How to train for the world’s most elite wine exam

The master sommelier exam has a reputation for being impossible to pass. Becoming certified is so difficult that, to date, there are fewer than 300 master sommeliers in the world. Most aspiring masters fall at the last hurdle — the blind tasting portion of the exam — where they’re required to describe and identify the origin, grape, year, and quality of six wines — just by tasting them.