Introductory Sommelier Study Guide: Free Cheatsheet

The Introductory Sommelier Certificate is the first of four levels awarded by the Court of Master Sommeliers, and the exam is theory only: 70 multiple choice questions, 60 percent to pass. The syllabus is wider than candidates expect, covering spirits, beer, sake and service. Below is what turns up on the paper.

How the exam works and what it tests

• Format: 70 multiple choice questions, closed book. No blind tasting or service.
• Pass mark: 60 percent, no penalty for guessing. Never leave one blank.
• Style: single best answer, recall over reasoning.
• After this: the Certified Sommelier Examination adds tasting and service.

Put your worst topics into rotation first. A timed practice paper finds them fast.

Viticulture and vinification

• Alcoholic fermentation: yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Stop it early and sugar remains.
• Malolactic conversion: bacteria turn sharp malic acid into soft lactic acid. Standard for reds, blocked in crisp whites.
• Color sits in the skins, so white sparkling wine can come from black grapes.
• Carbonic maceration: whole berries ferment under carbon dioxide. Bright fruit, low tannin, the banana note of Beaujolais.
• Chaptalization: sugar added to must. It raises alcohol, it does not sweeten.
• Sulfur dioxide: antioxidant and antimicrobial, in almost every wine.
• Phylloxera: a root louse. American rootstock resists it, so most vines are grafted.
• Botrytis cinerea: noble rot given damp mornings and dry afternoons, concentrating sugar.

France region by region

• Bordeaux: gravel on the Left Bank suits late ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, cool clay on the Right Bank suits Merlot. The 1855 Classification ranked Medoc chateaux in five growths plus Haut Brion, and Mouton Rothschild joined the First Growths in 1973. Pomerol has never been classified.
• Burgundy climbs regional, village, Premier Cru, Grand Cru. Grand Cru is a tiny share of output, labeled by vineyard alone.
• Rhone: every Northern Rhone red is Syrah, the south blends. In the southwest, Cahors is Malbec and Madiran Tannat. Compare Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Italy

• The ladder runs DOCG, DOC, IGT, Vino da Tavola. DOCG wines pass an official tasting panel.
• Super Tuscans began as wines that broke appellation rules, usually with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Many now sit under Toscana IGT or Bolgheri.
• The south: Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s most planted black grape, Nerello Mascalese belongs to Etna, Aglianico to Taurasi.

Spain and Portugal

Those are Rioja’s own rules; the national baseline is less demanding and other regions set their own. They describe aging, not quality.

• Spain: DOCa is the top tier, held only by Rioja and Priorat. Rias Baixas means Albarino, Rueda Verdejo, Ribera del Duero Tempranillo as Tinto Fino, Priorat Garnacha and Carinena on slate called llicorella, Jerez Palomino.
• Portugal: the Douro makes Port and serious dry reds led by Touriga Nacional. Vinho Verde is light, high in acid, often faintly spritzy. Madeira, Dao and Alentejo complete Portugal.

Germany and Austria

• The Pradikat ranks must weight at harvest, not finished sweetness. A Spatlese can be bone dry.
• Trocken means dry, Halbtrocken off dry. Trockenbeerenauslese is the trap: there it means dried berries and the wine is intensely sweet.
• Quality tiers run Deutscher Wein, Landwein, Qualitatswein, Pradikatswein. VDP is a growers’ association, its top vineyard tier Grosse Lage.
• Mosel: steep slate, light racy Riesling. Rheingau: fuller and firmer. Rheinhessen and Pfalz are warmer.
• Austria: Gruner Veltliner is the most planted variety, dry and peppery. The Wachau tiers are Steinfeder, Federspiel, Smaragd; Kamptal sits beside it.

The USA and the Americas

US labeling: a stated variety needs 75 percent (Oregon holds most to 90 percent), a stated AVA 85 percent, a vintage on an AVA wine 95 percent. New York’s Finger Lakes is Riesling country, and Carmenere was mistaken for Merlot in Chile until the 1990s.

The southern hemisphere

Pinotage crosses Pinot Noir with Cinsault. Shiraz and Syrah are one grape, two habits: Shiraz versus Syrah.

Sparkling and fortified

• Traditional method: second fermentation in the bottle the wine is sold in, lees contact building bready character. Champagne, Cava, Cremant, Franciacorta.
• Tank method: second fermentation in a sealed tank. Faster, cheaper, keeps primary fruit. Prosecco and Asti. Cava uses Macabeo, Xarel lo and Parellada. Compare Champagne and Prosecco or Cava and Cremant.
• Port is fortified partway through fermentation, so sugar remains. Ruby stays fresh in large vessels, Late Bottled Vintage is one year held four to six, Vintage is bottled young, Tawny ages oxidatively toward walnut and toffee.
• Sherry is fortified after fermentation, so the base is dry. Fino and Manzanilla age under a yeast film called flor: pale, bone dry, almond scented. Amontillado starts under flor then turns oxidative, Oloroso never gets flor, Pedro Ximenez is intensely sweet. See Port versus Sherry.
• Madeira is heated during maturation, hence its baked, tangy character. Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey run driest to sweetest.

Spirits, beer and sake

An age statement refers to the youngest spirit in the bottle. Beer is water, malted grain, hops and yeast: ale yeast works warm and throws fruity esters, lager yeast works cool and is cold conditioned. Color is no guide, both run pale to black.

Junmai means no added alcohol. Milling strips fat and protein, so polished grades taste cleaner.

Service and hospitality

• Opening sparkling: hand on the cork from the moment the foil is cut, bottle at roughly 45 degrees away from guests, turn the bottle rather than the cork.
• Pouring order: the host tastes only to confirm the wine is sound, guests are served next, the host’s glass last. Pour from the guest’s right.
• Decanting: mature reds to leave sediment behind, poured slowly against a light. Young reds for oxygen.
• Across a meal: sparkling before still, white before red, light before heavy, then sweet.
• Bottle sizes: 375 mL half, 750 mL standard, 1.5 L magnum, 3 L double magnum, then 6, 9, 12 L.
• Faults: cork taint (wet cardboard), oxidation (bruised apple), volatile acidity (nail polish), reduction (struck match).

The deductive tasting grid in outline

Work in a fixed order so a first impression cannot color the rest.

1. Sight: clarity, brightness, concentration, color, rim variation, gas or sediment.
2. Nose: condition, intensity, fruit, non fruit, earth, wood markers, then age.
3. Palate: sweetness, acid, tannin, alcohol, body, texture, intensity, complexity, finish.
4. Initial conclusion: Old or New World, climate, age range, quality, grape candidates.
5. Final conclusion: one grape, one country, one region, one vintage.

A red shifting to garnet or brick at the rim has bottle age; young reds hold purple to the edge. Drill the deductive tasting grid.

The week before

• Run full 70 question papers under time, not topic quizzes, and log every wrong answer.
• Rebuild the four ladders on blank paper: Rioja aging, the German Pradikat, sparkling dosage, sake polishing.
• Drill grape to appellation pairs with flashcards until recall is instant.
• Spend a session on what wine people neglect: spirits minimums, ale versus lager, sake grades, service order. The WSET syllabus covers similar ground.
• Sleep. The paper rewards fast recall, and fatigue takes that first.

Study this with Sommo

Reading a cheatsheet once will not fix these facts in memory. Sommo turns the material into daily practice: spaced repetition on grape and appellation pairs, adaptive sessions that hunt the topics you keep missing, and a wrong answer bank that returns until the gap closes. Download Sommo free.