In this episode, we dive deeper with Ian Cauble, a renowned master sommelier, as he shares his unique journey through the world of wine. From his early days of discovering his palate to exploring flavors around the globe, Ian emphasizes the importance of taste memory and cultural experiences in shaping his expertise.
Ian also sheds light on the rigorous path to becoming a master sommelier, discussing the challenges and tests that only a few can conquer. With insights into the tasting exam, service portion, and the knowledge required, Ian inspires listeners to appreciate the art of wine and food pairing, making this episode a must-listen for wine enthusiasts and aspiring sommeliers alike.
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You can buy a bottle of good Rioja for $10 and a pile of Harmoni Berrico for six and
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all of a sudden you're sitting in some hostel somewhere really appreciating your parents
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and the fact you were born.
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Looking back at it too, you know that your savant capabilities came out at 17. What you
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know now about wine and at 17, you know basically zero and that you realize that wow, this stuff
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that I'm drinking and what's happening in my palate is not by accident. I got to go
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down this rabbit hole and see where this leads.
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We're born with this incredible palate, right? We can taste so many flavors and we have this
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incredible taste memory and I think that's one thing that I have been able to do and
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I think it's been a real gift to my life is taste a lot of really beautiful flavors and
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it really it's a part of my life that matters the most. I mean it's you know all of our
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senses right? Getting a great massage, listening to great music, tasting a great bite of aged
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ribeye for example, you know going to that Greek restaurant and having a bite of you
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know feta cheese with lamb. I mean what's the perfect glass of white wine from Santorini?
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These are all our palate is like an instrument and it can be played by different flavors
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and I think that my life has been just kind of chasing these experiences because the world
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is so vast and there's so many pockets of the world I still haven't been to but I've
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been to many of the major pockets you know all of the classic European countries. I think
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now that I grow older I want to go to more Eastern Bloc countries. I just went to Croatia,
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went to Bosnia-Herzegovina last year. I just actually got back off a plane from Seoul South
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Korea last week and I was in Japan and Taiwan and Hong Kong like and these flavors and these
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dumplings and these noodles and these stocks like I swear to God it's so amazing to be
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able to experience these flavors and you know so wine is just the beginning obviously wine
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is my profession it's my passion but food is kind of the centerpiece of it all. You're
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just one of 274 people in the world so what do you think how did you make it? How did
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you become a master of some? You know it's you got to be a little bit crazy and a little
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bit talented and have a good taste memory and a good memory in general so you really
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have to love fermented beverages and to start you have to love wine you have to love food
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you have to love people you have to love culture you have to love history and you have to be
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a little bit maniacal to want to learn everything and so I think that's that's it's not that
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many people I mean most people are fine taking the level one exam and you're like okay I
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passed the intro exam that's 90% pass and then a lot of those people want to take the
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certified the certifies around depends 30 to 50% pass rate used to be a little bit
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higher and then of those people there's an advanced exam that has close to a 15 or 20%
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pass rate even as low as 8 or 10% sometimes so some some tests 1 out of 10 people pass
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and then of those people that pass that test people get a taste of it and you want to go
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to take the master exam and the master exam has about a 3% pass so all of those people
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that made the advanced exam which is you know I think there's less than 1,500 people or
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2,000 people in the world who have passed the advanced if I remember correctly it's
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somewhere close to that and now it's growing every year because the movie saw I'm really
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excited a lot of population to get into wine but you know the master exam there's around
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three to seven people in the world that pass every year there's three parts of the exam
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there's the knowledge portion they sit you down for about an hour and they ask you questions
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about water spirits any sort of you know region sub districts and grape varieties producers
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what wines they make anything around the world of beverage they ask you about an hour
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of questions you have to get 75% of them correct the next part of the test is a tasting exam
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the tasting exam is six wines you have to describe the color of the reflection of light
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viscosity concentration the fruits flowers herbs earth wood non-fruits oak influence
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alcohol levels and then you have to talk about the acid alcohol complexity tenant length
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and based on that you're like this is from this country from this region from this grape
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from this vintage and you have to get 75% of the points correct to pass usually have
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to get five out of six correct to pass the test and then the final portion is the service
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portion and you basically walk into a room all of the patrons are some of the world's
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top master some ways and they're all playing different guests right and some of them are
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the maitre d they're like here's a guest he ordered the 1982 cheval blanc could you please
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go to the table and tell him about that and then you do that they're like well the next
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table has a bottle of you know let's say 1987 Dom Perignon and you have to know that
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87 Dom Perignon wasn't made right and so you have to go you know tell them I'm so sorry
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sir you know and you have to basically play this part and then you'll go to another table
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and they'll be like I think you know I don't did you serve me rum and all of a sudden there's
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a blind tasting of different spirits that you have to go to another table and you know
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smell these glasses and not taste them and make sure that they got the right spirit for
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example you know I'm making I'm not giving you the exact what they're doing these days
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right because that's all that's all kind of private but it's you know they're similar
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kind of in tasks and so you have to be a master communicator master of people you have to
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be a great taster you have to have the knowledge of the world and you have to be able to communicate
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that to people and I think that's one of the hardest parts of it all because you can know
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the world but to be able to share it and talk to people and make people feel comfortable
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that's the art of being a great sommelier is the best five-minute one podcast don't
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forget my favorite part please please like and follow
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