The Tales of a Latina Sommelier Journey: Overcoming challenges and personal growth as a Latina sommelier by Martha Cisneros Paja.
Yesterday, I embarked on my journey to become a Certified Sommelier. As a Latina woman, my perspective on wine studies and the wine life in New York is unique, and I’m here to share my experience from this distinct viewpoint.
It took several revisions to capture the essence of my experience, to share the raw reality without overshadowing the other aspects of my life where I had to temporarily step back. If you’re interested in the unfiltered truth, I’ve written another post that delves into the behind-the-scenes.
I woke up at 5:30 a.m., got ready, and drove 45 minutes from home to a parking lot in Albany St., partially in front of the Brookfield building, where the Institute Culinary of Education is located and where the exam will take place. Sunday Morning, of course, there was no traffic.
First, I didn’t get any breakfast I had some coffee and water. We went straight into the blind-tasting portion. We started with the white wines, and I invested more time deciding the correct country off an off-dry white. Therefore, I had little time to review the red wines. I had to work on the paper portion describing the tasting and then add it to the iPad, which was a very odd process. I didn’t study moving in between the paper and iPad. Being versed in technology I thought this was going to take less time for me. Unfortunately, I entered the fourth wine in the third wine and had to delete everything and come back to enter the information of the third wine, which gave me only a little bit of time.
Blind tasting requires a lot of practice, and since I underperformed on this one, I will be focusing more on this part. Blind tasting groups, methodical blind tasting studies, and following the process and practice make the master.
We moved into theory. The 45-question theory exam was okay; nothing was too complicated. After three years of study and reading many books, I considered this part the easiest. Those three years and the many master classes I attended, on top of giving classes myself, were a journey of personal growth and learning that I now appreciate more than ever.
We had a minor break because I was part of the first group to be tested on service. Surprisingly, since I was very stressed about the service portion, I passed this part satisfactorily. They presented a scenario, and you had to pour and describe wines back and forth; they tested your hospitality, service, and knowledgeability all while performing, and I felt very confident. Those nights I spent opening sparkling wine to my husband and working repeatedly over and over paid off.
Overall, I am so proud I passed the service test, which is different from other certifications,. I passed satisfactorily with hospitality and mechanics, which I feared most. My friend Abe Zarate heard how stressed I was during that part of the exam, and while he was working at The Modern fine dining restaurant, he invited me to be observant. And I observed many things that I was not accustomed to. However, service is within my heart. The customer is always the correct type of mentality, which is what a Sommelier is made of, and I have admired and practiced that since my early days working in hospitality. As my husband said, you never forget it quickly once you learn. You will need some restaurant experience for this part. I am proud of my achievements and the journey it took to get here.
Studying for a Certified exam can be beneficial in many circumstances. However, it is very time-consuming, and I need to recover a bit.
It’s important to mention that as a Latina, I was the only one taking the exam, which was already an achievement for me. Why is it so difficult to take the exam? It’s expensive itself—$600. I bought $700 worth of wine. I spent $1000 on consultancy, textbooks and materials for my studies. Rounding up numbers, I spent about $3,000 on an exam I didn’t pass.
Right now, I have to give myself a pat on the shoulder, some rest, and a much-needed break. Then, I’ll come back to study. At this point, I would rather spend $3,000 on vacation first. But since I told you I am goal-oriented, this is another step in the right direction. I will apply to the Certified Test Exam again.
To be continued…
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