Sommeliers

A profession that I never knew existed before this class was being a sommelier. A sommelier is an individual who is extremely knowledgeable and intelligent when it comes to wine. They are trained to recognize different aspects of wines such as their regions where they were made and grapes used, plus can very nicely describe the aspects and tastes of the wine verbally. Because of their expertise, sommeliers are hired to work in different restaurants and food services to provide their skills. The brains of sommelier’s are really interesting to analyze. “See What I’m Saying” goes into great detail about the brains of the sommeliers. When a sommelier tastes  wine, one area that is activated is where smell and taste inputs come together. This allows the sommelier to have more detailed perceptions of flavors of the wine. Next, there is enhanced left hemisphere activity. The left hemisphere is associated with analytical behavior which would help the sommelier analyze the wines. Last, the brain areas for more advanced cognitive functions like decision making, memory and language are activated. This also helps the sommelier make decisions about what kind of wine it is, remember the elements of it, and use language to describe it.

Through doing research about sommelier’s, I found that there is the Sommelier Society of America. The Sommelier Society of America is located in New York. This organization provides many resources such as classes, certificate programs, and different workshops. Becoming a sommelier is an extremely difficult task, and it is really awesome to see different classes for people to enhance their wine recognizing abilities. One quality of sommelier’s that I mentioned earlier is that they can describe what they are tasting and smelling in a very effective way. Personally, I find that this knowledge is one of the most admirable qualities of sommeliers, and I would love to see them guess different wines in person.

Sources

https://sommeliersocietyofamerica.org/

See What I’m Saying novel