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I've thought about what must happen to a master sommelier's "blind taste" skills once they've passed the exam and no longer need to practice that skill on a reg
by oldandboring 6y ago
I've thought about what must happen to a master sommelier's "blind taste" skills once they've passed the exam and no longer need to practice that skill on a regular basis. My assumption is that, like with any specialist, that skill gets rusty if not used, and that the more important everyday skills in that job revolve around their knowledge of wine, ability to suggest good pairings, and customer service.
- keiferski 6y agoThat's a good point. It's sort of a "problem of the expert" - as you become better at something, the number of people with your level of knowledge becomes smaller and smaller. Since you have less experts or challenges to go up against (or indirectly, exams), your skill level drops.
- close04 6y agoYou don't even have to go that far. If it takes an expert to tell the difference then it stands to reason that the average person will never really taste the benefit above the average level. I guess this is why it's called "a matter of taste". Anecdote: I can't stand vinegar in anything. So it's really interesting to see someone insist that I should use it because it makes this or that better. Experts have to judge based (also) on objective criteria. You don't, you just like it more or less.
- fsckboy 6y agothe wine director (the exalted sommelier who gets to buy the wine that is sold/served) in a high quality restaurant has both passed the exam and works every day literally tasting wines. They get better at it, not worse, and the best of them create lists of quality and diversity that offer them opportunities to taste that are simply not available to anybody else, especially not to a lowly student.