Bucks for Booze; Sommelier Study

Once, when I was a kid, someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I may have been playing too much "Old West Saloon" with my sister and cousins at the time, but I replied that I wanted to be a bartender, rather embarrassing my lovely - non drinking - parents. 

Some 20-odd years later that is just what I've become! I bartend at a fantastic Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C. with a wonderful wine program that I am fascinated by. The more I learned about our wines the more I wanted to know so I began to study in earnest for my sommelier exam in 2013 and passed my Intro level of the Court of Master Sommeliers in February 2014. 

I attempted my Certified Sommelier exam in May of this year, and came excruciatingly close to passing. The Master Somms proctoring the exam identified that while my wine service is "exceptional" and my ability to identify bouquet and flavor is quite good, my knowledge of tasting 'fine' wines is lagging behind. As I am a service industry professional living in one of the more expensive cities in this country my ability to purchase fine wines and pay for wine tasting events is rather constrained.

Any and all money raised by this gofundme will be spent directly on Court of Master Sommelier testable wines and wine tastings. My goal is to have enough experience to retake the Certified Sommelier Exam in December of this year. Every wine tasting will be accompanied by through tasting notes and impressions for any donors as well as my profound thanks and love to all who are able to donate. 

With your help, I hope to continue to advance my Sommelier experience and eventually hope to tackle the Master Sommelier Exam, the world record holder for the hardest test in the world! 

Thank you very much for visiting this page and donate if you can!