you don’t get from the work you don’t do.
2. Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindest.
3. Tasting is not one skill, it is like 20. Know what game you’re actually playing.

Most people can’t learn to taste, because they won’t put in the required time to get the skill. I’m reminded of the old quote attributed to Warren Buffet: you can’t get 9 women pregnant in one month and expect to have a baby. Some things truly do take time. There is a whole world of wine, consisting of a significant number of classical wines that could be testable. 

Not an infinite number, of course. But not a negligible one either. The Court of Master Sommelier currently has a list of ‘examinable’ grapes on its website. One page of whites, one page of reds, breaking down what grapes, from what countries and what regions you are expected to understand. 

The side problem that occurs with learning to blind taste, and the real secret to breaking out and becoming a pro, is tying the grid and the process to what is happening in the vineyard and the winery. In wine talk, it’s tying the theory to the practice. Each element of blind tasting, from color of the grape down to presence of banana aromas, should be linked in your head with the final conclusion. You are a tasting lawyer, trying to paint a convincing picture for your varietal jury of why this wine may be guilty of being a Cabernet.

The downside to a practice that requires quick, high level synthesis of multiple variables? You need reps to solidify the archetype. 

It takes nine months to have the baby…

Number Two: Growth Mindset

Growth mindset. Are your abilities fixed, or are they malleable. 

The good news is, they appear to be, almost to the extent that you are willing to believe they are. The bad news is, I didn’t qualify that sentence either way, so if you believe your intelligence or ability or knowledge or skills or whatever is fixed, fixed it shall stay. Same if you think those things are changeable. 

I won’t belabor a point that has been made ad nauseum across the internet, and a quick google search of ‘what is growth mindset’ should return 5 billion hits, but there is one key area that this shows up with tasting, especially blind.

Sometime, someday, you will taste a wine blind and you will get it wrong. Especially if you are starting out. You will have a day that you are off. You will have sworn that the wine was a zinfandel, but it was a pinot noir. You bet all the chickens. You lost the call, you are embarrassed, you did your best, the wine they poured you is one of your by the glass options. 

How you handle this situation IS how you view the fixed vs growth mindset worldview. 

To make a mistake, to misstep, to falter, is inherently a part of learning. But to interpret it as being a sign that you are not good enough. To stop trying because you want to stop failing? That is the poison that will knock you out of the blind tasting game.

To admit we were wrong, that there is room for improvement, is only to admit that there is a version of you in the future that is better than the one in the present, just as I hope the one in the present is better than the you in the past. 

Give yourself the permission, space, and ability to be wrong. It’s the only way you’ll one day be right.

Tasting, not one skill but many:

Tasting is more than just smelling. It’s being able to hold many different paradigms of grape varietals in your head. The actual ability to articulate the flavors that you are smelling, and to pull them apart into vocabulary is ITSELF a skill. Calibrating sensitivity to acidity, alcohol, to tannin… all these are skills. 

Then there are the mental aspects of blind tasting in a professional way. 

Not imposing your judgement on the wine until after you have fully investigated what is in the glass. Experiencing what is there. Paying attention. That is the hardest thing to do. 

And then emotional mastery. 

Not falling apart. Nerves are the great mind killer. The great unknown. There are many talented tasters who can’t pass sommelier certifications. Like ants under some cruel child’s magnifying glass, they whither and burn up under the increased focus of others on their abilities. The same people that can pick apart a bottle on their own, write notes and present detailed descriptors to their staff can freeze and fall apart when facing down master sommeliers recording their verbal tasting notes. 

I know. I did fall apart once. In retrospect, I didn’t set myself up for success. I was so anxious before I didn’t sleep well, I didn’t think about anything but the test. I panicked. 

This, above all else, know thyself…

So, what do we do with this:

My advice, my recommendation, the number one meta-skill that has helped me more than anything else when it comes to blind tasting: Meditation.

Know the game. Don’t judge the game. See it, accept it, and move into it. 

Be present. Mindfulness is one hell of a drug, and the sustained practice of existing in the moment, daily meditative work, will help you more than months of cramming. 

Admit the faults. Hiding from them, ignoring them, working on what you are good at, none of that will truly help you in the long run. If you suck at identifying oak, work on that. If you’re great at picking up Sauvignon blanc, but terrible with syrah, you should be drinking far more syrah than sauvignon blanc. 

I say meditate, because to beat the game, you have to know it is a game. To focus in the moment, you need to train your attention, and there is no better practice than meditation for that. To accept the hurt and pain and unpleasant occurrences of being wrong, there is no more powerful tonic than a practice that opens you up to accepting all forms of existence, as they are, with the aim to not change them, but to simply experience them. 

That’s what I’ve done though. I’ll let you know how that turns out. It is currently Thanksgiving, 2024. I take the theory in Februrary 2025, and the blind tasting test and service is the follow June. 

Also, I said it earlier, but my name is Andrew Roy, and I run a restaurant. I’m studying for my advanced sommelier exam, and I also am obsessed with computers, programming, and philosophy. I’m trying to answer for myself how I can have a meaningful, fulfilling life working in a restaurant. If you want to see how that journey develops, or are interested in doing the same, follow along!

-Andrew Roy