Laura Rhys MS gives Urban Agenda NYC an inside look at the rigorous process involved in obtaining her prestigious title

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

When it comes to pairing wine with food, my rules are fairly simple: red wine = pasta, white wine = anything other than pasta. As sophisticated as my process sounds, it’s evident that my knowledge of wine is limited, to say the least. Luckily, there are individuals in the world whose job is to guide people like me.

Called sommeliers or wine stewards, these individuals are trained and knowledgeable wine professionals who often work in fine restaurants to assist with wine service as well as wine and food pairing. While sommeliers are somewhat common in today’s upscale restaurants, there are wine professionals with a highly revered title of Master Sommelier (MS) that are few and far between. Known as the highest distinction an expert can attain in the fine wine and beverage service, MS’s only receive the Master Sommelier Diploma after successfully completing a furiously rigorous three-part test. In fact, it was deemed “the world’s toughest test” by Forbes.com and was featured in the documentary, Somm that follows four Sommeliers who attempt to pass the MS exam (which has the one of the lowest passing rates in the world). According to mastersommeliers.org there are only 229 professionals worldwide who have earned the title Master Sommelier since the first Master Sommelier Diploma Exam in 1987, and only a small portion of them are women.

To find out more about this infamous test, Urban Agenda turned to the Administrator of the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe, UK Sommelier of 2009, and Head Sommelier of London’s La Trompette, Laura Rhys MS.

Starting out as a Sommelier, Rhys became inspired after seeing her Head Sommelier at the time, Claire Thevenot MS, preparing and studying for her MS exams. Always up for a new challenge, Rhys started helping Thevenot with her training and knew she wanted to prove her own level of knowledge by passing the exam. But what exactly does the exam require? Rhys breaks the three-part test down for us:

1. Theory: which is oral, so the candidate sits in front of a panel of Master Sommeliers, who verbally ask questions which the candidate must be able to answer without any real hesitation or being able to return to a question.
2. Tasting: a ‘blind tasting’ of six wines, where the candidate must describe and identify the wines in front of them, in a specified time.
3. Practical: the candidate must perform different tasks in a restaurant scenario, with Master Sommeliers as the ‘guests’.

* All three parts of the MS exam must be passed within three years, otherwise any parts that have already been passed are “lost” and the candidate needs to start from scratch.

Rhys admits that the process is often full of setbacks, but even after failing the tasting and theory portions in 2009, she quickly rebounded by passing the entire exam by 2010, and therefore, getting her Master Sommelier Diploma.

“The preparation for this test was incredibly intense, with a lot of studying involved. Sommeliers often work long hours, so to dedicate the amount of time needed to prepare on top of that takes strong determination, but there are sacrifices that inevitably need to be made.”

Despite passing the MS exam, the studying never truly ends for these experts. Rhys is aware of the on-going challenge to keep abreast of the ever-changing world of wine. In addition to her wealth of wine knowledge, Rhys explains that MS’s need the service, organization, and business skills that they acquire and use every day as a Sommelier.  In fact, it’s these components of Rhys’ job that she enjoys the most.

“As a Sommelier, my favorite part of the job has always been service itself – being able to talk with guests about wines they’ve loved and hated, what they’d like to drink that day, making suggestions or loving their choices, finding out that they loved the wine too, on top of that feeling, the buzz of adrenaline through a busy service - nothing beats it!”

With such a demanding title, we’d hope that these MS’s do their most thorough study of wine at night while sitting back and relaxing. And while Rhys surely enjoys a glass of “vino”, in true MS-style, she doesn’t pick favorites.

“I cannot give you a favorite wine, there are too many! But all the wines I have ever loved have been because of their elegance (regardless of color or style), expression and balance. It could be a Riesling from Mosel, a Syrah from Northern Rhone, a Chardonnay from Victoria... and many more!”