How To Train For The World's Most Elite Wine Exam (HBO)

this is Vincent Mora he's studying for one of the hardest tests in the world he's not an Olympian or even professional athlete he's training to become a Master Sommelier a title reserved for elite wine stewards who work in the finest dining on earth a little bit of lemon lime in an unconventional attempt to train more competitively Vincent's developed a workout and wine tasting routine like forest and earth the levels of sommelier is vary from certified and advanced to the most prestigious the master and in order to become a master they have to pass an exam so difficult but to date there are fewer than 300 masters in the world oxidized white flour chamomile blossom to become a master you have to pass three exams the theory portion covering history a section where you perfectly execute wine service and then the hardest the blind tasting where you have to describe and identify the origin grape year and quality of six wines just by tasting them final conclusion we go to to Austria to the fat cow and say this is a Gruner Veltliner smart oncology level 2016 on average about 10 to 12 percent who take the test actually pass each year but last year's results were unprecedented a record 24 sommeliers passed after allegations emerged someone leaked information about the exam in an email the 23 testers who took the blind tasting had that title revoked so now Vincent and everyone else is retaking the test this scandal has rocked the wine world at some con a leading expert for wine pros everyone knew about it one person on the panel leaked all the information from the exam the exam board has not named who cheated or who bleep the results and declined an interview but did say in a statement that the examination was compromised by the release of detailed information concerning wines in the tasting flight the community reaction to the invalidated exam has been all over the place III don't know and unfriendly don't want to know who is responsible on on any level at either and might hurt Brooke years upon years and to get to this point just to have it taken away over a rumor what matters to me most is passing the exam you know of course I want to be the best in the world but that's my inner competitiveness you'll still where you master pin why are you deciding to still wear it when technically you're not allowed to call yourself a master I know what I accomplished in yeah I'd like to like to think that I'm capable of getting right back in that ring but it's I feel more comfortable wearing it now than I ever did before [Music] Vincent lives and trains with three other sommelier how are you thanks for having me absolutely oh my god that's why I mean I have so many questions like when you bring girls have at it but usually there's a little bit of a disclaimer first yeah yeah oh there were three other Sommeliers two of his housemates are also retaking the test last time Andre passed Jeremy didn't at least some of the people who passed the exam had been given information on some of the wines that were included in the exam but none of you guys not that was there a conversation way you said well why should we have to suffer for something that didn't happen to us it's not fair and that was absolutely a part of it of that feeling of like what what what about us the first two days I didn't speak very much with Andre or Vince I really didn't really speak a lot with anybody that is I hadn't blind tasted anything in weeks I specifically refused to do so I wanted to you know explore other things in life unfortunately this happened with the taste in exam which is the most unpredictable of any of the parts so many people have the ability and just in that moment in those twenty five minutes they don't that's the tricky part without the certification we don't exist although the Byzantine process of becoming a master is costly and all-consuming there is a lifelong payoff for passing by virtue of passing this exam there is a huge monetary boost about seventy thousand dollars that you could add to your yearly earnings so under ripe mango quality crushed white rock almost like a rock quarry tastes like chili Doublemint gum in terms of spending this year alone actually totaled it up and it was about $7,000 and wine so I've been working as a sommelier for seven years all and I've probably spent between ten and fifteen thousand dollars I'm probably north of $60,000 I've been in doing this for nine years I passed my master sommelier exam on my sixth attempt even with years of training and the multiple retests under their belts they'll have to do it all over again and so it examines in a couple of weeks correct if you don't pass what would that mean um I mean it would be really hard the other day I realize as devastating as it was at first that not going to stop trying to pass it I'm preparing for the worst and hoping for something better than that [Music] three weeks later we met up with the housemates in the st. Louis after they retook the tasting exam how'd you guys do I don't think anyone who took this test today that I've talked to feels as confident as they did the last time September I felt like okay I got three wines for sure I think I got four this year I feel like I got three wives for sure and potentially for potentially five I just need one of those other three to be right I don't feel as good as I did last time I walked out of the room but I don't feel like really shitty so I'm pretty confident I know I got three wines right I'm gonna be okay the next morning the results came in they passed it's one of us is going home with with their pin back on him I didn't pass and none of us are convinced yet so it's typically a bad sign right now I'm more bummed for the people who took this test that actually did lose you know a credential that day and it turns out Vincent didn't pass the retake and didn't meet us for an interview in a profession where you're only as good as your last tasting Vincent is back in San Francisco training for the next retest in September [Music] you

Channel: VICE News

Views: 1,036,263

Rating: 4.800993 out of 5

Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, vice news 2018, How To Train For The World's Most Elite Wine Exam, wine sommelier, wine master, master sommelier exam, wine professionals, fine dining, wine scandal allegations, blind tasting, wine training, wine taste test, extreme wine tasting, vincent morrow, examination, wine exam, culture, food and beverage, taxes, mental, wine lover, red wine

Id: rB_dKX4Jhq4

Length: 7min 57sec (477 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ButObviously]

Get the answers to the tasting beforehand?

[u/my002]

Two thoughts:

• If doing tastings during/after a gym workout helps you study for the MS, more power to you, but man does it seem absolutely comical to me.

• I'm not really sure that we need more media glorifying the MS pin/exam.

[u/crossbuck]

I know some of these guys and have worked with one of them. That apartment always sounded so absurd to me. Too many somms and too much wine in one small space.

[u/picklerickwine1]

the workout/tasting is throwing me for a loop... I was sure this was a gag video for the first 90 seconds

[u/enforcetheworld]

Per usual, the YouTube comments run the gamut.