Haha, so there are four levels. The first level is a multiple choice test with over a 90% pass rate. So, not exactly a rigorous test of knowledge. The second level is slightly more in depth, and adds a requirement that you taste and identify a few wines. If you have seen SOMM, it's nothing like that. We are talking generalities e.g., this is a white wine, sweet, doesn't have a lot of fruit so it is from Europe, it tastes like reisling so it's probably from Germany, and hey I had to memorize that one region in Germany during class, so I bet it's from that region. It really isn't rocket science. Levels 3 and 4 are significantly more difficult. I I respect the hell out of the advanced (3) and master (4) somms. They have dedicated their whole lives to the study of wines, and they objectively know a ton! Us over 200 people have ever become level 4s. It is absurdly difficult. The main issue is much of their knowledge is bullshit. The believe in something called terroir (tear-waa). This is A concept propogated by the French to explain why their wine is superior to other regions' wines. Essentially the concept boils down to climate, soil, and magic (I shit you not). No one will argue soil and climate are important factors, but many other regions of the world have very similar climate and soil to France. So they claim some undefined quality exists only in certain regions that allows these regions to produce wine of a superior quality. The job of a sommelier is to memorize these regions, and identify wines from these regions. To some extent this is very simple. I could teach you in an hour to reliably distinguish French Cabernet from Napa Cabernet. But the extremes they take this system to, have no basis in scientific reality. I am a biologist by training. Before I made wine I studied large groups of different species living in a single location. (Think all the different bacteria you have in your gut). Coming from this background, there is a very simple solution to the magic property of each region. The bacteria/yeast in the soil and in the air. Some recent studies have started to lend credence to this idea. The problem with this, is that means France etc. are no longer super special wine regions. We could take the bacteria and yeast from these regions, and mimic their effects in other regions to produce wines indistinguishable from authentic French wine. Somms are reticent to accept that their magical terroir is simply some bacteria and yeast. As a result they have vehemently opposed this idea, in spite of mounting scientific evidence. These are the climate change deniers of the wine world! On a slightly more personal note, I despise the somm certification program, because to become a level 4 somm you literally do not have to know how wine is made. I'm not talking detailed description either. There is not a single question at any level of certification that asks about the process of wine making. They don't need to know about sulfites or the chemical constituents of wine. Yet they are self proclaimed experts. I often pour my wine for somms looking to add wines to their restaurant menus. I invariably get asked some amazing questions, though my favorite will always be when a somm didn't know how grapes were picked! We made the mistake of taking a group out into the field to talk about harvest, and to let them pick some grapes to get a feel for the process. They literally didn't understand that we had to walk to each cluster and cut it off (machine harvesting is not used for high end wines. Ever.) I am still not sure how they thought we harvested the grapes. Maybe through the magic of terroir?